I bite my lip, hating how the promise of money has me considering it. But Mom’s furnace is on its last leg, and she doesn’t have the money to replace it. I’ve been helping as much as I can, but I don’t make much. “I don’t know.”
He nods. “Have dinner with me. There’s a lovely Italian place down the street, and I’ve made reservations for seven o’clock. We’ll talk it through.”
“You mean you’ll talk me into it?”
“Has anyone ever been able to talk you into anything you didn’t want to do?” He winks at me, and then heads to the door. “And beautiful work here. Even if it is a bit beneath your talents.”
My stomach flutters with excitement. Though my job is now to manage this gallery, my first year out of college was spent helping a man curate collections for private investors. I loved every part of it—the travel, the thrill of chasing down privately owned collections and making offers with more zeroes than I’ll ever have in my bank account in my entire life.
I might have done it forever if I hadn’t found myself as in love with my boss as I was with my job. Tate Andrews looked at me like I was the most beautiful woman on the planet and treated me like I was special and fascinating. He taught me more about the art world in that first year I worked for him than I learned in all four years of undergrad as an art major. He made every day an adventure, and I was madly in love with him. Unfortunately, so was his wife.
I’m confident Tate would’ve happily had a torrid affair with me, but he was never going to ask his heiress wife for a divorce. He said he didn’t want to walk away from the money, and I didn’t want to be anyone’s mistress. I moved to Jackson Harbor to escape temptation, but I miss that job.
Despite myself, I even miss the way Tate navigated the ethical gray areas of being an art dealer who specializes in hard-to-find originals.
Nelson’s request makes me think of the promise I made to Colton, but I’m already making mental lists about where I can research Bauer’s Discovery collection and what I need to confirm before moving forward.
Levi
“My fucking father.” Colton’s staring at his phone. He’s antsy, itching for another adventure when we agreed to stop. Hell, I’m itching too, but the money we make in our little side jobs becomes a dangerous commodity where Colton’s concerned. Too much of a good thing, and he goes off the deep end.
Gambling. Drugs. And then it’s all gone and more, and we’re making another deal with the devil to bail him out. Nelson’s a big man in town, but he has expensive hobbies and friends in low places. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Nelson McKinley intentionally turned his son into an addict just so he’d have Colton to do his dirty work. And there’s always dirty work.
“What’d he do this time?”
“He has something he shouldn’t.” He meets my eyes. “We’re going to have to take it.”
My eyes go wide. “Excuse me?” I don’t like the idea of stealing from Nelson. I’d rather stay on the good side of a man powerful enough to make people disappear.
“Come on. Don’t pretend you’re above it now.”
“We agreed we were done. Remember?”
He tosses his phone onto the couch beside him and leans back. “I thought you liked the thrill.”
“Maybe I’ve grown up.”
He grunts. “Sure you have.” Standing, he stretches his arms over his head and yawns. “Are you going to tell me you’re not even a little curious?”
“About stealing from Nelson? Nah.”
“It’s more like stealing from Ellie,” he says, watching me.
I stiffen at his girlfriend’s name. I’ve never seen Colton as serious about anyone as he is about her. It’s been three months since I met Ellie at that fundraiser. That night, I never would have guessed that he could make it this long with one girl, but there’s something special about Ellie. He knows it, and I know it. “Why would you want to do that?”
He shrugs. “Let’s just say it’s something Nelson will benefit from her having. Something she doesn’t know how to get rid of herself. Are you in?”
“Fuck no.” But it’s a lie. I was in the second he said her name. Because like it or not, I want to know more about Ellie Courdrey. And if Colton wants to steal something from Ellie that’s tied up with Nelson, it means she’s gotten tangled in Nelson’s world, and Colton’s trying to protect her.
Despite all logic, I want to protect her too.
Ellie
“You’re sure nothing else was taken?” Nelson asks.
“As far as I can tell.” I squeeze my eyes shut for a beat. When I open them, Nelson’s are hard on me, blazing with accusation. Who did you tell? Why did you fuck this up?
“What about cash? Did you check the register?”