Page 53 of Sly Like a Fox
The observation is unnervingly close to home, reminding me how Red’s perceptive questions during the initial consultation had felt like therapy disguised as matchmaking.“So, you matched us knowing we weren’t being entirely honest?”
“I matched you knowing you were both looking for something real beneath all the pretense.”Red stands, brushing pastry crumbs from her elegant red skirt.“The fact that you found it while pursuing justice against a genuine criminal mastermind is just particularly romantic, in an unconventional way.”
After she leaves with warm congratulations and an invitation to update her on our wedding plans, making us both blush and stutter while she gives us a look telling us it’s inevitable—and it probably is—Jenna and I sit in contemplative silence.Her visit has left me thinking about the strange journey that brought us together and how different our lives might have been if we’d never met.
“She’s right.”Jenna curls up against my uninjured side on the hotel’s uncomfortable chair.“About us being meant to find each other, I mean, even if it happened through the most ridiculous circumstances possible.”
“Ridiculous circumstances that led to the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”I reach for her hand with my good arm.
“Fenton?”Jenna looks up at me with an expression that’s both vulnerable and gritty.“I need to tell you something.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve never been in love before.Not real love, anyway.I’ve been attracted to people.I’ve cared about them, but this feeling I have for you is completely different from anything I’ve experienced.”She takes a shaky breath.“It scares me and makes me feel more alive than I’ve ever felt, all at the same time.”
The confession breaks something open in my chest, flooding me with protectiveness and a desperate need to prove worthy of her trust.“Jenna, I—”
“I’m not finished.”Her fox-bright eyes hold mine steadily.“I also need you to know I’m choosing this…you… choosingusand choosing to build something real together.Not because I need financial security or because I’m afraid of being alone but because I can’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else than right here with you.”
The words slowly penetrate my brain.For someone who’s spent years orchestrating every aspect of my life, the raw honesty of her declaration leaves me completely undone.“I love you.”I manage to say, the words feeling both inadequate and precisely right.“I love your cunning and your compassion, your intelligence and your instincts, and even the way you make me laugh even in the middle of criminal pursuits.I love that you see the worst parts of me and choose to stay anyway.”
“The worst parts of you are what make you interesting.”She grins with pure mischief.“Besides, you’ve seen me lead a bear shifter through a building’s infrastructure while wearing torn pajamas.If that’s not true love, I don’t know what is.”
We spend the evening planning our future over room service and wine, mapping out business strategies and apartment requirements while occasionally getting distracted by kisses that taste like possibility and promises.The practical details feel surreal after months of high-stakes deception and elaborate criminal schemes.Discussing lease agreements and furniture shopping instead of surveillance equipment and escape routes represents a fundamental shift in how we’ll live our lives.
“This one has exposed brick and original hardwood floors.”Jenna shows me her phone screen displaying an apartment listing.“Oh, it’s in a building with excellent security, which seems like a practical consideration given our recent experiences.”
“As long as the security systems are accessible for defensive modifications.”I’m only half-joking.
She giggles.“Definitely a requirement for our next lease agreement.”
We fall into comfortable planning for hours.When Jenna falls asleep curled against my uninjured side, I lie awake thinking about how dramatically my life has changed in just a few months.
The transformation feels both miraculous and inevitable, as if every choice I made along the way led directly to this moment.Meeting Red, being matched with Jenna, agreeing to let her into my operation, and watching her turn from accomplice to partner to the person I can’t imagine living without, all feels predestined in retrospect, though I’m not one for the woo-woo stuff usually.Each step seemed logical at the time, but the cumulative effect has been revolutionary.
As I drift toward sleep, I think about my father and the legacy he left me.For years, I believed honoring his memory meant destroying the man who killed him.Instead, maybe the best way to honor him is to build something worthy of the values he tried to instill in me—hard work, integrity, and using my talents to help people who need it.
The next morning, as we prepare to start apartment hunting and begin the process of building our life together, Jenna turns to me with a thoughtful expression.“How do you think the future looks?We’re going to start apartment hunting, and eventually, we’ll have to testify, but before and after that...”
I think about it for a minute.“Maybe we could start a legitimate consulting business helping people who’ve been victims of white-collar crime.”I shift tentatively to avoid jarring my injured shoulder.“And maybe, occasionally, we help ourselves to resources from people who’ve gained them through harming others to give to those in need.”
She grins, looking highly interested.“Are you suggesting a mostly legitimate business with occasional aggressive wealth redistribution?”
I nod.“I am.I think ninety percent legal is close enough to respectable for us.”
“One hundred percent would be far too boring.”She pulls me into her arms.“I’m all-in.”
Epilogue
Jenna
Sixmonthslater,I’mstanding in our new office, fussing with champagne glasses for the third time because, apparently, I can’t stop myself.The place still smells like paint and new carpet, but the exposed brick and afternoon sunlight make it feel like an office real adults work in.Somehow, Nielsen & Johnson Consulting is ours.Who would have thought?
“Stop futzing with those glasses.”Chloe appears at my elbow with her usual mix of love and exasperation.“They’ve been perfect for ten minutes.”
“I want everything to be right.”Honestly, my nerves have less to do with party planning and more to do with celebrating something completely…well, ninety percent legit.Almost nine months ago, I was running cons to keep from getting evicted while searching for a sugar daddy.Today, I co-own a business that helps crime victims get their lives back.
“It is perfect.”Chloe straightens the banner that reads“Nielsen & Johnson: Creative Solutions for Complex Problems”in elegant gold lettering.“Besides, everyone here already knows you and Fenton are brilliant at what you do.You don’t need to prove anything to anybody.”
