“This might be hard for you.” Isobel approached from behind. “You know I’d take your place if I could.”
“And I’d let you, but we’ve done this before, Mom.” The con had certain requirements, and Isobel would need to be the center of attention. Jennifer shut the jewelry box and turned to look at her mother. “Don’t worry. Today is going to go off without a hitch.” Truthfully she had her doubts, but hesitations got people killed. She needed to be sure of herself and her team. One more of the lessons ingrained into her thanks to Isobel.
Her mother regarded her with a critical eye and out of habit, Jennifer straightened. “You look nice,” she said finally.
Good. The dress was more intense than she’d like if her mother was actually about to get married. It was a tight black bandage dress with a plunging v-neck and a magical bra that made her cleavage look twice as big as normal. Even though the skirt wasn’t indecently short, it still stopped well above the knee. The heels were reasonable. She couldn’t run in them, but they would do for sneaking around the halls. If she hadn’t been suspicious of her mother’s motives, she never would’ve packed the dress in the first place.
Melody put on another coat of her drugstore lipstick and Jennifer kept herself from offering her a nicer tube. But Melody didn’t need to look distracting or fade into the background. She needed to look innocent and she was doing a great job of that so far. Her hair was its natural reddish-brown and twisted into a braid that cascaded over her shoulder. But Mel didn’t need any hair dye to make her look prettier. Her beauty was natural. Special.
“All right. I need to go make sure everything is going as planned. Rehearsal starts in half an hour and I expect you girls to both be on time.” Isobel gave Jennifer an air kiss on her forehead before she left the room in a flourish.
Once she was gone, Mel continued to put on her makeup in silence for a few moments.
“Are you going to be okay tonight?” asked Jennifer.
Melody shrugged as she started to fill in her brows. “It’s just a rehearsal dinner. Nothing I haven’t done before.”
Jennifer was sick and tired of all these double meanings. Just a few more hours, she told herself. Then she and her family would be away from this house and all of Isobel’s scheming and Stranger’s oversight.
“Do you want to talk about Ben?”
The brow pencil fell out of Mel’s hand and clattered onto the floor. Well, apparently Mel wasn’t completely over the divorce yet. Jennifer knelt and picked up the pencil for her. “Listen, whatever Ben did, you can tell me.”
Mel snatched the brow pencil from her and slammed it on the table. “Do you really think now is the time to go into this?”
“No time like the present. I hate seeing you in pain and I—”
Mel turned to stare down Jennifer. “I’m not in pain, Jen. I’m not angry and I’m not sad. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You used to tell me everything,” reminded Jennifer. “I’m not saying you have to spill your soul all the sudden, but you need to know that I’m here whenever you need me.”
Mel quickly pushed all of her essentials into her own clutch before she turned to Jennifer. “You had something for me?”
Jennifer subtly took the key out of her bag and handed it to Mel. “I guess I’ll see you down there then.”
She was just about to touch the handle on the door before Mel said, “I’m not lying. I don’t feel pain.”
Jennifer remained silent as she turned around.
“The problem,” continued Mel, “is that I feel nothing. I haven’t for a long time. And that’s a whole different kind of pain.”
It was going to be soon. Austin could feel it in his bones. As more and more guests started to arrive, the easier he could see this entire thing becoming. As people became drunker, he could slip right into that room and do what he needed to do.
There was a good chance he wouldn’t be able to get into the safe. That was the chance he took when working a job he knew so little about. But once he got the make and model, Hart would be able to get him the tools he’d need to break in. Then, early this morning or even tomorrow before the wedding, he’d get the necklace and get the hell out of Dodge.
But not after the wedding. The necklace was too valuable. Chances were the armed men who’d dropped it off last night would be back before the bar was even closed to take it back to whatever safety deposit box Jonathan Sterling had stashed the thing in before.
He was still looking for a good opportunity to sneak off when all heads in the room suddenly turned. It took him a fraction of a second to see what was so fascinating.
Shit. Jennifer Murray was here and she wasn’t playing around. She was in a skintight black dress that left nothing to the imagination and her breasts were pushed in and up, just begging for someone—namely, him—to touch them.
He was drawn to her like a moth to the flame and ended up meeting her halfway through the foyer, where servers handed out cocktails and hors d’oeuvres to the guests. He didn’t know exactly what happened, but Jennifer wasn’t happy to see him. She didn’t move around him, but she crossed her arms in front of herself, a move that did nothing to take away from her breasts, and tightened her lips.
“You look great,” he said, but that didn’t seem to help.
“Why, thank you, Austin,” she said with strange emphasis on his name. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to help my mother.”
She started around him, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm. She immediately stiffened under his touch and stepped away.
“Are you okay?” he asked hesitantly.
She shook her head even as she said, “I’m fine. Just busy. I have to go, Austin.”
He let her go. They were in a crowded space and he had to keep himself focused. She continued across the room and he turned to watch her go. Maybe she got into a fight with her mother? As drawn to her as he was, he really didn’t know much about his newest friend. And after this was over, he’d never see her again.
