Page 8 of The Twilight Theft

Jayce

Thepingofthedoor chime announced my arrival with Emmett. The Reynolds Recoveries headquarters was a large office in a nondescript building in a nondescript business park in Halifax. From the outside, it looked the same as the dozens of companies surrounding it. Even from a glance in the windows, it was nothing more than cubicles and a few dozen workers.

Those workers weren’t a cover—they were the day-to-day bread and butter. They kept the lights on between high-profile cases that our small crack team handled.

A trio near the entrance might have been tracking down someone’s birth parents. A quiet woman in the corner could have been dealing with a call to open a safe the owner had forgotten the combination to. The group laughing by a water cooler could have been celebrating the return of a lost dog.

We did a lot of good in our community and far beyond.

But hidden behind the walls of private offices and a couple of laboratories was a different type of recovery agent. A white hat heist crew that did dangerous work, skirted the law, and always brought home stolen items for their rightful owners.

Emmett nodded to me as he broke off toward his office, and I paused, letting out a long sigh.

Stolen items.

Why did I take Drew’s phone?Because he was trying to prove he was better than you. Trying to throw his weight and control around. Showing off that sexy jaw and those smoldering eyes. I should have returned his phone when I returned his watch.

We’d come directly from the airport for our debrief with the team. I wheeled my small suitcase toward Yvonne’s large desk with its chest-high cubicle walls.

Our logistics manager looked up with a smile, her straight, light-brown hair swishing over her shoulders. “Hey, Jayce. How was Washington?”

“Fast.” We’d arrived last night and left just after noon. The flight was only two and a half hours, bringing us home before the office emptied of regular staff. “I need something shipped back, though. Small package. Any chance you can get it there tomorrow?”

“Probably.” She turned to her computer, fingers dancing over the keyboard in that strange three-finger way she did. “Address?”

“Don’t know the details, but—”

“Jayce!” called Scarlett from somewhere in the office. “Boardroom.”

“It needs to go to Bishop and Associates.” I didn’t have his home address, although someone surely did. Best I let everyone think it was professional—a delivery for a company we’d worked with before. Of course, if Emmett caught wind of the shipment, he’d figure me out.

“Oh?” Her fingers paused and she glanced up at me. “That’s convenient.”

Convenient? What did that mean?

“Jayce?” Scarlett appeared next to me. She wore a black pantsuit, her sleek brown hair hung in easy waves. She always looked like she’d stepped out of a fashion magazine.

I appreciated my body. It was strong and flexible, and it let me do a job no one else in this company could. But my stretchy jeans and blue T-shirt were practically rags compared to her stilettos and skinny pants. She hadn’t dressed down at work a single day since Malcolm joined us.

“Sorry, Yvonne,” said my glamazon team lead, “but Jayce is late for a meeting. She’ll be out in an hour.”

With a flick of my wrist for a wave, I left with Scarlett. “Just let me drop my things off first.”

“If I told you Evelyn had the profiteroles from Russo’s sitting on the table for you, would that change your priorities?”

I snorted a laugh. “I’ll park my bag in the corner.”

We made the short trek to the main boardroom, where the two glass walls were frosted over. On a normal day, they were clear, but when the secrets came out, privacy was paramount.

The boardroom table seated twelve, with paintings decorating one wall and a big-screen television dominating the other. Emmett was already there, as was his and Scarlett’s mother, Evelyn.

Scarlett may have been my boss, but Evelyn was the Big Boss. She wore her platinum blonde hair in a short bob and dressed like her daughter. The two of them had a tense relationship, likely because they were so similar—although Scarlett would have throttled me for saying that out loud—but something had changed between them over the last couple of months.

After Emmett’s kidnapping, a lot changed for the Reynolds team.

Emmett had an extra edge about him. Aftereffects of his ordeal, maybe? Maybe not. But he was different.

Scarlett expressed emotions every now and again—mostly around Malcolm, her overly devoted boyfriend, who’d just received his work permit after moving up from the States. She also got along with her mother far better, and even sat next to her in the boardroom most days. The decrease in tension was a welcome change.

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