22. The Long Con
CHAPTER 22
The Long Con
Henry
The sight of Jonathan Cavalier was nauseating. He didn’t deserve to be here, free and respected by everyone in this town. I fisted my hands below the tabletop and focused on the other players instead. He couldn’t know how much I wanted to hurt him.
The fact that he didn’t have a clue what we were planning gave us an advantage—it was the only fucking thing we had going for us. Because the truth was, we were flying blind. We didn’t know why he wanted Mom’s jewelry or what he planned to do with it.
I squeezed my fists tighter, fighting the urge to flip the table over and pound on his face. I had to keep calm. I couldn’t kill this asshole without putting Mom’s life in danger. Not to mention that a quick death would be doing him a favor. No, he needed to face the town for what he did. He needed to rot in jail. I glared at him, so sick of this cat-and-mouse game. This was Nikki’s MO, not mine.
Make your fucking move already .
“Your bet, Henry,” Russ said.
With a nod, I threw in my chips. I didn’t need much skill to read Jonathan. The way he kept wiping his hands on his pants, blinking fast, and drinking from his glass as if it were the last bit of bourbon in the world, he was scared shitless. But what was he afraid of? To lose money? He had loads of it. What then? Me? Did he know that if he didn’t have Mom, he’d be on the floor right now, suffocating slowly under my grip?
Or had he already figured out we broke into Mom’s security box? No doubt Mr. Paredes had mentioned seeing Nikki and me at the bank yesterday. He had definitely reacted to Nikki’s necklace when we walked in. I was sure he grabbed his phone when Russ pulled out a chair for Nikki. She made a big enough deal out of it to ensure all eyes were on her to make him feel it was safe to send out a message. If he did send a message, who had he contacted? Would he be stupid enough to make his move tonight, right now, as Nikki had said? God, I hoped so. Our entire plan depended on it.
Sweat beaded across Jonathan’s hairline. He peeked at his two cards and then at the river laid out in front of us on the table. All the while he kept a close watch on his phone.
My eyes darted between him and the door. Nikki was taking way too long. We’d agreed to stay together. Our plan was to let Jonathan see the necklace and then follow him. She had assured me he would either go to the hotel to get the jewels himself or at the very least go to Mom to tell her he’d found her getaway bag. Nikki going off on her own wasn’t part of the deal. Why the hell had she left the room?
Jonathan flipped the chips between his fingers, counted his stack, and shifted them around—one of his tells. He had shitty cards. He took another sip and went into a bout of coughing. He stood, and I did too. He’d gotten a message. I was sure of it. Screw the plan. This game was over. I kicked my chair back and left the room. Russ called after me, but I didn’t have time for niceties and goodbyes. Something in the pit of my stomach told me Nikki was in trouble.
Her perfume lingered in the Speakeasy corridor and out in the public section of the bar, but she wasn’t around. I checked the women’s bathroom, kicking every stall door as I went through. I swallowed, took in the room, and made note of every detail. Had she been taken? There were no signs of struggle. I went in the men’s bathroom. Nothing there either. Nikki was smart. If she needed help, she would’ve left a clue, dropped an earring…anything to warn me our plan had gone wrong. My mouth went dry at the thought. Had she gone of her own accord? Dammit. Why would she leave when she knew it wasn’t safe? When she knew Jonathan might try something?
I tromped back to the Speakeasy room. I’d never get another chance to be in the same room with Jonathan without his bodyguards. Heart thudding, I shouldered the door open, ready to beat him to a pulp if I had to. Ready to make him tell the truth for once. But he was gone too.
“Where the fuck is he?” I shoved a hand in my hair. My face burned hot, then everything blurred. Jonathan had Mom and now Nikki. “Did you set this up?” I glared at Russ.
Russ stood. “He left right after you. He’s not with you?” He put out his hands, speaking softly as if talking to a wild animal. “Henry, are you all right?”
“Everything okay?” Mr. Paredes asked, his eyes wide. He’d never seen me like this.
They had no clue what was going on. I didn’t have time for any of this. “No, I’m not alright.” I bolted out of the room.
If I hurried, I might catch Jonathan and Nikki back at the hotel. With a bit of luck, he’d taken her there first to get Mom’s bag. Nikki had to be there because otherwise, I had nowhere else to go, no idea where to start looking for the only family I had left.
I climbed into my truck and sped down Main Street, glad for the late hour and empty streets. Jumping the curb, I parked the car by the hotel entrance and went in. Someone had broken into our place, left a mess in the lobby, as if they’d been looking for something. If Jonathan had Nikki, he’d know exactly where Mom’s things were. Had he sent his bodyguards? Or was this something else?
I rushed up the stairs to Nikki’s room, and my stomach dropped to the floor when I swung the door open. All her things were gone, her clothes, Dad’s pictures on the wall, the toiletries in the bathroom… Did she leave me? No. Jonathan took her. He made her do this.
My hands shook. A ringing in my head made my jaw clench. “Nikki. Please.”
I couldn’t think about what any of this meant. I pushed the thought aside and focused on looking for Mom’s bag. The hollow feeling in my chest made it hard to breathe. This was the same pain I felt the day Nikki left me waiting by the mesquite tree, when Jonathan’s men came to tell me they’d seen her leave town, when I realized I had lost her forever.
I checked the back of her closet. Everything was gone. I rubbed the side of my face. None of it made sense. Nikki wouldn’t do this to me. She loved me. I trudged to my bedroom. She hadn’t done this to me again.
