“Do you think your mom will care?” His lips momentarily flattened into a straight line, and I could all but hear the disgust with a dash of pity in his expression.
Pain slashed its sharp claws at my heart. We both knew it. We’d both witnessed how my mom could barely look at me. I should have died, not my sister. We shared the same face, but she had been destined for greatness. I was a disappointment. I didn’t know why I bothered to look out for Mom, but I did. Just once, I wished she would see me, realize that I was still alive. It was pointless. Her heart was buried with my sister and her husband, the love of her life.
Tears welled in my eyes, and I brushed them away with an angry swipe of my hands. “It’s not for my mom.”It’s for me. To prove to myself I was still there, not Kasey, and that I could make a difference even if it meant taking down my mom’s husband in the process. Maybe especially if it meant that—he stole from children.
I knew my sister. She would have been egging me on the whole time while she feigned innocence to our parents. She’d gotten all the acting talent in the family, but I could pull it off. I’d tapped into Kasey’s spirit to perform this morning as if she was whispering in my ear. Part of me believed she had been.
“We don’t have to follow through. You could show up back home, looking a mess, and say you were dumped not far from there but blindfolded and told to count to fifty before removing it.”
“I get that I went a little over the top with making Allen pay, but I can’t let it go. I mean, what the hell did he do with that money, Justin? You know it’s not right.”
Movement caught my eye, and we both bolted off the couch. I whirled around, heart in my throat and adrenaline coursing through my veins. A man stood by the stairs, casually leaning against the railing.
“What the hell are you doing here!” My fingers went momentarily numb from shock and adrenaline.
Justin’s hand found mine, and he tugged lightly. I took a step toward him. I could tell by the way Justin’s arm trembled when it brushed against me that he was nervous.
Not me. The sudden surprise at seeing a strange man in the house dissipated when I realizedwhohe was. My gaze hungrily crawled over his face. Need coiled in my stomach, and I swore my soul sighed at the sight of him. Traitorous soul—clearly that part of me had forgotten how he’d rejected me.
Trey La Rosa, Sofia’s brother, stood there, taking us in. Sofia was a famous fashion designer, and Trey was her favorite brother. I’d seen glimpses of him when I’d grabbed coffee with her, but I’d taken care so that he wouldn’t notice me, given how humiliated I’d been after our first encounter that night at the fundraiser.
Sofia and I weren’t that close, but whenever I saw her out—getting food or at the boutique—I made a point to chat with her. There wasn’t much not to like about Sofia. I longed for an intro to her brother on even footing. But he was a genius, having graduated high school at fifteen then earning a medical degree.
The ransom plan was to extract money that Allen had embezzled, and I’d wondered if Allen would involve Trey. There was no way Allen would risk the police looking further into him. I shoved my out-of-control attraction aside, crossed my arms, and narrowed my eyes at him. I couldn’t let him mess with my plan.
CHAPTER FIVE
TREY
Ileaned against the railing in sight of Hailey and Justin. It only took a moment for her to spot me. She gasped then jumped to her feet and whirled around. Justin’s reaction mirrored hers, but he was half a second behind. I kept my gun pointed at the ground, as I hadn’t seen any weapons on them or in the room. Didn’t mean they didn’t have any, but I wasn’t worried. Justin grabbed Hailey’s forearm and tugged her close.
“What do you want?” Justin’s voice shook, the fear on his face mixing with recognition.
Hailey wrenched herself free of his arm, her gemstone-green eyes flashing fire. “I know who you are and where you work, Trey La Rosa.”
Of course you do. I grinned, letting them see the malice behind it. I wasn’t in the mood for games. “Who else is involved in your little scheme?”
Justin tightly closed his mouth as his gaze narrowed, but it was Hailey who responded. “Allen sent you?” She snorted, showing not an ounce of fear. “Figures he would have someone else do his dirty work for him. But what doesn’t make sense is why a doctor would have a gun.”
“Surely, you know who I am.” I kept my voice low, pushing off the railing and closing the distance between us. I stopped before Justin. A sheen of sweat coated his upper lip. “You must have heard the rumors.” I grabbed Hailey’s arm and eased her away from him. Justin remained frozen in front of me. “I’m guessing no one knows of your involvement?”
He shook his head, his pupils narrowing to pinpricks, a common response to fear. Hailey struggled, but I pulled her against my side then pointed my gun at Justin. She stilled in my grasp.
“We aren’t going to have a problem here, are we?”
A shaky “no” left his mouth as I backed away with Hailey in tow.
“Call the cops or anyone else, and she’ll pay for it. Understand?”
Justin looked ready to piss himself but nodded. I grasped Hailey’s arm and pulled her with me up the stairs, the gun trained on Justin as we went. As soon as we were on the first floor, she tried to yank her arm away, but I refused to release her.
“You won’t get away with this.” Her green eyes flashed, and a pretty shade of pink settled on her high cheekbones.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had so much fun. I holstered my gun. “Who do you think Justin will call?” Amusement laced my words as I lifted her through the window then climbed through after her before she had a chance to run off. A bitter wind whipped through the breezeway between the two houses. A full-body shiver wracked her body, and I bent then positioned her in a fireman’s carry over my shoulder. She didn’t have a jacket or shoes on, just fuzzy socks that were wet from the snow. As she sputtered behind me, her small fists hitting my back, I exited through the neighbor’s yard then to the alleyway, keeping out of range of the camera he had set up for the backyard before I placed her on her feet next to the car I’d borrowed.
Her wavy hair tangled in front of her face, and I wanted to push the silky strands away to see the fire reflected in her gaze. “He’ll call the police.”
I snorted then crowded her, giving her no choice but to get into the passenger side of my car. I bent so that we were at eye level before shutting the door. “Take note of the armed guards in the vehicle behind us. They won’t let you get away while I’m rounding the car to get in.”