Chapter 33
Soren
It took me exactly twenty-two seconds to locate Maya, thanks to the tracking app I had the foresight to download on her phone while it was in my possession. Call me obsessed… because I am. I refuse to lose her this time.
She’s not at the Hartwell’s, and she’s not at home. Unless she lives at Rockefeller Center.
I text Liam as I head north, following her movements on the app, watching the dot more than my surroundings. I roll my ankle and nearly run into a trash can, but still, I can’t take my eyes off that dot, terrified if I do, I’ll never find her again.
Why did she take the painting?
She always wanted to protect art, not steal it. There’s something else at play I’m missing.
The streets are bustling, and I weave in and out of people as I pass, searching the endless crowd for the one.
My one. My woman of mystery.
What is she doing at the Top of the Rock? Her dot bounces around in place; she must be going up. I’ve seen enough off the edge of a building to last a while, but I go inside ready to risk it, anyway.
I don’t spot her dark hair or fuzzy socks in the crowd of people. She probably changed out of her fuzzy socks. Which is a shame, because I love them.
I take the elevator up with a half a dozen people, tapping my foot as if that will make it go faster. The elevator opens on the top floor, and I scan the small crowd.
Against the railing, facing Central Park, is a woman dressed in black, her dark hair braided down her back, arms hugging a bag to her chest. The top corner of the bag is unzipped, and a rolled-up paper peeks out. The one I jokingly assumed to be the Jonas Brothers.
She switched the paintings right under my nose, and quite honestly, I’m stunned. And even more attracted to her. But why did she take it? Her leg bounces, and she watches the horizon like it may disappear if she doesn’t keep an eye on it. She’s afraid.
I approach slowly, cautiously, like she’s a bird I might lose to the breeze.
“What are you doing here, Maya?”
She jumps, turning her back on the view and finding me with those wide, scared eyes. She clutches the bag tighter.
“Soren?”
“What are you doing here?” I repeat the question.
“I…” She glances down at the bag. “I had to. They made me.”
“Who?”
She shakes her head. “I can’t tell you.”
“Yes, you can.” I reach for her, cupping her cheek. “It was your roommate, right? Satan’s Mistress?” The slightest smile graces her lips. “She made you do this?”
Her eyes dart around the rooftop, and she drops her voice to a terrified whisper.
“Katie called me last week. She wanted me to steal the painting for her. I refused. But then she stole everything from me, leaving me with a threat and a forgery she painted to switch with the original. I was going to make the fake look more authentic and give it back to her, regardless of the consequences, I swear. But then you showed up, and I thought I could keep the painting safe from everyone if I switched it. When Liam showed up, I was going to give him the real one, but then things got out of hand and I couldn’t talk to him with the police there…
” She brushes a strand of loose hair from her face. “I never wanted to do this.”
“I know, sweetheart.” I don’t fully understand the situation, but I’ve gathered enough information to know she didn’t steal that painting of her own free will. She’s being blackmailed, and there’s nothing I hate more than a hostage situation.
Maya’s eyes fly over my shoulder, and her face drains of color. I risk a glance. There’s a couple getting off the elevator. They don’t appear to be here for the view, but rather a prize, judging by the haughty grins on their faces. I drop my hand and take a step away.
“Pretend you don’t know me.”
I lean my arms against the railing, phone in my hand capturing the scenery, attempting to take in the view, but I see absolutely nothing. I need to figure out how to play this before I give myself and position away.
“I told you she’d come through.” A woman’s nasally voice finds my ear as they stop in front of Maya.
“I owe you twenty bucks.” The man laughs.
“Betting with the money you stole from me? Real mature,” Maya snaps.
The laughter cuts off.
“Is that it?” the girl asks, condescension in her voice. I instantly dislike her.
“Yes,” Maya says, standing firm. “Now do what you promised.”
The woman, who is clearly the ringleader of this dumb-and-dumber duo, snickers. “I can’t do it now.”
“Then maybe I’ll just toss this bag off the building.” Through the phone screen, I see her moving the bag closer to the edge.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Maya,” the man mutters.
“Says the people who stole my identity,” she says the words loud enough to draw attention, though no one will know what to do with that information except me.
I’ve already got a photo of the pair sent to Liam.
“Send the email,” Maya says through gritted teeth.
“Fine,” Katie says with an annoying whine, typing rapidly on her phone before showing the screen to Maya. “There. Happy? You’re off the hook for the missing chess piece. Gosh, you’re dramatic.”
“Me? You stole my whole life. You took my job, my good name, and every last item I owned, all because you’re a selfish person.
You are an incredible artist; you could have had it all if you’d just put in the work yourself, but you’ve never been taught to work.
Only to take from others.” Maya’s fighting words ring loud and clear. Perfect for the recording in my hand.
“Excuse me? You ruined my life; you got me demoted. I was humiliated,” Katie hisses.
“All this, because you were embarrassed?” Maya says. “People make mistakes, Katie. You live and learn from them.”
