Page 144 of Stolen for Keeps
Dom and Noah’s heads snapped toward me, both of them springing to their feet.
“I found something,” I said, my breath tangled between panic and the high of what I’d just uncovered.
Noah crossed the space between us in three long strides. Dom hovered close behind.
“Sir Balthazar Wigglington de Pompadour the Third,” Dom muttered.
“You remember?” I frowned.
“Lawyer superpower,” he quipped. “So, what secret is this innocent pooch holding?”
“Not the pooch. The pot.” I zoomed in on the photo and held it out. “Look.”
“Is that her?” Noah asked, squinting at the reflection.
“Yep. Her face…wrapped in bandages. Dated two days before the heist.”
Noah exhaled. “Blue! You found a gem.”
His hand slid over my back, then he pressed a kiss to the crown of my head. I swore I felt the pride vibrating through his skin.
Dom, on the other hand, didn’t even blink.
“She was hurt before I went to the mansion,” I said, coaxing a reaction from him. “That proves I didn’t hit her!”
“Well, it doesn’t clear you completely,” Dom argued. “Technically, she could’ve gotten more later, but this? It muddles the timeline. We’re planting seeds of doubt, and that’s half the battle. Anything else? Emails? Messages?”
“I haven’t checked yet,” I admitted.
Dom sighed, deeply dramatic. “Maya, I love you, but you scroll like my great-aunt ordering takeout on an iPad.”
Noah tensed. “Back off, Dom. I thought you had people to do this for you.”
“I do,” Dom said smugly. “And they’re all brilliant. Because I trained them.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re that confident?”
“I’m a lawyer.” Dom held out his hand. “I’ve seen things that you’d pay therapists to forget. So yes, I can go through her phone. Is it invasive? Absolutely. Do I care? Absolutely not. My priority is winning. For you. For him. For all of us.”
I hesitated, then handed it over. “Fine. But texts and emails only. No photos.”
“Scout’s honor,” he said before immediately diving in.
It didn’t even take ten minutes.
“Aha!” Dom called, tapping the screen. “Email confirmation from Clinique La Tulipe in Beverly Hills. The nose job capital of the western hemisphere.”
My jaw dropped. “She got work done?”
“Are you surprised?” Dom said.
I shouldn’t have been.
Noah squinted at the screen. “Plastic surgery. That’s what we saw in the reflection?”
I frowned, half-talking to myself. “Let’s say she had the surgery two days before the heist. Then she reported the so-called assault to Harlow two days after?”
Dom nodded as he kept pace. “Four days post-op, the bruising would’ve started to fade. Less surgical, more like a regular shiner. Same with the swelling. It could easily pass for a punch.”
