He’d called her Sharon.
Her mother’s name.
She’d always known her parents knew Ogden. Hell, her father had blamed him for running their art gallery into the ground. She’d never found out why or how, only that her father laid it at the feet of that man back there.
Her parents had secrets they’d never shared with her. She’d been young. And now they were gone. Shelby wanted answers, she wanted to put that man behind bars and watch Rusty grill him until every single rotten corner of that man’s history was examined, all the skeletons dragged out.
She shuddered and grabbed her helmet off the bike.
This was wrong. All of it. And she didn’t know why.
13.
Kade wiped his brow and sank into the booth.
“You look like hell.” Detective Owen King tilted his head to the side, those eerie blue eyes of his stabbing Kade to the spot.
“Exhausted. I swear it’s been go-go-go since I clocked in.” It was a Herculean effort for Kade to lift his arms and slap palms with Owen.
“What was it?”
“Elder fall and two car accidents.”
“Everyone okay?”
“They’ll all live another day, but…” Kade shook his head. He’d done chest compressions until his arms ached at that last scene. It’d been touch and go for a moment.
“Okay, with the way your day is going, you’ll get called out again soon, so let’s do this fast.” Owen pulled out his phone. They paused long enough to place an order—Kade’s in a to-go box—before Owen brought up his photo gallery.
“You found Rusty?”
“Rusty Rogers. He is a FBI agent, there’s some buzz about him. I guess he’s openly gay, and that is a thing.” Owen shrugged and flipped pictures. “He checks out. He’s based out of DC, but it seems that he travels a lot for case work. You could easily call this guy—his supervisor—if you want to verify anything he says or whatever.”
“You send that to me?”
“Yup. Okay—you want the bad news or the bad news, now?” Owen turned the screen back toward himself and stared at Kade.
“The guy. What about him?” He wasn’t ready to hear anything about Shelby yet.
“I keep wanting to call him Justin, but it’s Ie-styn. Iestyn Ogden, he once had dual citizenship in the UK and America. His father was a military strategist we stole. Iestyn sort of followed in his father’s footsteps by joining the Royal Air Force, but he was dishonorably discharged. My guess, he was left the military to pursue a more profitable life of crime.”
“He’s the mustache twirling villain, I get it. What about Shelby?”
Owen pressed his lips together and laid his phone face down on the table. Kade couldn’t glance away. It was the way Owen looked at him, that soul-deep, cop stare of his.
“What?” Kade drummed his fingers on the table.
“Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, if she’s working with the FBI, everything I have on her could be fake.”
“I just…how much of it’s real? What can I trust? Who is she really?”
“Let’s stick to the facts.” Owen turned his phone over. “Shelby Amos, thirty years old. She turns thirty-one in three weeks. Her parents were Sharon and Michael, South Beach sweethearts. She painted, modeled, hosted parties. He owned three art galleries and taught at a local community college, some sort of art appreciation course. They were elected South Beach’s most photogenic couple, and she was crowned queen at one of those beach pageant deals.”
“Damn, Shelby looks just like her.” Kade peered at a woman who could have been Shelby’s twin.
“Yeah, it took me a second, too. They died in a boating accident when Shelby was fifteen, right before she turned sixteen. I’m not clear on what happened, but her parent’s galleries were seized by the IRS and their savings were just—gone. No one had answers about the accident, lots of questions, and that’s where little Shelby’s problems started.”
“She said she got in trouble for art forgery and theft.” Kade scrubbed a hand over his jaw.
“You sure you want answers?” Owen asked. “I mean, it’s one thing to verify her story but it’s a whole other thing to go digging.”
“Taylor still chewing your ass out?” Kade chuckled.
“Yeah, and Ian has said a few times that he learned a bit too much, so think long and hard about how much you want to know.” Owen’s gaze narrowed. “Something going on with her?”
“Maybe.”
“You haven’t stopped fidgeting.” Owen nodded at Kade’s hands. “Want to talk about it?”
“Are you questioning me now?” He flattened his hands against the table and chuckled.
“Just trying to be a good friend.”
“Sorry—yeah. Maybe. It’s…I’m all jumbled up about this.”
“I bet. You said your brothers are involved?”
Kade had texted Owen the highlights of the last four days. Was it just four? It felt like a week.
“Not that it’s any of my business, but things get complicated when you let yourself get involved. Look at what happened to Ian.” Owen gave him a knowing look.
Kade nodded. Yeah, he’d been front and center for the circus that surrounded Ian’s one-man save-the-princess act. As the one guy in the group with medical training, it fell to Kade to pick up their pieces from time to time. He’d even gotten a disciplinary suspension over helping. And yet, he’d do it again. Because they’d done the right thing. They’d helped a guy who would have otherwise died. And now, well, Ian and Taylor seemed to be doing all right. Maybe there was such a thing as jumping in too deep, but he was probably there already.
“You know what?” Kade placed his hand on Owen’s phone. “Don’t tell me. If you think I need to know, run it by me. Otherwise—it doesn’t matter.”
“You sure?” Owen asked.