On the dresser, I found an envelope with my name written in caps. In Nikki’s handwriting.
Please. Don’t do this, Nikki .
Numb, I picked up the envelope, ripped it open, and threw it on the bed. The minutes slid by as I glared at her note, unable to focus .
Henry,
My first day back in Paradise Creek, you saw right through me. You knew I was a thief and that I’d come here to steal something. And you were absolutely right. You were the mark from the beginning. Don’t be mad, darling. We did have a marvelous time, and I’m leaving something to make it up to you…Tessa’s real insurance policy.
Forever Yours,
NS
Her words left me dazed, cold, and with a gaping hole in my chest. I sat on the edge of the bed and braced my arms on my thighs.
“Take the money,” I whispered to her the day I found her leaving the tunnels. “Meet me at five under the mesquite tree.” She nodded, and I smiled. “You’re going to love Paris. I promise.”
After all the horror of Dad’s death, after five years in Tucson at a boarding school, Nikki and I had finally found a way back to each other. I kissed the side of her mouth and her cheek. Her giggles made my chest swell with happiness. She threw her arms around my neck and pressed her lips against mine, soft and full.
“Go.” I ushered her toward the end of the tunnel, where the light shone bright. “I can handle my uncle.”
That had been our first kiss. The kiss that haunted me for ten years after she left me. How many women had I kissed after that, looking for that same thrill, that same connection, the feeling that I was complete? I didn’t know. All I knew was that I never found it, that I never felt it again until Nikki came back into my life.
Even though I hadn’t said it that day, I loved her. I knew she had returned to the manor to steal, and I didn’t care. Instead, I asked her to run away with me to Paris. But the truth was, she only came back because she knew I’d be an easy mark. And I’d been stupid enough to believe her. It was all a fucking lie.
I ripped her note in half, again and again until the small pieces fell around my feet like snow. She played me. From the beginning, she’d been after my money. Like an idiot, I believed her. I believed in Dom’s good intentions too. How long had he waited to give Nikki Dad’s original will? Now she had Mom’s jewelry and the will. How much would Jonathan pay to get his hands on that loot?
Why did you do it, Nikki? I would’ve given you the world.
My mind raced, shuffling through all the conversations we’d had since she’d returned to Paradise Creek. Nikki had been angry at me that first day when she supposedly figured out who I was. God knew I’d been furious with her too. But after we talked, we figured out we’d been played. Jonathan didn’t want us together, but we won.
We’d found each other again, and we were happy—at least, I was happy. What had changed for her? Had it all been pretend? Just to get what she wanted? Acid pumped through my veins. Of course it had been. It hadn’t been Jonathan who separated us that day. Nikki just never fucking showed up to our meeting place. She lied about that too. Her pain, everything had all been an act. She’d known exactly who I was the day she came back. I was the fucking mark, just another pawn in her long con.
A growl escaped my lips, leaving tiny scrapes in the back of my throat. I sank down on the desk chair and screamed her name until I couldn’t breathe. She’d betrayed me. After all we’d gone through, she hadn’t cared about any of it. It’d always been about the money for her. She’d been so obsessed with it since we were kids. I fooled myself into thinking she’d changed, but people never change, and here was proof. I picked up the envelope off the bed. The scribbles on it choked the oxygen out of my lungs.
I’d bet Lisa was part of it too. How they must’ve laughed at me for believing their sob story, for believing Lisa was innocent. Lisa had gotten convicted for murder for a good reason. She’d been there, for Christ’s sake. I saw her when we left the tunnels through the garden exit and came back in through the kitchen. She was there, covered in Dad’s blood. Forensics had even confirmed Lisa matched the height, weight, and strength of the killer. But Nikki knew all too well how to twist the facts and make me believe a different story.
A pounding headache spread from my sinuses to the place where a deep furrow split my forehead. I rubbed my fingers against it, crumpling the envelope in my hand until something hard inside it poked me. I shook it out, and it fell on the bed…an SD chip. I stared at the pieces of paper on the floor with her handwriting on them. The tears in my eyes made the letters blurry.
I’m leaving something to make it up to you…Tessa’s real insurance policy.
What the fuck was this? I glared at the chip between my fingers. Another lie? Another con? After all she’d done, did she really think she could make it up to me? Did she really think I would believe another one of her lies?
With trembling hands, I strode to the desk, pulled out the chair, and sat. I shoved the chip in the SD slot and tapped on the track pad to open the only folder available. Then I clicked on the voice recording.
“For Christ’s sake, Jonathan, he was your brother. What kind of a monster are you?” a woman’s voice quavered.
I slid the video counter back and restarted it. It was Mom. I hadn’t heard her voice in so long, but I was sure it was her. I pinched the bridge of my nose for a moment and hit Play again .
“I made a terrible mistake. I panicked, but I never meant for any of this to happen. I love James and you. You know that. I always have. I would never do anything to hurt you.” My uncle sobbed while another woman whimpered in the background.
“Where is the body, Francesca?” Mom yelled, and Jonathan’s wife cried louder. Footsteps echoed over the speaker, mingled with shuffling sounds that created static. “Where?”
“The tunnels,” Francesca said quickly. “You have to help us. This was all an accident. I promise.”
“Take me to him,” Mom said, her voice void of emotion. Mom’s breath hitched, more scratching sounds came through, and then the recording ended.
I sat back in the chair, covering my mouth. Mom knew Lisa was innocent because she’d been there. And not only had she not moved a finger to help Lisa, but she fucking helped Dad’s killer frame an innocent girl for the murder of her husband.