Steal: A Bad Boy Romance (16 page)

CHAPTER 22

~ J
AMES
~

My breath burned in my lungs.

Agent
Clark had confiscated the contents of my pockets, so I had no money to call a
cab, no phone to call an
Uber
. Instead, I’d run to
the Mission District and Kat’s
neighborhood
.

I
had to hope she was home.

There
was no other choice. The FBI swarmed ARCANE’s offices, I couldn’t trust that
Addison hadn’t told them about the condo, and my keys were in the wrong hands.
It was even possible the FBI was watching her apartment, but it was a gamble I
had to take. Agent Clark hadn’t known who she was, so there was a glimmer of
hope that it wouldn’t be under surveillance just yet, but that
window rapidly shrank, especially with my escape.

I
spent the entire run working out the details of the upcoming conversation. I’d
seen the look in Kat’s eyes when she realized who I was. There was no easy way
to explain things to her and salvage the fire that had grown between us.

As
I approached Kat’s block, I slowed to observe the
neighborhood
and look for anything out of place. The FBI thought they were so great at
blending in, but they always made fundamental mistakes because they approached
concealment with the wrong mentality. It was part of the reason they’d come
close but never caught me until Addison betrayed me.

I
let my breathing settle and heart slow as I scanned the street. Only one object
stood out to my finely honed senses, screaming how much it didn’t belong. The
cherry red car wasn’t a vehicle the FBI would ever use on a stakeout, so I
immediately disregarded it.

Coast clear.

Despite
my confidence in the ability to detect law enforcement, I still approached
Kat’s residence as though I was watched. Affecting a stride different to my
own, I sauntered along the sidewalk, never looking at the house her apartment
was in or telegraphing my interest. Once I drew even with the front door, I
sneezed and turned my head to the side to look in that direction.

The
door gaped open.

I
paused, unable to help myself. For three long heartbeats I waited to see if I
had lucked out and caught Kat just as she was entering or leaving.

There
was no movement, but a woman yelled inside. It was Kat.

I
swiveled
to look at the red sports car. The license plate
said N1CKS.

Idiot!
I berated myself for the
oversight. The minutes wasted trying to blend in might make the difference
between life and death for the woman I cared about most in the world.

Dropping
all
pretense
, I sprinted up the front steps and into
the house. Once inside, Kat’s yells grew even louder until suddenly cut off.

The kitchen.

Although
every
fiber
of my being vibrated with the need to fly
to her rescue, I wouldn’t be any use to her if I made so much noise on the way
that Nick heard me coming and shot me before I could do anything to take him
out.

With
the best combination of speed and stealth I could manage, I crept to the back
of the house and the large kitchen. Two figures sprawled on the floor,
struggling against each other. Nick’s larger body was on top, pressing Kat into
the ground, his arm across her face while his other hand grappled with her
clothes, clawing at them. Kat’s legs and arms kicked and flailed, but she
couldn’t do anything against Nick, overwhelmed by superior mass and
positioning.

Rage
like I’d never felt before filled me at the sight. I couldn’t hold back any
longer.

“Get
the fuck off her!” I shouted as I crossed the remaining distance in one large
swoop.

I
grabbed Nick by the neck and pulled sideways as hard as I could. He rolled off
Kat, who scrabbled to the side of the kitchen floor.

Nick’s
eyes widened when he saw my face. “You. I will kill you.”

He
lashed out with his feet and caught me on the side of my knee. The sudden
impact was unexpected, and I collapsed sideways under the excruciating pain
that exploded in my leg.

The
advantage of surprise disappeared, and I was already in worse shape than the
man I’d come to rescue Kat from.

She’d
moved even further away, her shirt ripped and exposing the bra underneath.
“James, look out!”

Nick
had gotten to his knees and aimed a fist at my face. I ducked my head just in
time to feel his knuckles scrape the top of my head, but the floor took the
brunt of the attack. Nick grunted as his fist cracked on the tile.

I’d
regained my senses as adrenaline dulled the pain from my knee. Nick’s miss had
put his body close enough to grab, and I locked my arms around his torso and
torqued him as hard as I could with all my strength.

