To Catch a Thief

by Nana Malone

  I shook my head. "You and I never slept together."

  "Oh, is that the story you're telling yourself?"

  "It never happened."

  "Ah, but weren't we close, love? You always pretended you wanted it, and then you’d pretend you didn’t. Such a tease."

  The shame of those years washed through me, and I wanted to choke on it. And standing here in front of Ollie, I couldn't say anything to make him believe me. "Ollie, I…"

  Max took the safety off the gun, and I stopped talking.

  "No, that is enough, Rian. Ollie, I'm going to let you live because Tessa would be very cross with me indeed if I killed you. But I'm going to walk out of here with her. And you're not going to do a fucking thing about it."

  My gaze went to Ollie. "You don't have to threaten him. I'll go with you. I'm going to put my clothes on."

  Max said, "Oh no, you're not. I've already got clothes in this bag for you." He tossed the bag to me. "You will get dressed in the car where I can keep my eye on you." He grinned.

  I watched Ollie. "I'm sorry, I didn't…"

  He growled, "You lied. This whole time you were lying. You weren't scared at all."

  "I was scared. I've been balancing all of this, and I didn't know what to do. Who to go to. I had no one.”

  "That's enough,” Max said. “We won't talk about my past sins. Little brother, back away." He waved the gun at Ollie.

  But Ollie didn’t back away, and instead he turned toward me. Then Max turned his gun on me and said, "Little brother, I told you to back off. I will kill her."

  Ollie stopped dead in his tracks. "Let her go. Take me instead."

  Max shook his head. "Nope. You've already done that. Sacrificed yourself, me, even Tessa for her. We're not doing that again. This time I get the prize. So back on up, or I will kill her."

  He eased back. I tried to communicate with him with my eyes to let him know I was sorry.

  But as Max used zip ties to restrain him, Ollie’s jaw was firm and set. He wouldn't have believed me anyway. And now, with no way to contact DI Jones, I was stuck with Max on my own, forced to do what he wanted.

  Twenty-Six

  Oliver

  I tugged and pulled at the zip ties as they cut into my flesh. Fucking Max. Of course, fucking Max. Tessa had tried to warn me. She’d told me to be careful. Why hadn't I listened? Why did I think that I was untouchable? Max had managed to pull me back into a world I didn't want to be in. He’d managed to bring me back into that darkness that I'd worked so hard to claw myself out of.

  In mere moments, he'd ripped everything away. And this time, it was Rian that had brought him back into my life. Sure, I'd done the Cox job out of necessity. But Rian working with the cops had shocked me to my core. Exactly what had she told them? How much did they know? Were they coming for me?

  My mind spun as I worked my body around, trying to get my hands underneath my ass. I rolled and contorted myself until my hands were where I needed them. And then I sat on them and scooted them down.

  Fuck, why would he take her?

  This is on you. All because you chose her.

  She had lied to me. Every time I'd asked her what was happening, who that woman was, what she was doing, she'd looked me in the eye and lied to my face. Did that really make sense? I was the fool who believed her. Believed that her return was a mere coincidence, even though all my instincts cried out that it wasn't as simple as her coming back.

  I scooted my legs forward. I was grateful for my flexibility because I was able to get one leg through, and then the next.

  When I got to my knees, I brought my arms forward and tugged them back over the corner of my hip, breaking the zip ties. Just as I got to my feet, the door to the flat opened. I scrambled for the bedside drawer and quickly palmed the gun I knew Liam kept there. Was it Max? What the hell had he done with Rian? And then I eased back to peer over the edge of the loft. I was relieved when I saw Bridge. "What are you doing here?"

  "I was afraid we might be too late. What happened?"

  "It's a long story, but my brother tied me up and took Rian. Please help me find her."

  He rolled his eyes. "I swear to God, you lads act like we know nothing. Haven't you seen by now? From the Colton Cox thing to your brother, we know it all. You can’t have secrets from us. Not from the Elite."

  "All right then, so help me. Help Rian. He took her, and I don’t know what to do, where he’d go. I’m out of options here."

