“Yes, but they decided they wouldn’t last minute.” Shelby sighed. “They don’t want to risk liability in the bigger picture.”
“That…okay. Whatever.” Kade rolled his eyes.
Yeah, that was about how she felt, too, but it wasn’t like she could make a bunch of nervous art buffs get over the idea that they were caught up in some sort of heist movie. This was real life. It was often a lot messier, with higher body counts. The way Shelby saw it, this way was more of a headache but controlling it from beginning to end meant less chance someone got hurt who wasn’t part of the greater scheme.
“Okay, do I need to go over what happens after again?” Rusty asked.
“No, I think we got it the first six times,” Shelby said.
“I might be a little fuzzy on that last part,” Kade said slowly.
“Stop trying to be cute. You aren’t.” Shelby threw a balled-up piece of paper at Kade.
Kade caught it, a grin spreading across his face.
“We got this,” he said, as if he knew she was all knotted up inside.
“Okay, I’ll be in contact. You two—get some rest. The next three days are going to be intense. I’m off to brief the rest of the team.” Rusty gathered up his things while Shelby and Kade remained in their respective corners.
She’d avoided contact with him since he’d arrived following his shift. Shelby wasn’t certain what she’d do if he touched her. Burst into tears. Climb him like a tree. Never let go. She was beginning to lose trust in herself where he was concerned. She was no longer objective. Hell, maybe she never had been.
The loft door banged shut and the lock engaged.
Silence.
“Now what?” Kade’s voice was too soft. Too gentle.
“Get some sleep.” She stood and wiped her palms on her hand.
Kade frowned and pulled out his phone.
“It’s Gil…”
“What does he want?” Shelby crossed to Kade’s side.
“No clue.”
“Answer it.” She pushed his shoulder.
Kade flicked his thumb over the answer button, then jabbed the speaker.
“Gil, what’s going on?” Kade kept his tone easy.
“What time’s your walkthrough tomorrow?”
“I think it’s at two.” Kade glanced at her and she nodded. “Why?”
“I’m going with you,” Gil said.
“Uh, I’m not sure that’s possible.”
“Make it happen. Meet me here at one-thirty.”
Gil ended the call.
“What the fuck?” Kade glanced up at her.
Shelby shrugged.
“Sometimes, these things happen. We’ll figure it out,” she said.
“How am I supposed to make that happen?”
“You can’t think of anything?” Given time, Shelby could probably come up with something, but this—like the thumb drive incident—was out of her wheelhouse.
“Maybe… Okay, so I wear the Marshal shirt, I give Gil one of my blue shirts, and I say he’s studying to be a deputy marshal.” Kade frowned. He didn’t have to like it, but if that was their only back up it was all they had.
“That’s good enough. The people we have to fool aren’t going to know the difference and the rest know what we’re doing.” She backed up and sat on the arm of the sofa. “Don’t put too much thought into it. The truth is, if you act like you’re supposed to be somewhere, people don’t often stop to check you out. Gil knows the drill.”
“Yeah, but what about you? You’re going to be there. What if he sees you?”
“He won’t. I start load-in at eight. We should have everything positioned by noon.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Have a little faith. I’ve done this more times than I want to count.” She grimaced. It wasn’t something she was proud of being good at. “My biggest concern is load-out and getting everything out without damaging the paintings.”
“What about this thing with Ogden and your parents? When were you going to tell me that?” Kade leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
“Never. It’s not personal, it’s just…I don’t talk about it.” She dropped her gaze to the floor. “Most of it’s still pure speculation, actually.”
Shelby spent so much time not thinking about those days, her fears, coming face to face with the reality was… She didn’t know how to process it.
“I’ve spent most of my life trying to forget what happened to my parents. Talking about it… It’s like I’ve trained myself not to.” The problem with remembering was that the feelings were never far behind. No matter how old she got, how many years were between her and their deaths, it never softened the blow.
Her parents weren’t perfect. They weren’t model citizens. But they’d loved each other. They’d loved life and living it. They’d spoiled Shelby, and she’d known it at the time, but what fifteen-year-old considers telling her parents to stop?
Kade sat down on the sofa next to her. Close enough to touch but still giving her space.
He was a mind reader. Or something.
“Rusty’s been building on his mentor’s case. They’ve been after Ogden for a very long time, but he’s careful. Everything is handled, transported, paid to other people. Never Ogden. You can’t charge someone for being in the same room as a crime and link them to it, without a lot of evidence.”
“Not even as an accessory?”
“He makes even that hard to prove. He’s like…bullet proof.”
“Okay. So, how does your family fit in?”
“Honestly?” She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “We’re still mostly guessing.”
“Lay the conspiracy theory on me.” Kade reached over and placed his hand over hers.
“My dad always used Ogden’s name like a curse. I never met him, not until this gig, but I knew about him. That my parents had a history with him. My best theory is that Ogden had something on my dad, and he used that leverage to force my parents into fencing stolen art. When a deal went bad, my parents lost money, not Ogden.”
“Why would he kill them?”
