Page 95 of The San Marco Heist

“So I’m supposed to believe you had nothing to do with the kidnapping?”

I grabbed her hand and held firm when she tried to pull it away. I bowed my head and forced her to feel the crown of my skull. “You feel that? That’s where Jayce hit me on the head with a statuette.”

She sucked in a slow breath. “You were the one who came into the library after her?”

“Yes, and then they were done with me. It was a onetime job, with a group of people I never met, for one item. I failed the job and they cut me loose.” I let her hand fall away from my head.

“Just the way you like it.” Scarlett stepped back again, so she was against the wall. “It’s all about winning, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but…” I gestured from her to me and back again. “This—us—this is a win.”

“I con Thomas Maguire at his dad’s party and leave him without what he wants, so he comes after me at the Albrecht party. Noah...” She flung her hand toward the door. “Noah finds me with another man, so he throws the biggest grenade he can find.”

“Exactly.” I closed the distance between us and ran my fingers through her hair, settling my hand to cup the nape of her neck. “It was nothing but a grenade. A lie.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, her entire face tightening. “And my team gets the Codex before you can, so you sign on with those clowns to get it back.”

“No.” I wrapped my arm around her waist, searching for the woman who’d opened up to me about her family. Who I’d opened up to. I didn’t open up. “He failed to tell you for two years he was even alive. How could you believe him over me?”

Scarlett opened her eyes, swimming with tears. “I’m just a tool, like my tears. To all of you. No one wants me, they just want the image of me. They want me as a prize. And not even me. I just happened to be the one in everyone’s path.”

I pulled her closer, so her head rested against my neck. “You’re not a tool. Neither are your tears. You need to feel. Like we did when we were together in that bed, sharing things.”

“Sex is a tool,” she choked out.

“Don’t say that. Don’t tell me that you lying next to me, telling me about your father was a tool.”

“It was a lapse in judgment. I need to be stronger than that.” She wedged her hands in between us and pushed me away. “You should go.”

I reached for her again, but she spun along the wall away from me.

“Malcolm, just go.”

This wasn’t happening. I hadn’t let down my defenses, laid in bed chatting with her, hadn’t let myself become friendly with her team. And I would not let Noah’s lie ruin my opportunity to build on what was growing between us. “Scarlett, he was lying. You were not my job.”

She picked my shirt up from the floor and threw it at me in a wadded heap. “No, I’m just the little cherry on top of your actual job—get the Codex. And when that failed, get the ring.”

I remained still, clutching the shirt against my chest. She believed that lying piece of shit? Of course, she did. Why would she believe me? “You’re just like all the rest of them.”

“Screw you.”

“You want people to be the same or they’re not allowed inside, right? I’m not perfect, and I didn’t tell you about my first job for Noah, because I didn’t even know it was him. But that job has nothing to do with this. With me helping Emmett. With me wanting to be here with you right now. I’m sorry I’m not in that tiny group of people you’ve been friends with since you were a kid, but that doesn’t mean you can’t trust me. That doesn’t mean you can’t let the new guy in.”

She threw my pants at me next. “If you’re not gone in the next two minutes, I’m calling Rav. And you donotwant him to be the one throwing you out.”

“You’re as bad as my father. He shut down when my mother died and left me out in the cold. Now you get one piece of news that doesn’t fit in with your perfectly planned idea of the world and you shut down, too.”

She turned away from me. Yeah. It was exactly the same.

I dug through sheets and pillows on the floor until I found the rest of my clothes. This was why I liked my solitary life—no one ever told you to leave. I stalked into the bathroom, shut off the water for the stupid shower, and got dressed in private. I should’ve known better.

Once I finished changing, I marched back out into the living room, prepared to see a defiant woman. Maybe make my case one more time when she saw me. Instead, the terrace door was open and she was leaning on the railing, watching the evening traffic in St. Mark’s Square. The dull murmur of hundreds of voices mingled with the sounds of music playing at the cafés dotting the square.

I approached the door, my throat growing thicker with each step. She was still in the pale-pink silk bathrobe, with her head down. What the hell was wrong with me? Why did I care? I didn’t do teams. I didn’t do people.

But all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her one more time and tell her we’d felt something real together. The sort of thing neither of us got to enjoy in life.

“Just wear sensible shoes, Scarlett.” The island visit could be dangerous, especially considering she was meeting her brother’s kidnapper.

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