He
tipped over, and I rolled with him until he was on his back and I was on top.
Before he could recover, I pulled myself up until I straddled him and punched
down, fist connecting with his face.

That
was the only blow I landed as Nick bucked and twisted and levered me off him.

We
separated, glaring at each other.

“You
never should have come after me,” Nick said. “You don’t know what I’m capable
of. I won’t just kill you—I’ll destroy your family, your friends, every
shred of life you’ve ever lived, everyone you’ve ever loved.”

He
caught me looking at Kat.

“You
do love her, don’t you?” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll save something very
special for her. Once I kill you, I’ll take her with me and fuck her every day.
I’ll chain her up in a dark basement and use her for sex until I break her
spirit and she forgets she ever had a life before being my slave. She’ll live
to service me, and she’ll forget you even existed.”

Nick’s
words were fuel on an already raging inferno. If he had any sense at all, he
would have stopped long before he did.

“I
will end you,” I said. That was all the warning I gave before I launched myself
at him.

My
rage strengthened me, but it also made me wilder in my attacks, and care less
about defending myself. Nick landed more blows, but I barely felt them. I swung
with all the strength in my body and then some, and every time I landed a hit I
relished the pain that burst through my knuckles, because Nick would feel so
much worse.

I
fought him back, earning each step through sheer determination as I directed a
flurry of blows at Nick. He landed his own, but it made no difference. Blood
trailed down his face, and his eye swelled from the repeated strikes.

Finally,
he hit the counter and could retreat no further. We stared at each other,
beyond taunts.

“Just
give up,” I said. “You’re outclassed, and you know it. If we keep going, I
might kill you.”

Nick
spat at me, a big glob that caught me in the cheek. I stumbled back a step as I
wiped my face with my arm. As I did, Nick lunged, but not at me. He reached
across the countertop and grabbed a handle protruding from the knife block.

I
backed away, giving myself space.

Nick
grinned, the expression macabre with the amount of blood in his teeth and lips.

“Not
so confident now, are you? My knife against your fists—who do you think
will win?”

Shit.

The
best way to win a knife fight was to run away. It was possible to disarm
someone wielding a sharp weapon, but movies made it look far easier than it
was.

I
couldn’t run. Not with Kat’s life hanging in the balance.

Nick
stepped forward, and I had to retreat. Another step forward by him, another
step back by me. I stared at him, trying to find an opening, but he gave me
nothing.

It
was a slow, tense dance back across the kitchen floor. If he’d charged, he
might have opened himself up and given me an opportunity to take the knife away
from him, but he seemed to realize that.

Once
my back hit the pantry, I knew I was in trouble. My odds weren’t great of
surviving the next five minutes.

If
I didn’t survive, then Kat was doomed to the worst possible life I could
imagine. I spared a single moment from watching Nick’s stance to get a last
look at the love of my life.

Where is she?

CHAPTER 23

~ K
AT
~

Nick and James stared at each
other intently, as if they were the only people in the world.

Both
men had lost themselves in the altercation, and glances in my direction became
less and less frequent. As much as I hated James this morning, he’d come back
to save me and was fighting for my life. My heart was in my throat as I watched
him first start winning the fight and then have to give up ground to the knife
in Nick’s hand.

I’ve got to do something.

The
knife block was across the room, and the thought of sticking a blade into
someone’s body made me want to vomit. A few pots hung on the wall only a few
feet away, and as Nick backed James up, I traveled further and further to the
periphery.

As
quietly and slowly as I could, I took two steps to my left, sliding my body
over a few inches per second. Once I could reach the hanging pots, I took the
biggest one I could grab and hefted it in my hand.

It’s so heavy!

Nick
had James backing up against the far side of the kitchen, and there was no way
he could see me—he’d forgotten my presence, or dismissed me as a threat.

I
bent low and crept up behind Nick, placing each step carefully, afraid that he
knew exactly what I was doing and just waited for me to get close enough before
turning and cutting me with the butcher knife.

Striking
distance. I pulled back the arm with the pot, the muscles straining from
the weight of it. Then I shot it forward, putting everything I had into the
swing—I didn’t want to take the chance it wasn’t enough.