“She’s already told me most of what you said, and really, I just wanted to know how much I could trust her. If she’s working for the FBI, if she’s doing what she needs to for them, the rest doesn’t matter.”
“That’s a nice sentiment, but are you sure you’re okay with that? If I’m in the field, I want to know I can trust the people at my back.”
“Yeah, that would be nice, but I don’t think I’ve got that luxury.” Kade stared at the water glass, the condensation beading on the sides, and all he could see were the cards. Their varied meanings.
This was why he liked Mom to read them. She saw patterns, a flow, that eluded him. He knew there were currents, that the path was tricky, but he wasn’t sure which one was his. Only way to find out was to see where the water took him.
Shelby paced the living room, back and forth, one side to the other. Her head wouldn’t stop buzzing, she couldn’t turn off her thoughts, the suspicions.
The front door rattled in the jamb.
She turned to face it and drew her gun. She hadn’t actually needed to fire on anyone in…well, in a long time, but—
The door swung inward.
Kade stopped in the entry, lips parted.
He froze for a second, longer than she did. Shelby breathed a sigh of relief and holstered her weapon.
“Someone here?” He shut his front door behind him and flipped the lock.
“No. Sorry. I…didn’t know where else to go.”
“What’s wrong? What happened?” He dropped his bag in the entry and crossed the living room to her. “Shelby? Talk to me.”
“Something’s wrong.” She stared at him.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I just—know something is wrong.”
“Okay.” He rubbed at his face. If anything, he looked worse for wear, after yesterday. “Back up, walk me through what’s happened since you left.”
He glanced left and frowned.
“Oh… Your brothers were here when I got here. They didn’t see me, but they, uh—stole your TV.”
“Of course they did.” Kade just sighed. No anger, no curse, just
bitter acceptance.
Was that how he’d talk about her some day?
He took her by the hand and tugged her toward the sofa.
“Sit. Start from when I last saw you.” He sank down, the old cushions molding to his body.
“I went home to meet up with Rusty—he got the paperwork, by the way. It’s all squared away.” She paced around the coffee table, to the window and back. “The USB was just junk. At least, that’s all we’ve recovered from the files they copied.”
“Who’d you deliver it to?”
“That’s the crazy part. Ogden.”
“He’s here?”
“No, he was on a video chat on this laptop. I had to plug it in, and I guess he got whatever he wanted.” She threw up a hand. “I’m worried he knows something is up.”
“Why do you think that?
“I just do.” She had this sick, gnawing sensation that things were so very off. “If I were planning this gig, I’d stop. I’d call it off and wait.”
“Why?”
“Because,” she snapped.
“You aren’t making any sense, Shelby. Did Ogden do something? Did he say something?”
Shelby turned before her face gave her away.
Ogden had called her Sharon during the video chat.
That was pretty damn creepy. She’d never met the guy before, and she’d wondered about the connection to her parents. Now, she knew Ogden had at least met her mother. Enough times that he remembered what she looked like.
“Shelby? Did you hear me?”
“Yes,” she snapped again. Crap. “Sorry, I’m just… I can’t explain it.”
She gazed out the window onto the street, watching people come and go. The sofa squeaked and Kade groaned. She tracked his heavy footsteps across the apartment toward her.
The only person who knew about the connection between her family and Ogden was herself—and Rusty. Because he’d had the same theories, the same questions. It was their closely-guarded secret. If Ogden knew they were onto him, that they were looking into the connection, who knew what he’d do?
“Shelby?” Kade’s hands wrapped around her shoulders.
She didn’t want to be held, but she didn’t want to be left alone, either. She wanted to…needed to move. To think. To talk. She squeezed his arm.
“Sorry about the TV,” she said.
“I’ll…I don’t know. Not watch TV. I’m amazed they leave anything at all.”
“They probably didn’t have a way to carry it all.”
“Clearly, you’ve spent some time around my brothers.” Kade’s tone was dry, a little humor mixed in.
“You’re nothing like them, you know?”
“Thanks, I think.”
“It is a compliment. Not that your brothers are all that bad, by criminal standards.”
“Shelby? What did Ogden say? Did he do something?”
“No…just…I can’t explain it.”
“I can’t help you do anything, if you can’t tell me about it.”
“I didn’t come here for answers.”
“Fine. Sorry. I thought I was helping.” Kade’s grip relaxed.
“No—just…” Shelby turned to face him. “You are helping. You are.”
She opened and closed her mouth.
The urge to tell him things, to confide in him, was overriding her better sense. Kade had slipped past her defenses from the moment they’d met. Maybe before that. And now…
There was no way she could tell him. Even though she wanted to, she’d signed papers, promised to not breathe a word of the investigation to anyone. That included Kade.
He must have seen it on her face.
Kade sighed and pulled away, turning his back on her.
Shelby stared at his back, mouth open, the words caught in her throat. But she couldn’t. No matter what she wanted, it didn’t matter. Because in the end this—with him—was a job. And she’d forgotten that. She and Rusty had a good relationship, he got her, and still they never lost sight of what they were doing. Who they were. With Kade…it wasn’t so simple.
