Fraud

Skin bristling to hear the accusation, I smile. The sweet one that is lined with bullshit to hide what I’m thinking. She sees right past it.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Uh huh.”

Her hair catches the porch light that flickers on above our heads, her turquoise eyes assessing me.

“What I find interesting is that you’re not afraid of Gabriel. So why the hell are you stalling to keep from calling him?”

Because I know he’s up to something. And I have no idea what.

Pushing away from the handrail, I walk into the house with Emily following behind me.

“Maybe I just don’t want to hear his a

“Sure. We can go with that.”

“Fuck off.”

She laughs when I grab my phone from my purse and blow out a steadying breath.

“No time like the present,” I mumble as I scroll to his number, hit the button and bring the phone to my ear.

Gabriel answers after two rings. “Thank you for calling Jaguar. This is Gabriel speaking. How can I assist you today?”

Judging by that smooth tone of voice, Fraud is on the line.

Behind him I can hear the soft murmur of office noises, a phone ringing in the distance, a receptionist answering the call and then the quick fingers of somebody typing.

“Jaguar?”

He laughs. “I figured I might as well sell you my car for as long as you’ve had it. I’ll have to do a credit check first, of course. I suspect you have no money or a job.”

A door shuts on his end of the line, the low din of his office silenced.

“Oh, that car. No thanks. I ditched it a while back before catching a flight to Europe. It didn’t have all the features I wanted and the suspension was shit.”

“Did you? I guess I’ll have to buy a new one.”

Clenching my hand over the phone, I pace the living room floor.

“I saw we broke up. Sorry to wreck your heart. I know you had hopes and dreams, but sometimes these things just don’t work out. It’s a pity.”

I can almost see his charming smile.

“Yes, well, I’m burying myself in work to get over the trauma. I’m sure I’ll eventually find it within myself to move on. It’ll be difficult to find another woman that enjoys destroying property and is a lying, thieving bitch, but if I wish for it hard enough on a falling star, I’m sure it will come true someday.”

I can hear humor in his voice, which only confirms he’s up to something.

“Cut the crap. Why did you do it?”

He pauses for a second, dead silence on the line before he sighs and explains, “You’ve made it abundantly clear you have no intention to pay the price for Ta

“So what are you saying?”

“I think you know.”

His tone of voice changes on those last words, and it’s not Fraud speaking anymore. It’s the monster beneath the mask.

Fear crawls down my spine with scratchy fingers, my blood ru

“You wouldn’t.”

A nervous chuckle escapes my throat because this is insane. We’re all in our late twenties. I’m almost certain that these guys have grown up enough that they don’t still -

“I’m sorry to tell you this, beautiful, but we would. Not often anymore. However, we’re always willing to make an exception.”

Apparently, they haven’t grown up that much.

I’ve made a lot of dumb decisions in my life. And one incredibly stupid decision that I thought at the time wasn’t as stupid as I’m now learning it is.

It was never supposed to come to this, and I’m regretting everything I did.

“Good luck finding me in Europe, Gabe. It’ll be difficult for you to run me down if you have no idea where I am.”

Behind me, I hear Emily’s phone ring. Gabriel and I are both quiet when she answers. Only a minute passes before she calls my name, her voice anxious and urgent.

“Get off the phone, Ivy. I need to talk to you.”

Gabe laughs softly. “I see Ava got the word out. The thing about spies is you shouldn’t let us know you have them. They become unreliable reporters.”

I laugh in return, one hard bark of sound that does nothing to hide the panic I’m feeling. “Says the guy paying Dylan.”

He doesn’t react except to say, “We’ll see you soon, love. Try not to wreck my car in your attempt to escape. You’ve wrecked enough of my stuff and already have so much to repay.”

Gabriel hangs up, and I spin on my heel to face Emily, her expression is tight with fear.

“They found us,” she says. “Ava just called and warned that Mason and the guys are leaving town.”

Fuck...

My heart races as my thoughts scramble to figure this out. The worst thing I can do is panic. Taking a few deeps breaths, I try and fail to get my pulse to slow down as I fight to think clearly.

“Okay. This is fine. We have two hours at least. Gabriel was still at his office when I called him, so they haven’t left yet.”

Emily’s eyes meet mine. “Where should we go?”

I have no idea, but we’re not entirely helpless. Emily has money even when I don’t. We can still get out of state and go far enough that they can’t find us.

“I hear Europe is lovely this time of year.”

Her brows tug together.

“Even if that was a viable option, neither of us have our passports.”

Okay. So we stay in the country. But where the hell can we hide that he wouldn’t figure out eventually?

“We’ll figure out where to go on the way. For now, let’s pack our stuff and leave here as quickly as possible. Two hours is a long time to put distance between us and them.”

Emily and I run upstairs to hastily throw our clothes and toiletries into our bags, our feet a thunder of sound as we race back downstairs to haul ass out the front door.

Darkness has fallen quickly outside the windows, the nocturnal chorus even louder as we make our way through the house, turning off lights en route to the foyer.

Practically ru

I freeze in place the second my feet hit the wood.

The front of the house is illuminated by two porch lights on the outside walls and another two spotlights that are a yellow glow over the small parking area. Beyond that is pure black, the rustle of leaves a soft whisper of sound within the darkness.

My jaw drags the ground as Emily comes to a stop beside me, her voice filling the disturbing silence with the same question that’s screaming in my head.

“Where’s the car?”

Within the circle of soft yellow light should be a custom Jaguar I know cost over a hundred thousand dollars. It should have sleek lines and black paint with chrome embellishments that only add to the luxurious exterior.

Instead, all I see is a dirt lot with nothing parked in the spot where I know for a fact I’d left Gabriel’s car.

Emily nudges me with her elbow.

“Ivy, where’s the car?”

The panic in her voice matches what I’m feeling, although she hasn’t yet hit the point of terror that I’m jumping to as my eyes move past the light into the darkness.

“I have no idea,” I mumble, my eyes sca

It’s not like I can see anything past the circle of light, only a solid swatch of black as thick as a puddle of ink spilled over the landscape.

To our right, a spark catches my attention, the small flash of light igniting into a flame that grows over the head of a torch.