Over time, I was learning most children weren’t raised like I was—to view other human beings as many means to many ends.
The man in front of me was the kind of person my parents would have targeted. And thinking about Bernard taking advantage of him for ten fucking years was infuriating.
“The truth?” I said, and Henry nodded. “She’s well aware that your firm is a force to be reckoned with. In fact, if I don’t catch Bernard by my contract’s deadline, she promised to fire me and hire someone else.”
Freya wrinkled her nose. “Ouch.”
“She seemed embarrassed,” I said to Henry. “Embarrassed and feeling guilty. As much as she might have considered hiring Codex, I don’t believe she wants to confront you. Or Abe.”
Delilah squeezed Henry’s hand. “Henry was right all along, too.”
Henry sighed, squeezed back. “I’m one piece of this story though. Abe… I can’t even tell you his reaction the night we first met, the night I handed him the first real evidence painting Bernard as a criminal rather than a librarian. He’s not always open with the tough stuff, but it’s basically his vendetta.”
“Agree,” Sam said. “The year I worked with him at Art Theft, it was all he cared about. But goddamn, I thought he was right to care. The red flags were there; we just needed someone like Henry to set the process in motion.”
“You mean send him into hiding,” Henry said grimly.
“Almost every con artist goes into hiding at some point. You didn’t make Bernard do anything he wasn’t already planning on doing,” I said. “He may be in hiding, but we’re about to find his ass and send him to prison. That couldn’t happen if he was still operating his con and avoiding punishment.”
“What that babe said,” Freya cheered.
“We are going to find his ass,” Sam mused.
Henry was watching me expectantly. “I have a lot of experience working with con artists,” I said, surprised at how tense my throat felt, how much I wanted to shield Henry from feeling badly about things out of his control. “Your actions were the first domino needed to get you all here.”
“To get us here,” Freya added. “You’re a part of this story now too, Sloane.”
“Oh,” I said, biting my lip. I caught Delilah watching the nervous gesture, so I straightened my spine and went for sultry over shy. “Happy to help and to fluster Abe when needed.”
Four identical smiles beamed at me. I took a precious second to sink into their goodwill and acceptance. This felt nice.
“So are we talking about how our boss has a big fucking crush on you?” Freya asked.
I huffed out a shocked breath. “We are… enjoying spending time with each other.”
“In a shared hotel room,” Delilah said slowly. “For safety purposes.”
I crossed my legs, attempted nonchalance. “After the fire, sharing a room did feel safer. But things between us have progressed. Romantically.”
Freya and Delilah were shaking their heads slowly. Even Sam had a pleasant look on his face.
“I can’t fucking believe it,” Freya said. “If you thought taking a vacation was out of character for Abe Royal, whatever you two are doing is basically in the next stratosphere. You are definitely a first.”
I wished my heart didn’t dance in my chest at the thought of being a first anything for Abe. But there it went, twirling around, refusing to behave. I awaited their collective judgment, unsure. Except all four of them seemed happy. Freya wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. Eyes wide, I stared back at Sam over her shoulder.
“She’s always been excitable.” He smirked.
When was the last time I’d received a hug from another woman? A woman who could, possibly, be my friend?
“You can also hug me back,” Freya whispered. I was at least six inches taller than her, and I had no idea how to arrange my limbs, but eventually I hugged her back.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Byrne and I have known Abe for a long, long time,” she said. “We can tell you that the guy doesn’t do romantic anything.”
“According to your boss, he doesn’t make a lot of room in that cold heart of his,” I said, brow arched.
Delilah snorted. “If only he could see his face every time he looks at you. If there’s a key to that man’s heart, you’ve got it.”
“No pressure or anything,” Henry said cheerfully. I burst out laughing—surprised, relieved, unsure of what entirely was happening. Key or not, team or not, I did have a self-sufficient life to get back to in Brooklyn after this. My apartment wasn’t a home. Yet up until now I hadn’t been searching for more than a place to lay my head while staying afloat.
I potentially had a key to Abe’s heart I shouldn’t want. And a foot-loose and fancy-free heart of my own I was now unable to control. This situation’s potential for devastation was growing by the second.
The door to the hotel room swung open, and all five of us froze like kids caught misbehaving. Abe Royal appeared with bags of food and a suspicious expression.
“Were you all engaging in light-hearted frivolity?” Abe asked.
“Does doing body-shots off of Byrne’s six-pack count as frivolity?” Freya asked.
“Evandale,” Sam growled—but one wink from his girlfriend, and the former FBI agent melted like butter.
“Gossiping about your supervisor does count,” Abe said mildly. “As would body shots, if we’re being technical about it.”
“We would never talk about you, sir,” Henry said soberly.
Eyes narrowed, he placed the food down gingerly. Avoided looking at me as he pulled items from bags and drinks from containers. “Eat,” he said, smile wry. “Grab coffee and water, nap if you need. We’ve got less than forty minutes before the four of us need to be at the auction house.”
There was a burst of energy in the room, a comfort to prepping and eating together, even in the middle of another country. When Delilah walked past me, she laid her hand on my arm.
“I’m really happy you’re here,” she said.
“Me too,” I said. And meant it. “I’m not sure I could have even attempted it without a team.”
“I get the feeling you’re the kind of woman who can pretty much do anything if you put your mind to it,” she said. “Which is my kind of woman, by the way.”
She wasn’t wrong—I’d done far worse and much harder in my life than what we were about to do during the next two days. But I’d done it alone, which was a different kind of hard.
The next forty minutes were a frantic blur of eating and dressing while Codex teased each other and chatted about the case. By the time the four of them were done and ready to meet us in the lobby, the silence in my and Abe’s room was weird.
Abe and I made eye contact—alone—for the first time since they’d arrived that morning. We let out twin sighs of relief, exchanged dual, flirtatious smiles. The hotel had returned our previously soggy clothing, freshly dry-cleaned and pressed. Abe’s navy suit was hot enough to be outlawed in fifty states—as was the slow and lingering way he was studying me.