COMPLICATED
AIDEN & OLIVIA
PART 2
Stephanie Julian
Copyright © 2017 by Stephanie Julian
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at [email protected].
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
Chapter One
Olivia
“Oh my god, Livvie, you’ve been gone forever. Are you okay? What happened? Where have you been all this time? Are you hurt?”
Maylyn grabs my arm as soon as I open the front door, pulling me into our dad’s house and slamming the door shut behind me.
So much for sneaking in to talk to Dad without her finding out.
“I’m fine.” I nod and smile and hope like hell my expression doesn’t give away my lie. There’s no way I’m telling her what happened last night. I can barely wrap my head around it. “I’m just tired.”
“I can see that.”
Maylyn gives me a thorough once-over, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear she can see exactly what happened in the past few hours written on my face. Which is ridiculous, I know. I just need to hold myself together for a little while longer.
But it’s getting harder with every second.
I barely remember walking back to my car from the mansion. I know I spent a few minutes simply trying to catch my breath, my hands wrapped around the steering wheel until they hurt. When I finally thought I could drive home without causing an accident, I turned the key and drove away, hyperaware of everything around me.
I’d considered going straight to my apartment and falling into bed, avoiding my dad for a little while longer. But I knew he’d be pacing the floors waiting for me, and he deserves to know what happened as soon as possible.
I’d hoped Maylyn would be gone by the time I got here. Apparently, I have absolutely no luck today.
Unless you count multiple orgasms lucky.
Maylyn’s forehead crinkles and her lips flatten into a straight line as she continues to stare, looking much older than her twenty years.
Damn it, I never should’ve told her I was going last night. But she’s my sister, the only person in whom I confide everything.
Except what happened last night.
“Where’s Dad?”
Maylyn rolls her eyes. “I’m sure he’ll be here in a second. Tell me what—”
“Did you get it?”
I turn to see my dad in the doorway that leads to the living room. Hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans, Patrick Maloney stares at me with eyes the same blue as Maylyn’s, wearing the concert t-shirt she and I bought him the last time he took us to see Slipknot.
He’s fifty but usually looks a decade younger. This morning, he looks like he’s aged twenty years. He must be able to tell from my face that I have bad news because his eyes close slowly and he sucks in a deep breath.
And the hole in my gut becomes a crater.
I swallow and try not to think about how I traded sex for the paper in my pocket, how I promised to return tomorrow night for more of both. I try to concentrate on the fact that I’m helping my dad get the information he needs to keep him and Maylyn safe.
“I have part of what we need but…not all of it. I’m going to get the rest. I just need some time.”
Dad’s eyes fly open and he pins me with a look I remember from my childhood, what my siblings and I call his x-ray vision. “What does that mean? What happened?”
There’s no way in hell I’m going to tell the man who raised me that the man I tried to rob last night made me come multiple times on top of his desk. There’re some things you just don’t tell your dad. Or your brothers. If they ever find out, they’ll hunt Aiden down and shoot him.
And they’re good enough to get away with it. If my dad weren’t being threatened to provide the information Aiden holds, I might actually let them.
Are you sure about that?
“It means I ran into a complication and wasn’t able to get everything.” My sister gasps and my dad’s mouth opens but I continue before they can speak. “But I have a plan to get the rest. We have until the end of next week. I’ll have everything we need by then. I swear.”
Silence holds for about two seconds before Maylyn’s questions pour out of her like water.
“What complication? What happened? Are you hurt?”
But it’s my dad’s silence that holds my attention.
We may not share any genes, but he’s been my father since I was three years old. Until I was fifteen, I believed he was my biological father. He probably never would’ve told me otherwise if I hadn’t overheard Bryant and Reese talking about how they’d found me.
It had rocked the foundation of my world, and Reese still feels guilty as hell. And yeah, there are days I wish I’d never found out. But I’ve never once felt my dad has treated me any differently than Maylyn.
Sure, some people think he trained me to follow in his footsteps because I’m not biologically his. What they don’t know is he tried his damnedest to stop me. Until he realized he couldn’t. Then he trained me to be a damn good cat burglar who’d never been caught…until last night.
“Livvie! Oh my god.” Maylyn grabs my arm, drawing my attention back to her. “Are you listening to me? What the hell happened?”
My sister stops long enough to take a breath and my dad finally speaks.
“You got caught.”
My cheeks flush and Maylyn gasps, her hold on my arm tightening.
“What? Are you okay? How did you get away? What happened? Who—”
Dad lays a hand on my sister’s shoulder and her mouth snaps shut.
“Are you hurt?” His voice is tight and I hear his fear.
I shake my head emphatically. “No, I’m not hurt. I wasn’t injured. And no, I wasn’t caught. I made a miscalculation about the mark’s schedule, which means I had to make some adjustments to my plan. But I was able to get some of what you need before I had to leave.”
I’d rehearsed what I was going to say the entire ride home. I’d only had forty-five minutes to do it but I think I came up with something plausible. Now I just have to sell it.
