JULES
“What…you…”My ability to form a coherent sentence died an undignified death as I stared at my ex-boyfriend.
He was here. In D.C. Standing less than two feet away and wearing an alarmingly calm expression.
“Surprise.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. His pants were more faded than he typically liked, his shirt more wrinkled. His face had lost the fullness of youth and taken on a gaunter shape.
Other than that, he was the same Max.
Handsome, charming, manipulative as hell.
Some people were capable of change, but Max was as set in his ways as concrete. If he was here, he wanted something from me, and he wouldn’t leave until he got it.
“Jules Miller, speechless. Never thought I’d see the day.” His chuckle set off a dozen alarm bells in my mind. “Or should I say, Jules Ambrose? Nice name change, though I’m surprised you didn’t change it all the way.”
My muscles turned rigid.
“It was a legal name change.” I’d changed it after I moved to Maryland, and given I’d only been eighteen at the time with no mortgage, no credit cards, and no debts, it didn’t take long to erase Jules Miller and replace her with Jules Ambrose.
Perhaps I should’ve changed my first name too, but I loved the name Jules, and I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of my old identity completely.
“One of the few legal things you did,” Max joked, but the words lacked humor.
The club’s energy, so exhilarating minutes ago, morphed into something more sinister, like it was one discordant beat away from exploding into chaos. Walls of sound and body heat pressed against me, trapping me in an invisible cage.
Max was one of the few people who knew about my past. One tiny push, and he could topple my world like it was a Jenga tower.
“You’re supposed to be…” Once again, I grasped for words that never came.
“In Ohio?” Max’s smile hardened. “Yeah. We have a lot to talk about.” He flicked a glance around us, but everyone was too busy battling for the bartender’s attention to pay us much mind. Nevertheless, he angled his head toward a dark corner of the club. “Over there.”
I followed him to a quiet hallway near the back exit. It was only steps away from the main club, but it was so dark and hushed it might as well be another world.
I tucked my phone back into my purse, Josh temporarily forgotten, and wiped my palms against my dress.
If I were smart, I would run and never look back, but Max had already tracked me down. Running would only delay the inevitable.
“I’m hurt you didn’t answer my texts,” Max said, never losing his affable expression. “With our history, I expected at least a reply.”
“I have nothing to say to you.” I kept my voice as even as possible despite the shake in my hand. “How did you even find me? How did you get my number?”
He tsked. “Those aren’t the right questions. Ask me why I haven’t reached out until now. Ask where I’ve been the past seven years.” When I didn’t, his face darkened. “Ask me.”
A sick feeling rose in my stomach. “Where have you been the past seven years?”
“Jail, Jules.” His smile didn’t reach the cold, flat plains of his eyes. “I was in jail for what you did. I only got out a few months ago.”
“That’s not possible.” Disbelief constricted my throat. “We got away.”
“You got away. You ran off to Maryland and created a perfect little life for yourself with the money we stole.” A shadow of a snarl rose on Max’s mouth before his expression smoothed again. “You left with no warning and left me to deal with the mess you made.”
I bit back a stinging retort. I didn’t want to provoke him until I figured out what he wanted, but while it was true I’d run off without leaving him so much as a note, we’d hatched the idea to steal from Alastair together. Max was the one who got greedy and deviated from the plan.
“They’ll be back soon.” I glanced around my stepfather’s office, my anxiety a tight knot in my chest. “We have to go now.”
We already had what we came for. Fifty thousand dollars in cash, which Alastair kept in his “secret” safe. He thought no one knew about it, but I’d made a point of exploring every nook and cranny of the mansion when I lived here. That included any places where Alastair may have stashed his secrets. I even figured out his safe combination—0495, the month and year he founded his textile company.
Cracking his safe wasn’t rocket science, and fifty grand wasn’t a secret, but it was a helluva lot of money, even after Max and I split it in half.
That was, if we stayed out of jail. We’d yet to get caught after seven months of pulling jobs in Columbus, but lingering here was just asking for trouble.
“Hold on. I...almost...got it.” Max grunted as he pried open the custom-made lock of the small metal box attached to the safe’s interior. It served as a second layer of security for Alastair’s most prized item: an antique diamond necklace he’d won at an auction several years ago after bidding over a hundred thousand dollars for it.
I already regretted telling Max about the necklace. I should’ve known fifty grand wouldn’t be enough for him. Nothing was enough for him. He always wanted more money, more clout. More, more, more, even if it got him into trouble.
“Leave it,” I hissed. “We can’t even pawn it without leading the authorities right to us. We have to—”
The bright beam of headlights filled the windows and threw a spotlight on our frozen forms. It was followed by the slam of a car door and Alastair’s deep, distinctive voice.
He and my mom went to dinner in the city every Friday, but they usually didn’t return home until ten. It was only nine-thirty.
“Shit!” Panic climbed up my throat. “Leave the fucking necklace, Max. We need to go!”