He was making his way over to the nearest waitress to grab a cocktail when he heard the bout of laughter from behind him. He glanced over to where Stranger stood with a group of men and immediately noticed the newcomer. This wasn’t just a random guest, though. It was Jonathan Sterling.
Jonathan Sterling, the owner of the Killion Group and the man who had his finger in dozens of different criminal enterprises. Chances were that a good portion of the money that Greg Stranger laundered was for operations run by Jonathan Sterling. From stolen information to human trafficking: Killion Group did everything—and Stranger was his partner in crime.
Austin didn’t usually drink on the job, but he took a deep drink of the cocktail in his hand. He was going to need this.
He turned away from Stranger and Sterling. It was one thing to have Greg Stranger know what he looked like. He didn’t want to be on Sterling’s radar at all. Luckily, Phillip was just coming into the room and Austin pounced on him. “Phil! Hey man, how’s prep for the big day coming? Greg have you running around like crazy?”
The bedraggled assistant’s half-smile told Austin he was closer to the truth than he thought. “Going to be the wedding of the century,” said Phillip in a tone that suggested how little he actually cared about weddings in general.
“So who’s the worse slave driver? The bride or the groom?” He didn’t need to ask the question. It didn’t help him at all. But he couldn’t help but be curious about the woman behind the whole evening.
“Oh, Greg is a groomzilla, no question. Isobel would’ve been happy to elope but Greg is the one who wanted it here, his most expensive home, and he invited more frenemies than actual friends.”
So Stranger wanted to show off. Hardly surprising. Also, the more money he had, the more successful people assumed he was and the more jobs he’d get. “Isobel wanted to elope, huh?” Somehow, she seemed like the type who would like the attention. At that very moment, she smiled while a flock of women seemed to follow her every m
ove. She played the part of socialite arm trophy well.
“Isobel only had one requirement. She didn’t care about the dress, venue, or food. She just wanted jewelry that would, quote ‘make her feel like a princess.’”
“Like an engagement ring?”
Phillip shrugged. “I know she ended up with a nice ring, but that’s not all. Greg was able to get something on loan from some bigwig. Small price to pay, if you ask me.”
Austin had a feeling Phillip knew more than he was saying, but he was trying not to give away all his boss’s secrets. He could respect that. So Isobel had encouraged Stranger to borrow the Dragon Heart. Was it just a coincidence?
At a normal rehearsal dinner, there would be a, well, a rehearsal. But this seemed to be something different. More like a pre-party that probably cost more than most couples’ weddings.
Phillip’s phone went off and he excused himself before he ran off to deal with who knew what.
“You look lost,” said a voice from behind him.
He looked over his shoulder to see Melody Murray there. Strange that she was talking to him when Jennifer seemed to want nothing to do with him. “Not lost,” corrected Austin. “Calculating my next move.”
She didn’t look amused at his choice of words. Funny. He knew that if he’d used the same line on Jennifer, he would’ve gotten a brow raise or something. So he went on to explain himself. “I’m supposed to be networking. I’m trying to do the cost benefit analysis of how boring someone is to talk to and how much they can help my career.”
Still no change of expression. Maybe she’d just gotten Botox or something. Though she was so young that he had a hard time imagining that...
“If you don’t want to be here, why don’t you just leave?”
“Uhhh...work.”
Melody didn’t seem convinced. “Some jobs just aren’t worth it.”
“I think I missed it, but what do you do again?”
That got a wistful smile out of her, at least. “I used to work retail but I’m between jobs at the moment.”
It was strange to think of someone so closely related to Isobel and Jennifer working behind a cash register at the local department store. But now that he thought about it, Jennifer never told him what she did for a living. And as far as he knew, Isobel was just a socialite before she met Stranger.
So what made this family so special?
Melody didn’t seem like the kind to bullshit, so Austin got right to the point. “What are you doing here?”
She frowned. “I’m here for my mother’s wedding.”
“No. Here talking to me when I can’t help but feel like you don’t even like me.”
She tilted her head before she glanced to her mother and sister. “I think my sister likes you more than even she thinks. So I’m trying to figure out if that’s a good thing or not. My family isn’t an easy one to get along with.”
Austin stiffened. Jennifer was talking about him to her sister? Maybe she thought things were more serious than they were. “I hate to break it to you, but your sister and I haven’t, I mean, we aren’t—”
“Don’t worry. She’s not planning the wedding yet. Actually, I don’t think she wants anything to do with you right now. But there’s something...” She shrugged. “I don’t know. I felt like there was something there that I’ve never seen before. Figured I’d talk to you about it now before it’s too late.”
That got his attention. “Too late for what?”
She smiled as if there was something she knew and he didn’t. “You know, with the wedding and all that, I figure I won’t get another chance to talk to you. Anyway, I better get going. You have a nice night, Austin.”
She crossed the room to join her family and Jennifer briefly met his eyes before she looked away. Was something happening that he didn’t know about? Austin stiffened and looked around the room. The guards were at their posts and hadn’t moved all night. The blond one seemed extra interested in Melody, but she was hot, so that didn’t surprise Austin too much.
