Page 42 of Steal Me (Rebel Hearts Heists 1)
“You can bet your pretty blond ass that it wasn’t me, Vance! Why would I blow your cover when you kept telling me that you were extremely close to connecting the brothers to the embezzlement that the CFO of the Schiller conglomerate reported over two years ago? We thought that it was over when we arrested their former CEO, William Barrington. But the truth is that it never stopped. Your job was to infiltrate the brothers’ operation and prove that their father keeps stealing from prison using his sons, making them rob banks now that he can’t doctor the numbers from his HQ office. Why would I risk your life like that, Special Agent Vance? If they knew that you were trying to dismantle their whole operation by working on the inside, you’d be a dead man.”
I nod. “Ok, so Hunter worked on his own. You need to shut him up. I’m this close to proving that the Barrington brothers weren’t just robbing banks to keep buying themselves flashy things once their father was arrested. That they worked with and for their father. But for all the risks I’ve been taking to pay off, I need more time. I heard them talking about going to Seattle when this is all over and I suspect it’s not to enjoy the money they stole. I think there’s something in their house, something that’ll prove everything. But I need Hunter off my back at least for a few days.”
Walker curses, taking out a new cigarette and putting it in his mouth without lighting it. “That might be harder than you think. This Agent Hunter has got connections in high places. And he’s convinced that the girl is involved with the robberies. It’ll be even harder to get him off your back because now he can at least prove that the girl assaulted him with a fucking shoe. Your girl is wanted for grievous bodily harm and assault on a federal agent, so when we arrest your three friends, she’s gonna go down too. Even if, as you say, she has nothing to do with the bank jobs.”
That motherfucking bastard! I swear that I’ll die before I let him put another finger on Sloane. I explain about Sloane’s situation and how Agent Hunter has been abusing and then stalking his ex-fiancée and how he stumbled onto our bank robbery just by pure chance.
“You need to find a way to get that alert revoked. Give us time to get to Seattle and I’ll give you your men. But you must promise me that you’ll also take Sloane into custody, because I suspect that if Hunter puts his hands on her, she’ll end up in a body bag.”
Walker sighs after staring into my eyes for a long moment. “Man, I’ll try my best. But you need to understand that my influence isn’t unlimited. I already had to plead with my boss not to storm the hotel in Beverly Hills. You have to realize that the minute you added kidnapping to the list of the crimes committed by ‘The Avengers’, this shit got suddenly from serious to dead serious.”
“She was a hostage maybe for one night. And even then, the lines are blurred. She walked toward me in that vault, when she saw her ex. She’s been following us by her own volition.”
Walker scoffs. “This is why after this job is done, you’ll be assigned to desk duty for a while. Working undercover messes with your head, it blurs the lines to a point that you don’t even realize how many you’re crossing. You have one week, Special Agent Kaden Vance. Make sure you don’t add anything else to the list of crimes that will have to be condoned while you’re working under cover. And this extra week? You’ve no idea how many favors I’ll have to call in. So for that time you saved my eyes in Kabul? We’re even.”
???
Kaden
I jog back to the cabin, stopping at the resort’s little general store on my way back and I pick up breakfast sandwiches for everyone and condoms. I know, I know after my conversation with Agent Walker, the last thing that should be on my mind is sex but the heart wants what the heart wants and when it comes to my dick? Want is all I feel for her. And I wish it was just sexual, that fucking her would get her out of my system but I want that woman in every possible way.
For a second, I let myself imagine how it would’ve been if that robbery had gone as planned, if the guys had gotten arrested and if Sloane’s ex hadn’t shown up. If we didn’t have to run. I would have asked Sloane out on a date, a normal date. There’s certainly something to be said for just dinner and a movie. No cops, no guns, no sharing.
I immediately feel a wave of guilt twisting my insides: during the time I’ve been working undercover, I’ve gotten to know and appreciate the guys. Royce’s quiet, fair attitude. He’s the type of guy that would put his life on the line to right a wrong. Blaine’s caring, supportive nature. Even River has grown on me. That crazy motherfucker has a heart of gold that shines through whenever he isn’t drunk or high. He’s also highly intelligent and while I wanted to kick his ass when he kept saying that we should ‘get rid’ of Sloane, I couldn’t really fault his logical approach to the situation. I curse under my breath when I realize that Walker was right when he talked about blurred lines, that when you’re undercover for this long, it’s easy to identify with the perps, to misplace your loyalty.
After all, I know that any of the guys would take a bullet for me, no more no less than my army buddies during deployments. And no, I’m not comparing a bunch of bank robbers to the men and women that sacrifice everything to serve their country. The thing is that Royce, Blaine and River aren’t vicious criminals. I’ve been thinking, hoping that there was a reason why each of them was doing it but every time, I’ve come up empty. I guess that, like I learned downrange, there’s good and bad in every person and sometimes it’s impossible to surgically separate them. So I know my duty and I’ll do it. I just need to make sure that we cut the head off the snake too. Whoever put the brothers up to this fucked up shit will pay the price too. And Sloane’s safety is my priority in all this.
