Love Beyond Words (City Lights, #1)(81)

David ran a hand through his greasy hair and hugged the little brown bag of whiskey against him more tightly. “Uh, yeah. Worried about my mother is all. You know how that is. But uh…why Croatia? I mean, right now? For how long?”

“Two weeks, I think. Maybe more. I’m not sure yet. This situation with Natalie has me in turmoil. I…I have to get away. To think some things through.”

David nodded. Was this good or bad? Certainly good that he wouldn’t have to monitor Julian’s whereabouts at all times, but all it would take was one phone call to Natalie and David would be destroyed.

“I think that’s a good idea,” he said. “Check out for awhile. Get some rest and uh…not think about…stuff here.”

Stuff? David mentally kicked himself. But Julian seemed not to have heard. He moved to stand before the windows, arms crossed, like some majestic lord surveying his domain. David went to stand beside him.

“I mean, I’m sure a vacation is just what you need right now.”

“It’s not a vacation,” Julian said. “I used to think I’d go for myself. But it’s apparent to me that the idea of Natalie and myself are tightly bound. So I’ll go for her too in the hopes that when I get back…” He stared straight ahead, his voice hard. “Maybe we can start again.”

David thoughts raced. At long last, a break. He didn’t like all this talk about starting over with Natalie but he’d deal with that later. With Julian gone, he could design a beautiful robbery in which a few minor treasures and Julian’s book could be spirited away. No mess, no fuss…He glanced at the library desk where the stack of notebooks had sat for the last few weeks.

No book.

Oh dear god, now what?

Julian had his leather shoulder bag with him. Was it there? Was he going to work on it while in Croatia? David swallowed hard.

“So will this be a working vacation or are you going to leave the book alone until you get back? Maybe give it a breather…?”

“I don’t have the book.”

“Oh?” David forced his voice to sound as casual at as possible. “Where is it?”

“Gone.”

“What does that mean…exactly?”

“I gave it to her.”

“You…you gave it to who? To Natalie?” David felt like the earth was spinning out from under him. When? And then he knew when. The other night. And I was right there. And she didn’t tell him. Hid it from him…A red gaze descended over his eyes.

“Yes, I gave it to her,” Julian said tiredly. He turned from the window. “And there’s not going to be another one. Not for a long time, anyway, if ever.”

David mustered every bit of will to keep from bursting into tears. “But…but why?”

“Because it belongs to her. It always has,” Julian said, his eyes heavy. His cell phone buzzed a text. “The car service is here.”

“O-okay,” David said faintly. “I…I’ll walk you down.”

In the elevator, David felt anger burn away his tears. That bitch. That meddling, conniving bitch! At the curb, his smile was wide and stiff as he opened the door to the sedan.

Julian lay his hand on his shoulder before climbing in. “Take care of yourself, David. I don’t like to see you struggle with old demons.”

My demons, David thought, his cheeks aching to hold the smile as Julian climbed into the car. What about your demon, Julian? The one who has you so thoroughly duped, you can’t let go of her, even after she stomps on your heart?

David watched the sedan pull away, a tumult of emotions stirring his gut. Now it was inevitable. He couldn’t live the rest of his life worried about Natalie Hewitt. Julian wasn’t going to let her go so he had to make him let her go; like prying a child’s fingers off a dangerous toy he shouldn’t have.

He asked Angelo, the day doorman, to hail him a cab while he took his cell phone out of his coat where it had been sharing the pocket with his gun. He punched Cliff’s number. The odious man answered and for once, David wasn’t afraid at all.

He told Cliff where Mendón’s latest book was and when Cliff started swearing at him that kidnapping some woman was not part of the deal, the calm surety of David’s own voice shocked him into silence.

“She’s a liability, now and into the future,” David said. “But I can’t get in her place; she won’t let me near her. Send Garrett for her.”

“And just how is Garrett supposed to do that without making a scene?”

David told Cliff exactly what Garrett should say. “She’ll trust that, believe me. And I’ll…I’ll take care of her myself when I get there.”

“Mighty tough talk, Dave,” Cliff said as a cab rolled up to the curb in front of David. “You sure you got the balls for this?”

“You want your three million dollars or not?”

Cliff laughed nervously. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

An ugly sneer curled David’s lip. “Then go get her.”





Chapter ThirtyEight


For the second day in a row, Liberty and Marshall sat on a bench outside Julian’s condo complex, trying to look inconspicuous. Marshall succeeded, dressed in casual finery, but Liberty struggled. She’d put on jeans for this excursion instead of one of her usual vinyl skirts and torn tights, and shifted uncomfortably on the bench for the millionth time. Levi Strauss was an *.