  "Yeah, I gathered that. Any idea where he might be?”

  I shook my head. "She'd been talking to a detective, a DI Jones who was trying to get wind of Max. If they've been following him, she might have an idea."

  Bridge called over his shoulder. "East, get on it. Get something on DI Jones."

  East frowned. "Do you mean the same Detective Inspector who tried to nail us on the Van Linsted thing?"

  I frowned at that. "What Van Linsted thing?"

  Bridge shook his head. "It doesn't matter. It turns out this is not the first time we've dealt with DI Jones."

  "Is that good or bad?"

  "Right now, it's just information. Get your shit together. Let's go figure out where Rian is."

  I rolled my shoulder and grimaced.

  Bridge noticed it. "What happened to you?"

  "I did actually fight for her, you know."

  He studied me. "You didn't know she was working with the detective?"

  I shook my head. "Nope. Not until Max walked in. It turns out he was behind that little intrusion into her flat, not Colton Cox. He's been watching her this whole time. He's obsessed with her."

  "Right. Imagine how much easier this would all be if you'd been honest in the beginning."

  "It's not really the time for that, is it?"

  He shrugged.

  Ben called from downstairs. "We'll figure this out. There's nothing Bridge loves more than a solid I told you so."

  "Get dressed then come downstairs and fill us in. We know some details, but you should probably paint a better picture."

  "Yeah, on my way." I just hoped I wasn't too fucking late.

  Rian

  I had done this.

  It was my fault I was in this position. If I was at all fatalistic, I would say I was in this position because I was always meant to be here.

  My father had been right. God, I could picture the look on his face now, smug, foreboding. Just like the day he took me to have my name changed. Standing over me, stripping me of everything that I was. God, he would love to have known that he was right.

  I shouldn't have come back. And God knows I should've stayed clear the fuck away from Max and Ollie. But none of that mattered. I prayed that Ollie was okay. I was the reason he was hurt. If I'd just told DI Jones to shove it, none of this would be happening.

  "Did you have a nice nap? I slipped you a little party drug. My own signature cocktail, if you will."

  My legs felt so heavy that all I wanted to do was fall back into unconsciousness, but I couldn't. I needed to know. "Where's Ollie? What did you do with him?"

  "Goddamn, what is it with you and my brother? You were mine first."

  "Um, you can't own people. You should probably study your history."

  I was antagonizing him. And I still felt odd. My speech was too slow, not slurred so much, but like my mouth was having a hard time catching up to my brain.

  "Oh God, you think you’re so fucking smart."

  "Yeah, possibly. I thought I had it all figured out, that everything was going to be great. But I recognize this is a trap of my own making. I should've just left you the hell alone.”

  Max laughed low. "See, that's the thing. I'm not here because of your little scheme with DI Jones. I mean, I’m thrilled about it, but I'm here because you couldn't stay away from fucking Ollie."

  I blinked rapidly. "What?"

  "Oh, you thought you were in this pickle because you came looking for me?" He tsked and shook his head. “Nope. You're in this pickle because I saw you
playing tonsil hockey with my brother. You two weren't particularly discreet, were you?" He leaned forward, and his hot breath, laced with the smell of whiskey, rolled over me, making me nauseous. "Seeing you with him… God, it was like being transported all over again. Back to that time when you two shared your secret looks, like I was the idiot. But I wasn't an idiot. I could see you. And I knew what you were up to behind my back. My poor sweet Ollie. He really did give it the old college try. I could tell he tried to stay away from you. He didn't want to, but he tried. But when he finally couldn’t control himself any longer, that ruined everything. Before you turned up, it was me and Ollie against the world. Thanks to you, Ollie didn't want work with me anymore. He wanted to take the bloody high road or whatever the fuck that was. Well, I have zero interest in letting that happen. If I hadn't walked up to you at that stupid fair, none of this would've happened."

  I stared at him. "Are you going to kill me?"

