“It’s a smaller fee, but yes. But we don’t have any proof—legal proof—that they’re in that building. So the cops couldn’t get a warrant. And even if I called in an anonymous tip, they would burn the art before the cops or Feds even made it through the front gate. Seriously, it’s basically standard operating procedure for these guys. Not to mention they’re just wanted for questioning as persons of interest as of now so I couldn’t technically call in the Feds either with this.”
He nodded thoughtfully and leaned back in his seat as Nash pulled up to a red light.
“What did your friend say?” Nash asked quietly.
“They want a bidding war. They’re putting it up on the black market.” She kept some of the details to herself because she hadn’t decided if she trusted Juan yet or not. “By the way, I received eight more texts from my family since your little stunt at the restaurant. I was right about a breakfast invite. You’re definitely coming with me for an early breakfast tomorrow. You can clear things up with all of them then.”
“I’ll pick you up as early as you want.”
“What did Nash do?” Juan asked.
“Why do you assume I did anything?” Nash said to him.
“Ivy is clearly smarter than both of us, so I’m just going to play the odds.”
Despite the whole situation, she snickered. She couldn’t understand why Nash had invited this guy along, but she found that he was very likeable. “Nash told my brother that we were dating, so now my whole family is blowing up my phone.”
Juan barked out a laugh. “How many siblings do you have?”
“Three brothers. And a slightly terrifying mother.”
He laughed harder now, but Nash was completely unruffled. And…she’d noticed that he hadn’t agreed to clear everything up with her family either. He’d just agreed to pick her up for breakfast.
What was going on with him?
Her phone buzzed again and she grinned when she saw Iris Christiansen’s name on the screen. “Hey, Iris.”
“I got that picture you sent me,” she said without greeting. “Had my guy run it… He’s a rich asshole who likes to buy stolen art and hide it away.”
She blinked. “That was fast, thank you.”
“Anything for you. So you’ve got a job in Miami now? How’s that going with your family?” Iris’s voice was dry.
“Ah…interesting.” And something she didn’t want to talk about.
Iris just snickered now. “All right, you can’t talk. I get it. Call me if you need anything else and stay safe.”
“I will, thanks.” As they disconnected, she smiled at the concern she’d heard in Iris’s voice.
“I’m not trying to be nosy, I swear, but…was that Iris Christiansen?” A touch of awe tinged Juan’s voice. “I saw her name on your screen when it popped up.”
“You know her?”
“No, but she’s a legend at Red Stone.”
She glanced over at Nash, who simply nodded his agreement.
“For real?” she asked. Ivy knew that Iris had worked there, but that had been years ago and long before Ivy had met her. Long before either Juan or Nash had started there.
“Yeah. How do you know her?”
“We met while I was on a job.” Ivy had chased some guy down to the casino where Iris was head of security and they’d met when Ivy had called in the cops to arrest the guy. Iris was this fierce badass who for some reason had decided to take Ivy under her wing—she’d pretty much told her that they were going to be friends. A decade older and smart as hell, Iris was what Ivy wanted to be when she grew up. “And I can definitely believe she’s a legend there. She’s super intense and smart.”
“Yeah, from what I hear they had big plans for her, but she up and married that billionaire guy.” Juan shook his head slightly.
Ivy nodded because yeah, Iris had, though he wasn’t just some guy to Iris. They’d been friends since childhood and were now “couple goals.”
“So you also know Iris Christiansen,” Juan murmured mostly to himself. “Yep, scary women are the best.”
Nash simply shot her a dry look and shook his head at his friend, making something in her belly flip-flop. Oh, that look was… Well, it was on par with everything else he did. Designed to make her crazy.
Chapter 7
Luka pulled Delilah into one of the offices they’d been using for their sleeping space. They were using this warehouse owned by a local smuggler to hide out with their stolen property until they could sell the painting. And from what it sounded like, they were going to be able to offload it for more than the market price.
Normally the pieces they took didn’t go for this much, but this painting was rare and there were some collectors out there who wanted it for their private collections. People who had far too much money to waste on shit like a big-ass painting. But he didn’t care. It would pad his pockets until the next job. Considering how much they should walk away with after paying a few of their debts, that should be a long while.
“What is it?” Delilah whispered, even though it was just the two of them. Now, she was a work of art. Absolutely fucking gorgeous, with big tits, long, thick blonde hair and a face that would make angels weep. If he believed in that kind of shit. Luka still couldn’t believe she’d joined up with him and his two brothers so maybe he did believe after all.
“I spoke to my contact. We should be able to offload the other pieces.” He kept his voice just as low as hers because he didn’t want his brothers to overhear anything. During the robbery, he’d taken a couple small artifacts. They’d just been lying there, begging to be nicked. His brothers had demanded they only take the painting. In and out. Quick and clean.
Though nothing was clean, because of the way things had gone down at the end. The wife wasn’t supposed to be killed.
And his brothers were still pissed about it. They’d had to kill the curator as well because of what they viewed as Delilah’s fuckup. But it hadn’t been her fault. Things had gone sideways, she’d told him, and she’d panicked, killed the wife. So now they had a lot of heat coming down on them. They’d probably have to stay in the States for a while, lie low. Which wasn’t terrible.
He’d been born in Cali, had lived there for most of his formative years until they’d moved to Europe, and it was easy to blend right back in here. That was something he had in common with Delilah—they were both chameleons.
“When can we sell them?” she asked, her blue eyes wide.
God, she really was beautiful. Today she was wearing a purple crop top and jeans, and just the sight of her had his dick at attention. His brothers said he was letting her lead him around by his dick, but fuck them. They were just jealous. He’d seen the way his oldest brother looked at her, and knew that he wanted Delilah. Too bad, because she was all his.
“A few days. I can’t dip out with my brothers keeping such a close eye on everything.” They were hanging tight at this Miami warehouse while his brothers set up the business side of things for the painting. In exchange for staying here, they’d agreed to basically be security for the owner who was out of town. Normally the man wouldn’t leave his warehouse without security, but apparently the guy went way back with Noah, Luka’s oldest brother. And from what Noah said, the guy was dealing with some shit, so here they were.