I pull the paper out of my pocket and give it to my dad. He doesn’t take it right away. He’s trying to figure out if I’m lying and, if I am, about what.
But I am damn good at lying. And there’s no way in hell I’m going to tell him I fucked a stranger for that information.
Or that you enjoyed it.
Heat burns beneath my skin. Yes, I did enjoy it. And I will take that secret to my grave.
All my dad needs to know now is that I will get the rest of what he needs. That’s all anyone needs to know, Maylyn included.
After several seconds, he takes a shaky breath, looks down at the paper, and scans it. Some of the lines on his face disappear. But not all.
“I’ll have the rest by the end of next week.” I reach for Maylyn’s hand and squeeze. “Don’t worry. This’ll all be over soon.”
Maylyn shrugs, dismissing my fear for her in a heartbeat. But the look I exchange with Dad is tense.
Only he and I know the truth. That if I don’t get what he needs, his life will be forfeit.
A local crime boss with a grudge against my dad is threatening to make him an example of what happens when you fa
il him. He’s promised to make dad’s death slow and painful. And that when he is done with Dad, he’ll start on my brothers and work his way down to me and Maylyn.
I only know all of this because Vincenzo, a snake in a five-thousand-dollar suit, used me to get the message to my dad.
“I’m not worried about me,” Maylyn says with a huff. “You’re the one breaking and entering and stealing. I’m just the one sitting home worrying.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry because I’m fine.” I roll my eyes and spread my arms wide. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. But you are. Don’t you have school this morning? Isn’t Raj here yet?”
The classmate who picks up Maylyn for school every day is rarely late. He’s paid well not to be.
Of course, Maylyn has no idea Dad pays the son of a local gang member to keep her safe during the day at the local college where she’s enrolled. She thinks they’re friends. Good friends. And they are. But like everything else in our lives, there’s the truth and then there’s the version of the truth we tell each other.
Maylyn huffs and shakes her head, but at that moment, a car beeps from the street out front.
My sister’s jaw sets and I see frustration in the lines on her forehead. Better that than outright horror at what I’ve done.
She points at me, her mouth set in a pout that gets her out of almost any trouble. Not that she ever really gets in trouble. She’s practically perfect. Straight-A student. A sweetheart with a heart of gold and a smile that lights up a room. My brothers and my dad and I like to pretend we can keep her that way. But short of locking her in her room for the rest of her life, I know that’s not going to happen.
So far, we’ve managed to keep her out of the family business, insulated from the more illegal aspects of our lives.
“We are so not done with this conversation.” She shakes her head and sighs. “And if I didn’t have a chem test, I’d stay home and force you to tell me.”
With a flounce I’ve never perfected, even when I was a teen, she grabs her backpack off the chair and opens the door, turning to glare at me. “You are so hiding something, and I’m going to find out what it is.”
Then she shuts the door behind her and I’m alone with my dad, whose gaze has dropped to the paper.
“Is that at least part of what you need?”
He doesn’t answer right away and fear knots my stomach. Oh my god, what if Aiden played me? What if he gave me dummy information? What if—
“Yeah, it is.” Sighing, Dad shakes his head and I mentally prepare myself for his disappointment.
But before I can apologize, his gaze narrows. “Damn it, Livvie, what the hell happened? Are you really okay?”
I’m not. I want to retreat to my apartment and sleep so I can forget the past hours. Or be alone so I can relive them.
But like I said, I’m a damn good liar.
“I’m fine. I’m tired, I need a shower and some food, but I’m fine, Dad. Seriously.”
He stares at me for what seems like an hour, and I almost convince myself he can read my mind. If he could, I’m pretty sure he’d be halfway to Aiden’s place with the Berretta stashed in his bedside table.
Yes, my dad is a thief. Like me, he’s a damn good one. But Patrick Maloney instilled in me a code of conduct he doesn’t always adhere to himself. And yeah, I know how that sounds.
Most people grow up with their parents telling them, “Don’t steal. It’s wrong.”
I grew up in a family where “stealing” isn’t always “wrong.”
Growing up, stealing was the difference between starving and simply going to bed hungry. Or spending the night on the streets and having a roof over your head.
My dad has always done what needs to be done to make sure we had food and a bed. I have never doubted his love for me my brothers or my sister.
And if three of his four children followed in his footsteps… Well, my brothers and I are nonviolent. That doesn’t mean we won’t defend ourselves. It just means we have a certain…moral fluidity when it comes to making money.
I can see in his eyes he doesn’t want to let this go, but there’s no way in hell I’m telling him anything more.
Finally, he takes a deep breath and releases it on a sigh. “How are you going to get the rest?”
I make sure I continue to hold his gaze. “I made a deal. If I stick to it, he’ll give me the rest of the information.”
Dad frowns. “What deal? With who?”
“The man who lives in the house. When I fulfill my end of the bargain, I’ll get the rest of the file.”