  He grinned. "You know the hilarity of this is that I wouldn't have even known you were here. I mean possibly, eventually. I have a little line into what DI Jones is thinking most of the time. She's not as slick as she thinks she is. If she was so smart, she’d have done what I did. Tracked Ollie. Oh my brother, he always thinks he knows best, better than me anyway. He's got something going. I've been watching him. He might be the planner, the one that sees everything, but I'm not clueless. I see the flash. The new flat. The fact that he never goes to our mom's old house. I see all of that. And he's got Tessa at her new fancy school. My own sister lied to me. Bloody lied about how it's some kind of scholarship. I know she didn't have a scholarship. So whatever game Ollie's got going, I want in. But my brother is stubborn. He's not going to let me in unless he has no other options. So, my dear, I'm using you as an option."

  My eyes glazed. "This is all about Ollie."

  "Ollie and Tessa. We are a family, and you complicate that. I'm surprised you came back, but no matter. You can go back home to wherever the fuck you’re from, or I can dispatch you the old-fashioned way. And I do hate to be an alarmist, but the old-fashioned way might hurt just a tad.”

  "You're going to kill me.

  "I'm just protecting my brother.”

  And I could see that was what he honestly, truly thought. He thought that he was protecting Ollie from me. Panic started to set in. "Well, have you asked Ollie how he feels?”

  "My brother doesn't know what he needs. I'm what he needs."

  He really believed what he was saying to his very core. "Max, you had him planning heists, robberies. He was just a kid.”

  “Oh, don't you look at me like that with your judgment. He was the best at it. So naturally gifted.”

  “Max—”

  "Yeah, my poor brother, smart as he is but pussy-whipped. So, I'm gonna fix that problem for him."

  He lifted his gun, and I started to fight against the restraints. I struggled and struggled, but I couldn't get them free.

  Then he tucked the gun in the back of his jeans, and I knew he wanted this to be slow. He wanted to torture me. Because he blamed me. To his thinking, I was the reason Ollie abandoned him.

  When he reached down into his boot and pulled out a knife, I struggled even harder. "Stop, Max. You don't want to hurt me."

  "Oh, sweetheart, on the contrary, I've been dying to hurt you.”

  I struggled and pulled and tried to get away, but nothing was working. I squeezed my eyes shut, preparing my body for the pain to come.

  And suddenly, the darkness receded, and instead of pain, I felt untethered. I dared to crack an eye open, and I saw that he was being shoved back up against the wall by strong, firm hands. But then he began fighting back. In the dim light, it was hard to keep track of the fists and elbows and kicks.

  Both men knew how to fight, and they were evenly matched. Max was reaching for the gun in his back pocket, and I screamed out a warning. “Ollie, he has a gun.”

  Then Ollie landed a heavy blow, and Max dropped to his knees as another person stepped up and held him in place. Ollie came toward me. "You okay?"

  "What are you doing here?"

  “I came for you.”

  Those words. I’d seen how he’d looked at me at Liam’s flat. He’d thought I was capable of what Max said, and he still came for me. Just the knowledge that he still gave a fuck about me sent a shiver through me.

  "You're okay. You're okay now.”

  When he cut the zip ties, I fell forward into his arms as racking sobs took over my body. I was not going to die there. I sank to the floor. "Ollie, I'm sorry."

  "You're safe. I have you.”

  And the way he said that made me know that I was safe. But I also knew I no longer had his heart.

  Now I was going to have to live with that.

  Twenty-Seven

  Rian

  I honest to God turned off my phone and just tried to breathe.

  Flowers had arrived, but I hadn’t looked at them. I was still in a state of shock. I had takeaway delivered in, and I didn't go anywhere near televisions. I didn't want to see what would happen on the news. I didn't want to hear anything that was going to set me off. This wasn't my life. I didn't have these kinds of things happen.

  Except you did. So what are you going to do about it? Cry?

  I could practically hear my father's voice. Don't be a cry baby. Suck it up, Rian. Are you ever going to learn to be tough, Rian? But at the first sign of trouble, he'd abandoned me.

