Chapter 15
She kissed me. Again. I guess technically I kissed her the first time. But still. Did I unintentionally start a game of tag? Am I supposed to kiss her next? That’s a game I could get behind.
I shake my head and focus on the monitors. She’s still distracting me, and she’s been sitting with “Chad” for ten minutes now.
So far she’s doing okay. She’s been chatting nonstop though, barely giving him time to answer before she dives into her next question. Kind of like what she did in here, asking about everything in the van.
I’m pretty sure she only rambled to see how long I’d let her. But I kind of enjoy it. Is that a testament to how lonely my life has become that I will welcome any voice in my head that isn’t my own? Or is it her voice that hypnotizes me?
I watch as they receive their food, my stomach only growling slightly at the delicious close-up image of Amelia’s gnocchi. I swear I can almost smell it. Did she order my favorite dish because she enjoys trying new things or is she doing it because she knows I have a perfect view of her plate?
Cruz stops by the table and refills their waters and Amelia can’t seem to stop herself from striking up a conversation with her.
“How long have you been in the food industry? Peggy?”
Cruz clears her throat and reaches for Liam’s glass. “Since I was sixteen.”
I unscrew my water bottle.
“It’s lovely that you found what you’re good at at such a young age.”
I choke on my water, spewing it over the monitors. Cruz slams the cup onto the table, splashing Liam. He jumps back but doesn’t curse like I would have.
“I’ll grab a towel.” Cruz bolts from the table as Liam reaches for a pile of napkins.
“What a nice girl,” Amelia says.
Liam looks more confused than anything. “I suppose she is.”
“So, what are your interests, Chad Smith?”
I cringe at the way she emphasizes his fake name. There was a reason I didn’t give her Chad’s real name, I didn’t want to risk her slipping up. But at least she’s finally getting to the questions I tried to coach her on to steer the conversation in a beneficial way.
“I like all things.” He cuts a meticulous piece of sausage, then dabs it in sauce before putting it in his mouth. “I enjoy traveling, and immersing myself in different cultures.”
That’s perp talk for “I like stealing things that don’t belong to me.”
“A traveler,” she muses. “What are your favorite places?”
He steeples his fingers together. “Well, Turks and Caicos for one. There’s this waterfall next to my house that’s perfect for diving. I love Scotland, Dubai, and South Africa.”
“Wow.” Amelia breathes. “Seems you’ve done it all. But if you were to die tomorrow, what’s one thing you’d regret not doing?”
He sits back with a breath. “Oh, I mean, starting a family I suppose.”
He’s lying through his annoyingly white teeth.
“I can see you sporting matching plaid vests and dimples with your kids someday,” Amelia says.
He grabs her hand across the table. “But can you see their mom? She’s breathtaking.”
No, he didn’t. That tiny shred of shrapnel just became a nine-millimeter bullet right in the center of my heart. She’s not really falling for this act, is she?
“You’re such a charmer.” She squeezes his hand and he lifts it to his lips, leaving an obscenely long kiss on the back of it. And another one on the wrist.
Who does this guy think he is?
I can practically hear her racing heart.
“Um,” Amelia clears her throat. “What’s one of your biggest pet peeves?”
Liam flashes her a grin so annoyingly suave I want to punch his lights out. “When a woman doesn’t know how beautiful she is.” He kisses her hand again.
“Oh, stop it,” Amelia giggles.
Yes. Please stop it.
Amelia resumes her flirting. It’s a bit over the top in my opinion, but Liam flirts right back. Commenting on her beauty so many times it’s nauseating. She’s a gorgeous woman, we get it. But she’s more than her killer legs and stunning smile, her curves and—
Amelia coughs, pounding on her chest where the camera is.
“Amelia, are you okay?” Liam asks.
I go still, watching the cameras and Liam’s furrowed brows for signs I missed something important. What can he see that I can’t? Is this too much for her? Is he scaring her?
