Page 68 of The Thief
When I answered, I could hear the faint sound of music in the background from the club.
“What’s up?” I asked, a knot developing in my stomach at the thought of leaving Jess. A knot I’d never felt before.
“I’m sending you a screenshot. You need to see this,” Adam replied, his voice deadly serious, his tone clipped.
“Do you need me to come home?”
“Not yet. Not unless you think you need to,” he ventured, and I heard the ping as the screenshot came through to me.
I tapped to open it and saw an email.
From: [email protected]
Message: Fuck you
I got the message you left in my living room, and you have no fucking idea what you’ve started. You’re gonna live to regret what you did. Fuck you, motherfuckers. I’m coming for you.
“Sounds like his trip to Portugal has come to an end,” I said to Adam, and he hummed in agreement.
“We need to find him,” he barked.
“Before he finds us,” I replied.
“Don’t worry about that. He doesn’t stand a chance either way, but it’ll be easier for us if we’re ahead. He talks the talk, but he can’t walk the walk. I’ve been asking around, and he’s a nobody. We can deal with him.”
“I don’t want to take any chances,” I said, glancing back through the kitchen window into Jess’s home, thinking about my two girls inside. They were my priority now.
“And we won’t be. It’s all in hand. Trust me. I’m on it.”
I did trust Adam. But I needed all this put to bed, because I couldn’t handle knowing there were still two of them walking around, free to do whatever the fuck they wanted.
They’d terrorised the hostages in the bank, shot innocent people, and held a fucking gun to my head. But worst of all, these men had threatened or stood by as others threatened to hurt Jess. To fucking rape her while her three-year-old daughter was metres away. Just thinking about it made my fucking blood boil and my rage explode to epic levels. I wanted to make them pay. Theyhad to pay. Something like that couldn’t go unpunished. I needed my retribution, for her and me.
“It will fucking end,” I stated. “And I can’t wait to look them in the eye and watch them fucking bleed for what they did.”
I hung up and pushed the door open, heading back inside to find Jess standing in the kitchen, her face as pale as snow.
“Were you listening to my call?” I ask, and she swallowed nervously.
“Not really. I just came in to get Ava a glass of water. I only heard the last part.” And then she started to stammer, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. It’s just your voice was so loud. And...”
I took a step toward her and noticed her body tense slightly.
“You don’t have to be scared of me. Ever,” I told her, my eyes softening as I spoke.
“I know that,” she said quietly, then peering up at me with sadness shining in her eyes, she added, “But I’m scared of what you might do. I don’t want you to get into trouble with the police, Tyler. I don’t want... to lose you.”
I moved to her, taking her in my arms and pulling her close to me. “That won’t happen. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
She melted into me, her warm body pressed close to mine, but on a sigh, she said, “You can’t promise that. No one can. And if you go after them, they could hurt you. Anything could happen. It’s just... I can’t bear thinking about it.” And then panic gripped her, her body tensing as she said, “What if they come here?”
“They won’t. They wouldn’t dare. You’re safe here. I’ve got you.” I kissed her forehead and leaned back to look at her as I kept her in my arms. “I know what I’m doing, and I havefour friends who are bloody good at what they do standing right beside me. I know it’s easy for me to say, but try to forget what you heard. Don’t let it come between us.”
“It won’t come between us,” she replied. “I just wish you’d let the police deal with it. I called them yesterday and they said they had a few leads. They couldn’t tell me the specifics but they’re on it.”
“They have nothing.” I shook my head. “That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing. To make sure they don’t get away with it, because if we leave it to the police, it’ll take too fucking long. They can’t be left to do what they did again. Not to the old guy, the bank worker, the other hostages, and what they fucking did to you.”