He’s silent for several seconds before he starts to pace.
“So you did get caught.” Dad runs a hand through his already disheveled hair. “Damn it. I knew I shouldn’t have involved you in this.”
“I didn’t give you a choice. And you know I’m better than you at lifting. Besides, I don’t think this guy would’ve made a deal with anyone else.”
He stops in front of me and that look’s back in his eyes. “What exactly do you have to do to fulfill the deal?”
I’d tried to rehearse what I’d say when Dad asked this question, had come up with multiple answers. I give him the easiest. “I have to go back to the house tomorrow night. He wants me to do something for him in exchange for the information.” Like let him fuck me. “I do it and I leave with more pieces of the file.”
“Do what exactly?”
I hold his gaze, shrug, and find something to throw my dad off track. “I don’t know exactly. I think he wants me to steal something for him. Won’t be the first time I’ve bartered services.”
I can practically see the gears working in his head and he looks me up and down again, as if he knows there’s something I’m hiding and he can find the clues on my body. Or he’s looking for injuries.
Finally, his gaze meets mine again. “What did he want to know last night? And how the hell did you get away with this,” he waves the paper in his hand, “and not the rest?”
“I told you. We made a deal.”
He pauses for a few moments. “Does he know who you are? Know your name?”
“I gave him my first name. And he told me his. Aiden.”
I see no recognition on my dad’s face but, like I said, he’s good.
“I want the surveillance photos you took.” Dad straightens and I see the man who’s pulled off more jobs by the time he was twenty than I probably ever will. “All of them. I want to know who this guy is before you go back tomorrow.”
I cross my arms over my chest, trying to ease the growing ache beneath my ribs. “I’ve tried to identify him for two weeks. I found nothing.”
Dad’s expression doesn’t change. “Then you didn’t look hard enough and you don’t have my resources. Get me the pictures immediately when you get home.”
The demand in his voice is clear and I nod, wanting to avoid any more questions. I almost can’t believe he’s going to let me off the hook so easily, but I want to get back to my apartment and sleep for the next few hours.
And hope like hell I don’t dream about last night.
Closing the distance between us, he reaches out to cup my cheek and I see in his eyes the fear he hides from my sister.
“I’m not sending you back there until we know who this guy is and what he wants. And I want one of your brothers to shadow you.”
God, what a disaster that would be. I shake my head. “No way. Reese and Bryant are as subtle as bulls in a china shop. I go alone. That’s the deal I made and I’m going to stick to it. If you find out who he is before tomorrow night, fine. If not, it doesn’t matter. I’m going back. But right now, I need some sleep. Trust me. I want to know who he is as much as you do so I’m going to go home and sleep for a few hours and then I’ll figure out who he is.”
He pauses for a second then shakes his head and sighs again. “I do trust you, Liv. You and Maylyn and your brothers are the only people I trust.”
Family first. Always. The five of us
against the world.
It’s been drilled into my head for as long as I can remember.
I understand. Dad’s been burned before. He’s been used. And he’s taken hits for crimes that weren’t his. He’s cleaned up a couple of my messes, and he’s kept my brothers out of jail more than a few times.
“I know, Dad. But I’m dead on my feet right now. Let me get some sleep, then we can figure this out. Okay?”
He scowls, not happy, but finally he nods and rubs his hand over my head, as if I’m still ten years old. I roll my eyes because he’d be disappointed if I didn’t. But his answering smile is worried.
“All right, sweetheart. Get some sleep and then I want you back here for dinner. Bring the surveillance photos. I’ll see if your brothers can come and we can hash this out together, figure out a strategy.”
Oh goodie. Just what I need. Two more overprotective alpha males ready to defend my honor to the death.
“Dad, I don’t—”
“Your brothers need to know what’s going on.” He grimaces and shoves a hand through his dark hair again. “At least some of what’s going on. Damn it, I never should’ve involved you in this.”
He hadn’t wanted to. I’d volunteered then practically twisted his arm to get him to agree.
“Seriously, you’re getting yourself worked up over nothing. Just stop. Everything’s going to be okay. By the end of next week, we’ll have everything you need to get Vincenzo off your back and we’ll put all of this behind us.”
My dad owes Marco Vincenzo. Vincenzo had hired him to do a job, a job that’d gone wrong. A robbery that should’ve been a cake walk and turned into a nightmare.
I still don’t know why he took it. Dad had graduated from petty B&E to become one of the very few thieves legitimate businesses trusted to do their dirty work. He’d built a reputation on clean, untraceable work that cost corporations money but not lives.
The fact that he’d taken a job for one of the most infamous crime bosses in Philadelphia didn’t make any damn sense. And since he refused to explain, I can only take him on faith and do what I can to help.
Now, Dad looks at me as if he’s trying to read my mind then forces something that looks like a smile but it’s gone in a flash. “You’re right. It’ll be over soon. And then we can get the hell away from here.”
Complicated (Aiden & Olivia Book 2) Page 1
