“About that. You’re letting them keep it?”

“Our deal stands. I’ll still stake you the two hundred fifty thousand.”

“Why?”

“I’m being careful. That money is two hundred and fifty thousand reasons not to go to the police.”

“Why not just take them somewhere, lock them down?”

“Too risky. Who knows if someone is expecting them, will report them missing? This is safer. They don’t know what they have, and they don’t know anything about us. So we watch, and we wait.” Victor leaned forward, tapped the mic. “Let’s go, Andrews.” The car began to move almost immediately. “You’ll watch her.”

“I don’t work for you, remember? No orders.”

Victor sighed. “If anything happens, it will go through her. She’s the one who set up the safe deposit. No one will be able access it without her, that’s why I didn’t insist on the key. I’ve got plenty of men, but you’re better than they are. So pretty please, in the interest of our partnership, will you keep an eye on her?”

“Fair enough.” Bennett paused, rubbed at his chin. “You’re right. If they do make a play, they won’t leave her dangling. Three men, one woman, they’re going to protect her.”

“They’re going to try.”

CHAPTER 27

THEY HAD SPENT ANOTHER HOUR wandering the city before Jenn told Mitch she was going home. He’d said he would come with her, and she had been forced to say no. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about him, or that her apology had been less than sincere. But everything was moving too fast. Maybe, maybe, they had a chance to make something happen. Of the original foursome, he was certainly the only one she still trusted. But they’d only slept together a couple of times, and he seemed ready to propose, and she just couldn’t take it.

“You’ll be OK?”

“I’ll be fine. I just need a little space.”

“Space from me?”

“Space from everybody.” She had taken his hand. “What you said before-”

“I know, it was too fast-”

“It was sweet. And I like you, too, Mitch. But I need some time to think. Let’s just get through all of this and let things settle down, OK?”

“Yeah,” he’d said. “Sure.”

“And once it has, why don’t you give me a call. Ask me out on an actual date.”

His face lit up like Christmas. “Yeah?”

“I’d like that.”

“Me too.” He laughed. “We’ll do it right. Go somewhere nice. On Johnny.”

That had made her laugh too, and as she’d gotten in a cab and closed the door behind her, she’d felt a quick pang of regret to leave him standing on the sidewalk, hands tucked in his pockets.

But it had also felt great to step into her apartment alone. To dodge out of the weight and meaning of everything. Habit, maybe, and one that she was looking to break. It was time to quit playing games, pretending that nothing meant anything. But it wasn’t going to happen all at once. Right now, all she wanted was to put life on hold. To forget about the dissolution of her friendships, the transformation of her world, the monsters tracking them. To have a vodka and read a silly magazine and forget everything. Maybe it was weak, maybe it was regressive, but she deserved it.

So the knock on the door had been anything but a happy surprise. She strode across the hardwood fast, reached for the door. “Damn it, I said I need a little space-”

Alex stood in the hallway.

“Oh.” She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling trapped and a little silly. “You.”

“Listen, I can’t stay. Cassie’s got a soccer game, I promised I’d be there. But I wanted to-I couldn’t say it in front of the others. First Victor, then Mitch, they got me so riled up.” He let out a breath. “It doesn’t matter. I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“OK.”

He gave her a rueful smile. “I really pissed you off, didn’t I?”

“You bailed on us.”

“That’s not what I’m apologizing for.”

“No?”

“I had to do that. I have my daughter to think of.”

“We all have people to think of.”

“I know. But you don’t know what it’s like to have a child. It… it takes over everything. When I heard Victor threaten her, I could have… Jesus. If it wasn’t for his guards, I might have put his face through that table.”

There was something in the way he held himself, the tension in his shoulders, that touched her. In the genes, she supposed-hard not to be attracted to a man who would do anything for his family. “I’m glad you didn’t try.”

“I know.” He paused. “I’m going to lose her, Jenn.”

“Mitch thinks that if we give the stuff to Victor-”

“I don’t mean that. They’re taking her away. To Arizona.” He looked down, rubbed at the back of his neck. “I brought Trish the money. I know, I shouldn’t have, just like Ian shouldn’t have paid his bookie, but I had to. And they had this lawyer there, this slick as shit corporate killer, and he-”

“Unbelievable.” She shook her head. “You’re a piece of work, you know that?”

“Huh?”

“First, you come down on Ian for doing the same thing you did.”

“That was different-”

“But beyond that, it’s always the same for you, isn’t it? You never look at the things you don’t want to. You convince yourself of something and screen out the rest of the world. Of course you can’t just waltz in, give her some money, and make everything OK. Did you really believe that was going to work? For a bright guy, you sure miss the obvious. You did it with your marriage, your job, the child support, even-” She stopped herself.

“Even you,” he said. “That’s what you were going to say, isn’t it? Well, maybe you’re right. That’s why I’m here. To apologize.”

She waited, gave him nothing.

“I’ve been stupid in so many ways. Everything you said, and more.” His gaze was level, challenging. “The other night, when I came over… it was… I’d just come from Trish’s-well, from a bar-and I was hurting, and I needed someone to help me, to make it better. And the only person I could think of was you.”

Jenn stared at him, the hard line of his jaw, the muscles his shirt didn’t conceal, the haunted look in his eyes. There had been a time when hearing that would have made her happy. They’d told each other that they were just passing time and taking pleasure. But though she’d been willing to go along, it wasn’t the way she was wired. The way women were wired. Not really. No matter the promises, the words spoken, the secrets, she couldn’t sleep with someone for a year and not care about him. Not wonder about a future. Once upon a time, hearing him say that would have made her very happy indeed.

Now, though, it just annoyed her. “I don’t really know what to do with that.”

“I know.” He shifted. “I know.”

“Mitch and I…”

“I’m not trying to get in the middle of that.”

“Yes, you are.”

“How are things with the two of you?”

“I like him. It’s nice to have someone want you, want to be with you, want to let everyone know it.” She saw Alex wince, but didn’t feel like making it easier on him. “And he’s smart, and strong. Stronger than any of us thought.”

“But?”

“Why do you think there’s a ‘but’?”

“Isn’t there?”

“It’s just, it’s all so fast. He thinks it’s true love, that this is a musical and all the excitement is part of the fun.”

“And you don’t.”

“I don’t know. Everything is complicated.” She sighed. “You know how I told Victor that the stuff was in the bank? I lied.”

“What? But the key-”

“I got a safe-deposit box, but it was for the money. The bottles are still in the drug dealer’s car. I lied to buy some time so we could go to the police. But Mitch said that if we do, he’ll go to jail.”

“He’s right. He killed someone. He would go to jail. He should go to jail.” Alex paused, then something came into his eyes. “But you can’t live with that. Because he did it for you.”

“It wasn’t that simple, like he-”

“Come on.” Alex shrugged. “You know the truth. He did it for you. All of it.”