“No idea. Maybe Mom or Dad found out something, threatened to stop. I remember the day before they died, Dad and Mom had a huge fight because of him, Mom’s party, my birthday and the budget. They made me leave and go out to the pool so I don’t know why—just that Dad was scared. That’s been the biggest question all along. Why would Ogden want to kill them? What would he stand to gain?”
“That must be rough.”
“It was. Has been. I met a guy in my early twenties who Ogden had hired to do something to my parent’s boat. I thought up until then I’d imagined everything, but that was proof.”
“Will he testify?”
“He’s dead.”
“Damn.”
“Rusty brought me a file the other night.”
“Proof?”
“A paper trail that puts Ogden in Miami when my parents died. He was likely staying at the same hotel we were at.”
“But you lived in Miami.”
“Yeah, but it was Mom’s birthday. Dad always did her birthday up big. It’s sort of their love story. Mom was supposed to meet a guy at this club, a blind date, for her birthday. She puts on this red dress and waits. Her friends get up to dance. Guy doesn’t show up. Doesn’t show up. This cute, off-duty bartender kept asking her to dance, but she didn’t want to cheat on her date.”
“Which one was your dad?”
“Are you telling the story or am I?”
“Sorry, go on.”
“The bartender was my dad.”
“Did the other guy ever show up?”
“Yeah, she said he did later, but she’d already gone and fallen in love with my dad. Turns out he owned the bar, secretly, because he liked for people to act natural around him.” Shelby shrugged and smiled. “They got married six months later, after they found out Mom was pregnant.”
“No shit?”
&nb
sp; “Yeah.”
“Why do you think Ogden calls you Sharon?”
“I look like her. The resemblance is scary. It doesn’t mean anything. He knew my parents and they knew him.”
“You’ve never heard from him until now?”
“No, but I’ve intentionally kept away. At first, it was self-preservation, and lately to wait for the perfect moment to pull off a sting. The last few years have been about gathering evidence, building a case out of toothpicks. When I was still doing forgery, I wanted nothing to do with him. Everything I heard made me scared, for good reason.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to charge him with their murder?”
“No.” Shelby finally glanced up at Kade. “He will never pay for what happened to my family. It’s just the nature of the beast. But he can be held accountable for other crimes. All I want is to someday tell him I know what he did. Maybe ask him why. It won’t get me anything, it won’t solve things, but we will both know the truth.”
Kade squeezed her hand. Deep lines of worry creased his face. The corners of his mouth turned down. He didn’t like her answer. But she’d learned a long time ago that the worst people, the ones who really should be punished, rarely got what they deserved.
Shelby had to let it go. And do what she could.
“I’ll be there for you,” Kade said.
And that was what she was afraid of. Yesterday, he should have backed off, but he hadn’t. Because he was a special kind of fucked up in the head. The good kind, but they couldn’t keep doing this.
Shelby had never allowed herself to lean on anyone, to count on someone else, until him. She wasn’t comfortable with wanting him the way she did. It was too intense, too fast. Her parents might have been the type to fall fast and hard, but she didn’t have that luxury.
“About that.” She squeezed his hand and let go. “I think we should keep our distance until this is done. We can’t afford to lose focus.”
“Is that what—”
Kade’s phone rang, cutting off whatever damning question he was going to ask.
“It’s Anton.” He grimaced.
“Answer it. You have to act normal.”
20.
Kade did not want to talk to his brother. Either of them. Between getting him involved in this mess and stealing from his apartment, Kade was about ready to disown them both. But his brothers wouldn’t hesitate to hang him out to dry. They only cared about themselves.
“Yeah?” He flicked his finger over the speaker button.
“Kade—you there, man?” Anton sounded breathless.
“What’s going on?”
“We need to meet.”
“Why?”
“We just do, man.”
“Where are you?”
“Your apartment.”
“Came by to finish clearing my stuff out?”
“Just get over here.”
Kade glanced at Shelby, who nodded.
“Fine.” He sighed. “Just don’t take the damn bed.”
Kade ended the call and sat back. The last thing he wanted to do was run off to talk to his brothers. He didn’t want to leave things like this between him and Shelby.
“You coming with me?” he asked.
“No. That sounded like family stuff.”
“There is no family stuff with us. Come on.” Kade wasn’t in the mood to argue, and if he had to pick between Shelby or his brothers, well, his own flesh and blood hadn’t cared about him much over the years.
“This isn’t—”
“They already know we’re something. It’s going to be a lot weirder if we aren’t together.” He glanced at her legs. She was still wearing his shirt—now liberally streaked with paint.
He’d wondered earlier if there were shorts under there.
Now he knew. There weren’t.
“I’m not leaving without you.” He held out his hand.
“I have to get dressed.” She let him pull her to her feet.
“Yeah, I’d say.”
“Stop looking at me like that.” She smacked his shoulder.
Kade held up his hands.
One minute, she wanted him, the next she didn’t. He was starting to feel like some of his patients, complaining about menopause or something.
The painting maze was gone, leaving just empty space.