The
pot contacted Nick’s head with a loud clang, and the impact traveled up my arm
and shook me to the core.

He
crumpled to the floor, the knife clattering harmlessly to the ground. As he
fell, James came into view across his body.

Silence
reigned as we stared at each other. James broke it first.

“I
love you, Kat.”

I
fought to suppress the knee-jerk reaction to tell him I love him. Six hours
ago, that would have been the truth, and I would have been ecstatic to hear
those words from his lips.

“Is
this James, talking? Or Alex?”

He
looked hard at me. “The Alex you knew doesn’t exist, Kat. I left him behind a
long time ago. James is who I am, and I wasn’t just acting in order to get you
to do what I wanted. What does my birth name matter? It changes nothing that happened
between us. The feelings we felt and experiences we shared—that’s what’s
important.”

His
voice pulled at me in the low, seductive manner it always did. No—not
always. Not when we were younger. Only since I knew him as James.

He’s right—he’s different.
That’s not the issue, though.

“You
lied. Repeatedly. You used me to get at Nick. This whole thing was a big game
to you.”

James
shook his head. “What does that matter? I’m happy I used you to steal from
Nick. If I hadn’t then I wouldn’t have gotten to see what an empowered and
complete woman you’ve become. Couldn’t have fallen in love with you the way I
have.”

That
was the second time he said he loved me.

“James.
Alex. Whatever. Everything we did together, all I ever felt for you—that
was built on a lie. How do I forgive that?”

He
stepped over Nick’s prone body, closing the gap between us. I watched him,
suspicious, as he took the pan out of my hand and set it on the kitchen table.

“Kat.
Look at me. The reason we started dating may not be the best, but can you deny
the connection we have? The way we fit together so well. Tell me you don’t feel
it, unlike anything you’ve felt before.”

I
set my jaw and looked away. It was impossible to look into his eyes and tell a
lie. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We just went on a few dates,
that’s all.”

“Bullshit.”

James
put his hand on the back of my head and pulled me to him, stealing a kiss. It
didn’t even occur to me to struggle—my body opened to him automatically,
our tongues dancing in a frenzy. I couldn’t get enough, adrenaline from being
on the verge of dying making my body shake as emotions swamped me. I moaned low
in my throat and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer, pressing my
body hard against him.

This is insane.

I
pushed him away and fought to clear my head.

“That’s
not fair,” I said, breathing heavy from the way his hands touched me. “You
shouldn’t be allowed to do that in the middle of a fight.”

His
lips quirked. “I fight dirty, and I play to win. I’ll do whatever it takes to
make you realize that you need me. Just as much as I need you.”

My
head swam in a turbulent sea of emotions and thoughts. The previous few weeks
rushed through my mind, the perfection of the whirlwind romance butting up
against the harsh reality of James’ secrets.

“I
need to know more about you. You’re a fucking criminal, James. How are you even
here? You were escorted out of ARCANE’s offices by FBI agents.”

He
scratched his head, looking abashed for the first time. “Right. I’d forgotten
about that. We might not have much time, here, Kat. It won’t take them long to
catch up. I’m not a bad person—you have to trust me on that. I steal from
people, but only those who deserve it. The ones who are nasty on the inside and
hurt other people, but never get caught. Someone has to make them pay, and I
figure it might as well be me.”

“Do
you think that makes you some kind of superhero? Because you steal from bad
guys?”

He
grinned. “Why? Think I should trade in for some tights and a cape?”

I
laughed. I couldn’t help it; the image of James in a ridiculous superhero
costume stealing from criminals was too much. “Damn it. You always knew how to
make me laugh. You never lost that.”

Sirens
grew audible in the distance, getting louder. There were a lot of them.

The
smile faded from James’ face. “It’s decision time, Kat. I want you. I need you.
I love you. Will you at least give me a chance to earn your trust, again? I’ll
tell you everything you want to know, and I won’t hide anything from you going
forward.”

Indecision
tore at me. I needed more time. “Will you run away and hide? So they don’t find
you and lock you up?”