He was the kind of guy who’d never believe a lie.
He saw straight through her.
Even now, he could sense the secrets.
“You had a long shift?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m pretty tired.”
“Get some rest then.” She forced herself to walk by him to the door. “We’ve got six days until the heist. I’ll talk to you later.”
Shelby ducked out the door, fairly certain she heard Kade growling her name.
Well, she couldn’t tell him the truth and he wouldn’t listen to a lie. What was she supposed to do?
She needed to remember that this was work. A job. No matter what happened between her and Kade, nothing could come of it. In six days, after this gig, he was out of her life. The noose would close around Ogden, there’d be an investigation, but her part would be done. She’d either be on to the next case, or out.
Out might be nice, but what the hell would she do?
Consulting on art security wasn’t exactly a booming business. Sure, she took the jobs that came her way, but was that really something she could make a living at? She’d already failed at being a starving artist—she liked to eat too much. At thirty years old she didn’t want to go back to school, so what else was there? Was there even a life after all of this?
Shelby climbed onto her motorcycle and shoved the helmet on her head. The mist that’d covered the city all day might develop into real rain at any moment. She needed to go home and do some work on the last few paintings.
Halfway to her loft, her phone started vibrating. She let it ring to voicemail once, twice, three freaking times.
The only person who called her like that was Rusty.
She parked the bike in the garage and pulled out her phone, scowling at the screen.
Five missed calls—from Kade.
But only one voicemail.
Did she want to listen to it?
She pressed the phone to her ear and headed for the stairs.
“Hey, I guess you’re driving. Be careful. I’m sorry I was an ass. I need to figure out how to be okay with not knowing things. Just because you can’t tell me doesn’t mean you’re lying. Anyway, I’m going to crash for a few hours. I’m going to the pub later, if you want to get out and be around people. I’ll probably eat there, since it appears that my brothers cleaned out my fridge, too. Stay safe, Shelby.”
She even had a text.
An address.
To his pub.
She wouldn’t go, though. That was clear. She couldn’t. She had to stay away from Kade, end of story. Girls like her didn’t get the happily ever after.
14.
Kade paused outside the pub, peering through the windows. Most of the guys were there, clustered around what was supposed to be a large, communal table. Evenings when their group descended en masse, they usually took it over.
Maybe he wasn’t looking to be around this many people. He’d hoped a handful of the guys would be around, but…shit.
Trivia Night.
Of course.
He’d been so caught up in the fiasco with his brothers that he hadn’t realized what day it was. Maybe they’d let him off the hook and he could sit out of the game.
Kade circled around to the patio entrance, out of sight from the more vocal members of their crowd.
He wanted to be around people. He didn’t want a standing ovation for just showing up.
“Hey, man.” Kade nodded at Duke and slid onto the stool next to him at the very end of the table.
“Where have you been?” Levi asked. It was mildly amusing that the guy ever noticed anything, since ninety-nine percent of the time he was staring at his tablet or phone. He sat adjacent to Duke, glued to his hip was more like it. They were an odd pairing of friends, but whatever.
“Busy.” Kade caught Aunt Liv’s eye at the bar.
She grinned and gestured to the computer. He gave her a thu
mb’s up. Bless her for reading his mind.
“How much do you know about eardrums?” Levi glanced up, the corners of his mouth turned down.
“Depends on how much you want to know.” Kade shrugged. “I’ve seen a fair number of injuries.”
“I’m guessing these are mostly combat injuries?”
“Right.”
“Hm. Not really what I’m thinking about.” Levi hummed and tapped his screen.
“What are you working on?” Kade peered at the screen but it was all gibberish.
“What do you think?” Duke sipped his beer.
“Okay, how fast are you trying to make someone go?” Kade chuckled.
“Faster.” Levi grinned. His buttoned up, nerd-guy look was rather deceiving. He was the meanest speed demon, more dangerous because he insisted science was the answer to a better, faster ride.
Kade shook his head.
“This seat taken?”
That voice.
An invisible hand closed around his throat and squeezed.
His heart felt as though it paused, the blood building up until his chest strained to contain it all.
“Uh, no, you can sit there,” Levi said without glancing up.
Kade turned and his breath whooshed out of his lungs.
Shelby slid onto the seat next to him, her knees bumping his legs.
“I didn’t think you’d come,” he said.
“I wasn’t going to.” She tilted her head to the side. Her hair was tied back and she was again dressed in jeans, motorcycle boots and a leather jacket.
“Why did you, then?”
She shrugged, her eyes roving over his face.
He should have been more patient with her. Her intuition told her something was wrong, and that was worth listening to.
“About earlier—”
“Don’t worry about it.” She shrugged.
“Here you are, love.” Aunt Liv breezed by with a beer, her gaze landing on Shelby with interest. Likely because she wasn’t one of the usual, self-dubbed Prince Chasers, the fan club that’d developed around their viral video. “What can I get your friend?”
“Aunt Liv, this is Shelby. She’ll be on my tab.”
“Some water, please?”
“Sure, dear. Anything to eat?”
Her Prince (Twisted Royals #2) Page 12