He found somewhere else to look while Shelby put on clothes.
What was happening between them?
He didn’t have a word for it.
“Ready.” Shelby was back in her dark jeans and tank top, boots and black leather jacket.
They didn’t speak on their way out, either. Kade didn’t trust his mouth or what might pop out of it. Instead, he handed her into his truck, got behind the wheel, and pointed them toward his apartment.
He parked in his spot and let them into the building with his key card.
“What ever happened with the mirror? I thought that was supposed to keep them out.” Shelby asked.
“They broke it. How much do you want to bet one of them says whatever shit they’re in now is because of that stupid mirror?”
“I’m not taking that bet.”
“I’m surprised I haven’t gotten a chewing out by Sasha.”
“He’s like that?”
“You have no idea.” Kade shook his head. “The three of us are pretty close in age, but Sasha and Anton remember our nomadic years better than I do. The people we traveled with…”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Just let me do the talking. I’m sure they’re just getting worked up about this.” Kade unlocked the door and stepped in quickly.
The unmistakable metallic smell in the air had his stomach clenching.
“Kade—what the fuck is the gaje doing here?” Anton rushed towards them, his hands covered in blood.
“What happened to Sasha?”
“In here,” Sasha yelled.
“This is because of that damn mirror. You cursed us, bro. Not cool. Oh, man.”
Kade rushed into the master bathroom and pulled up short.
Sasha crouched over the same man who’d ridden with them to the meet with Ogden. Blood covered their clothes, and it was all over the pale tile.
“Shit,” Shelby muttered.
“Move. What happened?” Kade shoved Sasha aside and began assessing the man’s wounds.
Could he breathe properly?
How aware was he?
Where was the blood coming from?
“Shelby—my kit’s in the coat closet.” Kade yelled over his shoulder.
“On it,” she said.
“What’s your name? Hey? Can you hear me?”
“What do you mean, what’s your name? It’s Sean, dumbass.”
“Fuck his name—is he going to die?” Sasha crouched at his side.
“Buddy, hey, talk to me.” Kade waved his hand in front of the guy’s face.
The man’s eyes tracked the movement.
“S-Sean.”
“Good, Sean. That’s good. How’d you get hurt?”
“He was fucking shot.” Sasha gestured at the holes in the man’s chest.
“He needs a hospital.” Kade could only guess at how much blood the guy had lost—and would continue to lose—if he didn’t get someplace fast.
“No,” Sasha barked.
“Here.” Shelby edged into the bathroom, his kit in hand.
“Did the bullets go straight through?” Kade grabbed his stethoscope with one hand while he counted the man’s pulse with his other. Not good.
“I think so,” Sasha said.
“Yes,” Anton blurted.
Kade only needed a moment to hear the way the man’s breath rattled. Coupled with his heart rate, he didn’t like the guy’s chances.
“Either he gets to a hospital or he dies,” Kade said.
“You can’t patch him up?” Anton still hadn’t set foot in the bathroom.
“He’s dying,” Shelby said over them all. “What the hell were
you doing?”
“No one asked you, you fucking gaje.” Anton paced away from them. “We were just doing a job. Oh, man.”
“Don’t you fucking talk to her that way, Anton. I’m warning you.” Kade’s biggest concern was to stop the bleeding. Judging by the sluggish way they were oozing, Sean had been shot—what? An hour or two ago? “I’m calling this in. Get out of here, take Anton with you.”
“All right.” Sasha glanced up. “She comes with us.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you. I’ll leave.”
“Shelby, use my phone. He’s not going to last much longer. Go, Sasha. Now!”
Shelby dug Kade’s phone out of his pocket while Sasha and Anton.
“This is bad, Kade,” Shelby said.
“Yeah, I can see that.”
“No—he’s our driver.”
Shit.
Shelby stood back and watched the paramedics wheel Sean out of Kade’s apartment. She hadn’t been able to get out of the apartment in time, not once Kade began chest compressions.
No sooner had the gurney crossed the threshold than a familiar dark-haired, blue-eyed man entered.
“Do I want to know?” he asked.
The cop. Detective. Fuck. Owen…King? That was his name, wasn’t it?
“Hey, man. You get this call?” Kade scowled.
“I’m not here in an official capacity. Just got off when I heard, thought I’d come over and check on you.” Owen thumbed over his shoulder. “Detectives are talking to your neighbors.”
“Shit,” Kade muttered.
“My advice? Not that you asked…”
“What?” Shelby was a little intrigued. A cop helping them cover up a really questionable situation?
“Throw your brothers under the bus on this one.” Owen focused on Kade. “Listen to me. I know you don’t want to, but if what I think happened, they’re going to connect this guy to a break-in that happened six blocks from here.”
“God damn it.” Kade tipped his head back and sighed.
“Kade?” Shelby tugged on his hand.
“What?”
“This is all well and good—but what are we going to do?” She didn’t see a way for their driver.
“Going to do—is this…” Owen’s gaze bounced between them.
“Yeah,” Kade replied.
Her Prince (Twisted Royals #2) Page 17