“Yeah.” She waves her hand in front of the camera and takes a long sip of water. “Just went down the wrong pipe. You know, I’m curious, how a man like you can be both handsome and good.”
His fingers brush hers on the table and I grab my gun. “You know I’m not all good.”
Keep going, Liam, implicate yourself so I can take you into custody.
I pull up Cruz’s comm. “Get ready to move in.”
“Oh, I don’t believe that,” Amelia simpers, fanning herself with the wine menu. It creates enough wind to static the comms. “I mean you came all the way to America to help disabled children.”
“I’m only doing what anyone would do with my means.” Liam smolders like the real-life Flynn Rider smolder.
It’s atrocious. What does Amelia see in him?
“How are you so successful? And at such a young age. What are you, twenty-eight? I mean, what’s the secret?”
“I’m thirty-one.” His lips curl up. “And there is no secret. I take risks. No risks, no rewards.”
Amelia snorts. “Oh, plenty of my risks come without rewards. I don’t have a beach house.”
He leans forward like he’s going to tell her a massive secret. “Then you’re not risking the right things.”
“Okay, how do I become rich?” She chuckles.
He leans back in his seat and rubs his chin. “Well, it also helps to have a wealthy grandfather who favors you above all of the other dreadful grandchildren. Do you have one of those?”
“I don’t even have a grandfather,” Amelia says.
“That is truly unfortunate.” He whispers, reaching across the table to brush a finger along the inside of her wrist. “You should always be surrounded by love.”
I hate this man.
“Oh Chad, I fear you’re too good to be true.” Her voice catches and I have to hold myself back from running in there to save her from him. But it’s not him that’s upsetting her, it’s the grief. The same grief I feel in my own heart. ”How can I possibly believe you”re real?”
For the first time all night, I catch a crack in Liam’s facade. His lips twitch before he pulls a pretentious smirk back onto his face.
“Okay, you caught me. You deserve the truth.”
“Oh?” Amelia squeaks and her fanning stops.
“I’ve never told anyone this before.”
I’m watching from the back doors of the van with one hand on the door handle, the other on my gun.
“I have a rescue cat named Harry.”
The air whooshes from my lungs.
“A…cat?” Amelia repeats.
“Yeah.” He holds up his phone and there on the home screen is a picture of a hideous orange tabby. “I buy him custom sweaters and everything.”
“That’s uh…” Amelia coughs. “Are those pineapples on the sweater?”
I tense. Dang it, Amelia. I knew that was a terrible code word.
“Yeah,” Liam says and I sink back into my seat.
“How…endearing,” Amelia says.
I can think of a few other choice words for what that is.
Liam’s phone rings and he excuses himself to answer it.
Amelia punctures a piece of gnocchi with her fork and waves it in front of the camera. It’s not a white flag of surrender, it’s a freaking dumpling flag telling me she was right.
And now she’s tapping in Morse code on her napkin. W-R-O-N-G.
My fury rages. It’s an act. Liam is playing her and she’s falling for it all, hook, line, and sinker. He’s a criminal. Conning women like her is what he does to take advantage of them. Like he did to Scarlett Winthrop.
This was a horrendous idea and I’m blaming it all on Cruz. We’ve learned nothing new except a potential location for his home in Turks and Caicos. A civilian can’t interrogate a professional con artist.
Liam rejoins Amelia, a frown pulling down his expression. “I’m sorry to cut our date short, but there’s been an issue at the school. I must take care of it. Will you be alright if I leave early? I’ve already paid upfront.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” Amelia says, and I can tell from her obnoxiously pleasant voice that she”s gloating. “You’ve got to help the children.”
“Thank you, my love. I’ll be in contact,” he says, and then places a kiss on her cheek before he leaves.
I call up Hadley and Jones letting them know he’s on the move and to follow him to some kind of school. I throw on a suit jacket and tuck my gun into the back of my pants. And then I head inside, to the woman making me lose my mind.