The biggest variables in the room, Stranger and Sterling, were still being chummy on the right side of the room, and Isobel wasn’t too far away. Austin wouldn’t mind meeting the evil mastermind behind the Killion Group, but considering he was about to steal from the guy, he’d rather stay under the radar.
“What were you talking to him about?” asked Jennifer as soon as Mel reached her.
“Wedding stuff,” said Mel innocently. “What else?”
Jennifer had no idea, but there had been something about the way they’d been looking at each other that told her there was more to the conversation than that. Not a romantic look. More...intense. Calculating. Normally she never questioned those instincts, but she didn’t want to think about her sister talking to someone about things she shouldn’t, especially not the guy they were about to set up. “You’re not planning anything, are you?”
Mel rolled her eyes. “I was just curious about him, okay? Nothing else.”
Jennifer finally nodded. It would have to do for now. “Okay. Isobel is planning on making a move right after dinner starts. Most people will be too distracted. If Austin moves sooner, we’ll have to adjust our plans.”
Mel shrugged. “Fine. I’m ready.”
“Okay. One of the guards, the blond one, has been watching you all night. If we get caught in a bind, I recommend you get him to help you.”
Proving that she still remembered her training, Mel didn’t immediately look. “I’m daughter of the bride. It makes sense that the guards would have their eye on me.”
Yeah, but something told Jennifer that it was more. Mel had an innocence about her that tended to attract all sorts of men, usually no-good ones like her ex. However, while working jobs, that innocent look worked to their advantage.
Jennifer didn’t have a naturally innocent look, but she took after her mother’s fast talking and quick thinking that could get them out of trouble. She might not look innocent, but she could convince even the most skeptical of men that she was an angel.
Maybe not Austin. He’d already seen a bit of her bad side.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” asked Isobel.
Jennifer tried not to jump at her mother’s sudden question. She’d been so lost in her thoughts that she’d become unfocused. Not how she wanted to start the night. “Just trying to think of all the possibilities.”
“Well, you do that. I’m going to talk to Gregory about how tomorrow is going to go and maybe even try on my necklace,” said Isobel. “I’m sure you can keep yourself busy while I’m gone.”
Jennifer kept her concern from her face as she smiled at her mother. “Have fun. Don’t let the diamonds blind you.” Her way of telling her mother to be careful. Her role was the most important part of the evening if they were going to pull this off.
Isobel gave her a quick wink and didn’t appear nervous at all. Who was Jennifer kidding? This is what her mother lived for: the rush, the deception. Isobel was in her element here and doing what she was born to do.
And on some level, Jennifer totally understood. It was intoxicating to lie and get away with it. To have people doing exactly what you wanted, when you wanted. That was a kind of power that very few people experienced and on some level, she was grateful that she’d been able to experience it.
If only she could get the other resident thief to behave. She glanced across the room to where Austin nursed a drink. He’d polished off one of the signature wedding cocktails, but hadn’t taken a sip of the second one.
Why would he be drinking? He was working a job, just like her. She was annoyed all over again just thinking about it. All his lawyer talk and acting as though it were his first time in first class...please. He was just another liar.
What had he thought he’d gain by making moves on her? It wasn’t as if she could hand him the necklace and he hadn’t been trying to use her to get closer to where they were keeping it. Well, not yet. The night was still young. Isobel, Mel, and she
all had their own timeline, but Austin was the wild card. The second he made a move, she was going to be on him, no matter what was happening.
Now or never, thought Austin. The servers just put down the main course of dinner and no one would be more into their food than right now. Even in ten minutes, people might be excusing themselves to get a smoke or use the bathroom. But the first few minutes after a fresh, perfectly cooked filet mignon was put in front of them, people had more important things on their mind.
He pushed out his chair and gave his neighbor a quick smile before he turned to leave. No one would be suspicious of someone walking out of dinner. But he had to worry the second he started going outside the norm. So he took the expected turn and went right toward the bathrooms. This was the same section of hallway he’d cleared last night before being interrupted by Jennifer.
Except he already knew the necklace wasn’t being stored here. It was on the other side of the house, with a guard in front and probably in a safe Austin still didn’t have a chance to scope out.
His heart rate started to increase and Austin had to consciously focus on his breathing to keep it under control. The best and worst part of his job: not knowing exactly what was going to come, but knowing that if he pulled it off, he’d have bragging rights for the rest of his life.
Step one was to get past the guards. He was good in a fight and all, but hitting people tended to be loud. And they never went down as quickly or quietly as you wanted. So he had one ace up his sleeve, delivered over the fence by Hart earlier that day.
Once he saw the coast was clear, he went down the hall until he reached the center of the house. But instead of going straight for the necklace, he went for the front door. No one would be suspicious of a guy walking away from the big score.
But once he got outside, things would change. He checked one of the bushes and the package Hart had dropped off was right where Austin had placed it earlier. Now or never, he told himself again. Austin looked at his watch right as he flipped the switch. Sometimes high-tech security systems could be a bitch but sometimes they worked against themselves.
The Cocky Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 1) Page 6
