The Dangerous Thief (Stolen Hearts #3)(51)

Willa sighed as she tried to think of the best way to answer. “So Mom’s place, huh? I never even imagined how she was living. It’s been like six years since I saw her.” That was a lie. She kind of figured her mother had found some other sap to suck money from. But the code had been six digits long so she hoped James got it.

The house that her mother apparently owned didn’t look very lived in. All the lights were off and there didn’t seem as if anyone was home. “Does she know we’re coming?”

“She doesn’t know a damn thing. She’s not going to be here. I am going to run in and I’ll be right back. You stay here.”

“You stay in the goddamned car,” warned James.

“Okay,” she said to both of them.

Jadon got out of the car and rushed to the door. He fiddled with keys for a few seconds until he finally got inside. Once she felt as if there was enough distance, she was able to finally break down. “Where are you? Is there anyone else coming?”

“Jennifer is working on the keypad. I’m coming over.”

Coming over? She heard a soft grunt and realized James had jumped the fence. It really would make her feel better if he would calm down. No. That was a lie. Her apartment had blown up. Nothing was going to make her feel better.

“You are in front of the gate though, right? So if we were being followed, they’d have to get through you.”

There was silence on the other end and she realized that James wouldn’t be running up the driveway if he didn’t think there was trouble ahead. “What?”

“Stay in the car,” said Jennifer. “I’ll have this open any second.”

Willa looked up at the dark house that now took on a more ominous tone. The place was massive. If Jadon had hidden something there, especially something as small as a packet of documents or computer data, there would be millions of places to hide it. It had taken her an hour to search the apartment and she still felt as if there were a lot more to go. So if someone knew the documents were here, they couldn’t tear the place apart. They would have Jadon lead them right there.

“You think they’re here already.” The second she said it, a shot rang out and Willa jumped in her seat.

No.... She ducked down to give herself as much coverage as possible, but when she went to the floor of the car, she also cut off her line of sight to the house.

“Willa!” said James into her ear. “Are you okay?”

“I’m in the car,” she whispered.

“Finally decided to listen to me,” he muttered, but she could hear his measured breaths cutting through the words, signaling that he was running.

Good. Run faster.

“I don’t have the keys. I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m getting there,” said Jennifer.

“Stay put,” said James. “I’m going to be right—”

Willa missed what he said as the door locks clicked. She held her breath, but there was nothing she could do to stop the driver’s door from opening. The man filled the door as he looked in from the driver’s side. There was no cover at all, so Willa knew hiding was useless at this point. She pushed her door open and fell out. Because of the crouched position she’d been hiding in, she couldn’t seem to get her legs underneath her fast enough.

She heard footsteps approach but didn’t waste even a fraction of a second to look behind her. Instead, she pushed up and started to run, but it was too late. Fingers fisted in her hair and pulled her back until she slammed into a body that was as hard as a brick wall. Willa grimaced in pain as her eyes, which had reflexively shut, opened to look up at the man above her. With the adrenaline pumping through her, all she could really focus on were those dark-brown eyes. Were those the eyes of the man who was going to kill her?

“Let her go.”

The man tightened his grip in her hair and she saw the glint of metal as he moved to press a gun against her temple. She purposely didn’t look at James. She didn’t want to see his face when— No. She stopped that line of thought. She could make it through this. She looked back to her captor and took a shaky breath as she tried to find her voice. “Please.... Please don’t do this.”

“You give her so much as a scratch, you’re never going to make it off the property.” James sounded so normal. As if this were no big deal. But when Willa risked a glance at James, she realized he was anything but. Even though his hands were steady, his eyes radiated an impossible fury.

Whoever had a gun pointed at her head must realize that James was serious. But then Willa realized that this wasn’t just anyone. This was another mercenary, like James. Fear wouldn’t motivate him. “I can pay you.”

The man kept his eyes on James. “I don’t need your money.”

“Not money.” This was probably her only chance and she hoped her instincts were right. “We can kill Sterling for you.”

The man finally took his eyes off James and looked down at her. “No, you can’t.”

“Yes, we can.” Jennifer walked out of the shadows. She didn’t have a gun or weapon of any kind, but she didn’t seem the slightest bit intimidated by the sight in front of her. “We’ve had Sterling running scared for weeks. Well, he’s cleaning house before he comes back and when he gets here, we’ll be ready for him.”