He
shook his head. “I’ve been running from them for a long time. No more. I will
clear my name so we don’t have to worry about them ever ruining things for us.”

“How
will you do that?” My heart pounded hard in my chest at the thought of James
turning himself in. “You’ve got to run, James.”

“No.
This is the only way forward.” He took my hands in his and squeezed them.
“Trust me, I will be out before you know it.”

The
sirens screeched outside the house, the front door still hanging open and doing
nothing to diminish the sound.

“This
is it, Kat. Do you want me to find you when I get free, or do you never want to
hear from me again?”

His
eyes remained locked into mine as if he’d willingly go his whole life looking
at nothing else. My hands felt safe and protected in his, so right.

“I’ll
wait for you.”

I
leapt into his arms and kissed him hard as shouts penetrated through the front
door.

“FBI!”

James
gently broke the kiss, in no rush as he took me by the shoulders and set me
back from him before turning to the hallway and sinking to his knees. He lifted
his hands to the back of his head.

Two
armored
men in black rounded the corner with assault
rifles. I backed up against the wall as they swarmed James and knocked him to
the ground. Even more men came into the room and checked on Nick.

The
agent who had taken James away in Nick’s office walked in next, his right arm
in a sling and face bruised. “That’s them. Take them out and lock them into the
truck.” He eyed me from across the kitchen. “The woman is no threat, but I’ll
question her here before we go.”

James,
now handcuffed, was dragged to his feet. When he turned to look at me one last
time before he was led from the room, he wore an impish smile.

No
matter how sure he was that he knew what he was doing, my heart knew it would
never see him again.

The
agent crossed the room to the kitchen table. A limp marred his gait, and every
step brought with it a tensing of his face and a slight hitch in his breath.
“Katherine, right?”

I
stared at the spot James had disappeared for one more moment, locking the sight
of him into my memory. Then I turned to the FBI agent and nodded. “That’s
right."

“I
hope you don’t mind if I take a seat,” he said as he pulled a chair back. “That
bastard got us into a collision so he could run here and get captured again. I
want to know what you talked about, and what the hell Nick Mercer was doing
here.”

It
felt surreal, sitting at my kitchen table to have a one-on-one conversation
with someone else as if the past half an hour hadn’t happened. Just a few short
minutes ago, I thought I’d be raped and then killed on the floor, and then
witnessed a fight to the death between my boss, the man who tried to rape me,
and my lover, a thief who only used me to get close to my boss and who happened
to be my best friend as a kid.

The
agent looked at me. “Well? I’ve had a long day. Please don’t make me tease it
out of you.”

“Nick
came here to kill me. Or rape me. Or both. He was pissed that I’d allowed
James—Alex—to use me to get access to ARCANE. James had also
forwarded me an email from Nick’s computer that showed him bragging about
killing the original authors of ARCANE’s encryption software.”

He
sat forward in his chair. “And why would Nick do that?”

“He
said he made them build a backdoor into the encryption so he could access
anything he wanted from his clients, but the developers had a big problem with
it, so he took them out.”

He
sat silent for a moment. Nothing of his thoughts betrayed themselves on his
face. “Tell me what happened here.”

I
retold the events as straightforward as I could, but tears gathered in my eyes
from the remembered stress and fear. The agent stopped me from time to time to
ask questions or for clarification, but mostly let me go until I’d gotten to
the point the FBI had burst into the house.

“You
realize that if you’ve lied about any of this, that’s a criminal offense.”

I
shrugged. “No, but it doesn’t matter. I told you what happened. It’s the
truth.”

He
leaned back in his chair, eyes scanning my face. I lifted my chin and stared
back.

Finally,
he nodded. “That’s enough for now. If we find anything in ARCANE’s files that
don’t match your account of things, I won’t take it as easy on you next time.
We will be in touch with further questions.”

“That’s
it?” I asked. “What about James? What will happen to him?”

“Alex
Fisher is a known criminal with many charges against him. I expect he’ll be in
prison for a long time—maybe twenty years, maybe his whole life. It’ll
depend on how lenient the judge is on him.”

My
heart sank. I’d just committed myself to waiting for James. Did he expect me to
wait forever?