  When the doorbell rang again, I frowned, expecting another delivery man. Olivia was the world's best boss. She'd sent chocolates and then she'd sent cookies. Once, she'd sent ice cream, and I’d eaten it right then and there. But if she kept sending more gifts like that, she was going to have to send a gym membership.

  When I dragged open the door, there was no delivery man. Instead, DI Jones stood over the threshold and smirked. “Hello, Miss Beaumont.”

  I folded my arms and leaned on the door jam. I had zero intention of letting this woman inside. "Oh, I see you do know my name."

  She nodded and gave me a sheepish smile. "I do. Listen, I came to apologize."

  "What? Be still my heart. You're about a week too late, don’t you think?"

  She winced then. "Look, I put you in an untenable position. And I'm sorry you were caught up in a bad situation."

  I shrugged. "Well, it is what it is, isn't it?"

  She sighed. "Your boss, Bridge Edgerton, is a determined man. You have people in your corner here."

  "Yeah, I know. But it didn't always feel like it."

  "Know that you do. He was very insistent that I keep your prior records confidential, and I have expunged them. Just in case anyone comes looking for Rian Cooke, they're not going to find anything on her."

  "You got a taste of Bridge’s feistiness and his formidable scowl, and it was hell, wasn’t it? And you earned it."

  "I'm just doing my job. I had a target. I figured the easiest way to him was through you."

  "But I begged you. And you still made me your bait."

  "I am really sorry about that."

  I shook my head. "Whatever. It turns out you weren't the reason he found me anyway."

  "Oh really?"

  "He was watching his brother. Your instincts were right about that one. If you'd have just waited a little longer, you would have caught him that way without having to involve me at all."

  She sighed and then shoved her hands in her pockets. "Sorry."

  "Yeah, well, you were just doing your job, right?"

  "Yes. As a matter of fact, I was."

  "Well, if we're done here..."

  "We are." She turned to walk away and then slowly turned back. "You have a good day, Miss Beaumont."

  "Goodbye, Detective Inspector."

  I glanced around my flat, not sure if I wanted to go for a walk or binge more Netflix. Then suddenly, I wanted to see him. I thought Max had been after me when I received the pendant, but Ollie had been making a sweet gesture, and I had taken that gesture straight
to the police.

  Jesus. I at least owed him another apology, and I should make an attempt to speak to him.

  I glanced at the clock, realizing it was lunchtime. I might be able to catch him on his run. And who was I kidding? After all the treats Olivia had sent me, some movement couldn't be bad for me.

  Ollie

  She hadn't been in all week. I knew because for a week, Olivia had been running me ragged like it was going out of style. She was pissed. Pissed at me, I gathered. I wasn't entirely sure why. If I had to guess, she thought I was choosing the wrong person instead of Rian. And she wasn't wrong about that.

  I hadn't been able to sleep. I tossed and turned. After I rescued her from my brother, the paramedics had checked her out. They'd taken her into the hospital to run some tests. I'd waited outside her room until I got the all-clear signal and knew she was going to be okay. But then instead of going into her room to talk to her, I'd just stayed in the waiting room. They'd kept her for observation for a couple of days and I had been there, needing to keep an eye on her. But I hadn't spoken to her. What was I going to say, I'm so sorry my family is so fucked up? My brother tried to torture you just to keep you away from me? There wasn't exactly a Hallmark card for that. I headed for my run as usual with the lads, the two of them talking as if everything was entirely normal.

  But about halfway through the run, Liam stopped us. "You guys go on ahead. I’m going to tie my shoelace."

  We waited anyway, and he looked annoyed.

  When I frowned at him, he rolled his eyes. "Why can't you just run ahead? I think I'll stop."

  "What do you mean, stop?"

  "If you must know, there's a girl I'm seeing. I have a gift for her."

  I lifted my brow. "Really? You're doing that now?"

  "Just because you fucked up your relationship doesn't mean I have to."

  "Since when do you have relationships? Besides, I didn't fuck up. We just aren't a thing right now."