“Hey stranger!” Her voice makes me jump as if I’ve been caught red-handed, as if she could see deep into my soul and know that I’ve been living a lie even before we properly crossed paths. “Where have you been?”
I lift the two paper bags and offer her what I hope is an innocent smile. “I went for my morning run and stopped by the store to pick up breakfast.”
“Hmm, you didn’t even break a sweat.” She says it with a smile but I feel the need to justify myself.
“Well yeah, the intention was to run but then I got lost in my thoughts and … what about you? What are you doing outside?”
She smiles again. “I was thinking about checking out the lake actually.”
“Right. Let me leave some of the sandwiches for the others and I’ll go with you.”
She must detect my reluctance to let her go by herself, but she completely misinterprets the reason, because she lowers her eyes and whispers: “Right, yeah. Hostage. I keep forgetting that.”
I take one step forward and grab her chin between my fingers forcing her to lift her head and meet my gaze. I try to do it gently but I need her to look at me. “No. Not because of that. If you wanted to leave, you have had plenty of opportunities, Sloane. This hostage thing? For me it was over the minute we left that penthouse. And I know I’m the one who took you, so it must sound crazy coming from me but I’m sorry. I just want to get you to Seattle safe and sound and then, we’ll talk about our options and you’ll have a say about what you want to do. I swear. No, the reason why I don’t want you to go alone is that we can’t possibly know who saw the alert, if anyone recognized us. I don’t want that creep of your ex to show up in the woods again.”
Her head rears back as if I had slapped her, her eyes dilated in surprise confirming exactly what I had assumed. “My … my ex? You know that—”
“That Pierce and that FBI agent who’s after you are the same person? Yeah. I know.” Redness spreads on her cheeks.
“Did River tell you?” Oh, so River knew. They must be closer than I thought, the sex must have not been just a physical reaction to the adrenaline of being in danger then. Not if she opened up to him. Well, fuck, now I am feeling jealous and that shit doesn’t help at all.
“No, River kept your secret. I just … it’s the only thing that makes sense.” I dump one of the bags on the little wooden table at the entrance and shut the door behind me, offering Sloane my hand as we leave the cabin and begin walking down through the woods.
At first we’re quiet, as we walk side by side and it would be so easy to imagine that we’re just on a romantic walk, to forget all the rest. The trees become more sparse as we advance toward the lake until the ground itself becomes mixed with sand; then, all of a sudden, the trees open up into a narrow stretch of white sand, sloping steeply toward the crystal clear waters of a lake big enough for swimming and water sports. We keep walking down quietly until our feet step on the wooden planks of a dock that stretches out into the still mass of water. There’s no breeze moving the lake in this chilly early December morning.
We stop right at the edge and we break the silence speaking in unison.
“Sloane …”
“Kaden …” She giggles but it’s fleeting and she immediately returns to being serious, fixing her jade green eyes onto mine. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Pierce. I don’t know why I didn’t. I was afraid and ashamed. I still haven’t had the courage to tell Royce and Blaine. God knows I tried earlier. At first I guess I was worried about you guys deciding that I was way too much trouble and following River’s advice to get rid of me. Then I started to care about you guys and I was afraid that you’d think I wasn’t worth the trouble. That knowing that my psychotic ex is the FBI agent who keeps showing up on your doorstep, would’ve made you decide to ditch me. This is the thing with Pierce, I know I didn’t deserve any of the shit he did to me and yet I allowed it to continue for so long because a part of me feels ashamed. As if I deserved it.”
She tells me everything, how she cut every tie and ran, hoping to get away from that abusive bastard. Her shame when she talks about idealizing the asshole, makes me feel awful and I can’t figure out how to remove that feeling from her. It’s never someone’s fault when they are caught in a cycle like that. When someone you love starts abusing you, rational thought flies out the window. I am just thankful that she ran when she did.
“When I saw him in that vault … yes you took me but it wasn’t just that. I walked into your grasp, I wanted you to steal me because that was the only way to get away from him. I decided that I’d rather take my chances with masked armed robbers than walk into certain death. And it’s not just because the only time he actually hit me, I saw it in his eyes that slapping me was just the beginning of the physical violence and that one day I’d end up dead on that kitchen floor. It’s because he had already started to kill me every day by isolating me, making me doubt myself at every turn, making me feel that I deserved his treatment of me. And then he made it clear when I got up from that floor, that if I left him, or if I told anyone, he’d kill my whole family. That is why I took my chances with you guys, even before I knew who was behind those masks. With you I’d have a fighting chance, with Pierce, it’d be certain death.”
And you know what? I fucking understand why she didn’t say anything and how hard it is for her to open up about it. How she must feel that even talking about the devil is a way to summon him. I understand the nightmares because I have some of my own, that I’ve had since my last deployment.
There’s only one thing I don’t understand and I have to ask her.
“So, I get it baby. And fuck, I wish things had gone differently and that I could’ve asked you out like I planned after our last job… you know like normal fucking college students. But I have to know why you told River of all people. Royce or Blaine, I’d understand but—”