“I did learn from my mistakes.” Katie grins. “I learned that it’s far easier to make others do the dirty work for me. And now I’ll be ten times richer while you scramble for what’s left of your future.”
“I don’t think so,” Maya says. “I think you’re going to get exactly what you deserve.”
“This is what I deserve.” The woman snatches the bag from Maya’s arms, dropping a small pouch in front of her. Maya scrambles to pick it up while the couple disappears into the elevator.
“What are you doing?” Maya yells.
At me.
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“I thought you came here to help. Why’d you let them go?” She turns toward the elevators, ready to chase after them, but I grab her arm and pull her to my chest, only grimacing a little when pain shoots through my wounded arm.
“I think you’re right; they’re going to get exactly what they deserve.”
A flyaway hair lands in her eyes, and she blows it away with a huff. “Yes, well, while that’s a nice sentiment, I kind of meant for you to enact that justice.”
“Oh.” I scratch my beard. “Why didn’t you say so?”
She punches my chest, but I grab her hand, cradling it to my heart. “There’s a certain FBI agent who has been deprived of caffeine for the last four months waiting for them downstairs. Everything is going to be okay.”
She sighs, letting out a chuckle, dropping her forehead to my chest. “Is it really over?”
“Yes, love.” I rub her back, trying to soothe away the stress of the last year for her. “Is the missing chess piece in the bag?”
Maya nods against my chest, reaching into the drawstring bag and gently pulling out the small queen.
It’s white and gold, inlaid with crystals of different colors.
It’s beautiful. I can see why a thief might want it.
She reaches in again and pulls out a wad of cash, a key to a storage unit where her stuff must be, her license, some credit cards, then—
Her cheeks flush, and she closes her hand around the object.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing.” She tries to stick it back in the bag, but I take her hand in mine, prying her fingers up until I see it clearly.
It’s the ring—the ring I gave her when I proposed at eighteen.
I’d loved her for years, and after waiting for her to finally notice me, she fell in love with me too.
It was wild and impetuous, absolutely terrifying to spend every last dime in my pathetic bank account on an engagement ring.
But I wanted her more than anything. I proposed the day after graduation, down by the lake, floating lanterns I’d spent hours lighting dotting the water.
I swallow the sudden lump in my throat. “You kept it?”
“Yes.”
I frown at the gold band that used to be smooth but is now jagged and misshapen. “What happened to it?”
She chews on her bottom lip. “I might have put it down the garbage disposal because I was so mad at you.”
I don’t know whether to laugh or be slightly horrified.
“Only for half a second,” she continues. “And then I cried for two days straight because I ruined it.”
And even then, she didn’t get rid of it.
That somehow makes the imperfections in the band more perfect.
Because it’s us. We were broken and shattered, a beautiful thing never to be the same again.
But it’s far from ruined. Those scars are the story of us; they brought us back together.
I hold it to the light, imagining a new destiny for this ring.
I slip it into my pocket.
“Hey, that’s mine!”
I catch her hand in mine. “Don’t worry, I’ll give it back.”
Her lips part, but I pull her into me before she can freak out. “When I’m good and ready,” I say. This seems to satisfy her, and she takes a deep breath.
“How did you find me?” she asks.
I bring my hand to her face, brushing my thumb down her cheek. “I’ll always find you.”
“Promise?” Her eyes crease with the smile that lights her face.
“No matter where you go, I’ll find you. And not just because I have a tracker on your phone.”
“I knew it.” She laughs and hits my chest. “But thank you.”
I grab her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it. “I’m not nearly good enough for you, but I promise I’ll never stop trying.”
She shakes her head. “Clearly, I’m not perfect. I never wanted you to be either. I just wanted you.”
“Good, because that’s about all I can guarantee. I’m still overprotective and live on the line between good and bad. But my heart belongs to you. No heist could ever get it back.”
Her lips twitch. “Maybe you just stink at your job.”
“Maybe I just like it better in your hands.”
“Maybe I love you.” She arches up on her toes.
“Maybe?” I scoff. “When I was dangling off the edge of the building, I didn’t hear any uncertainty.”
“It’s called selective hearing.”
“Oh, is that what that is? Like when I was stranded outside on the balcony in a blizzard, you couldn’t hear the sound of my voice?”
Her lips curl. “Not a word.”
“We’ll have to work on that.” I brush my lips over hers.
“Every day,” she whispers.
“Sounds like an adventure.”
“I hope it is.”
I kiss her at the top of the world. And while I kiss her, I dream about tomorrow and the next day and the next. All filled with her. With us. Wherever she is, for as long as she lives.
Maya’s phone buzzes, and she pulls away even as I try to pull her back. “It’s Bella,” she says, quickly answering the call. “Hello?”
Her brows furrow as she listens to the little girl, but I’ve waited too long to kiss her; I’m not going to stop now. I drag my lips down her neck as she speaks.
“T-that’s okay. You d-don—”
I grin at her struggle and double down on my efforts, pressing a kiss to her jaw, then centimeters from her lips.
“Huh? Yes, he’s here… somewhere.”
I slip my hands around her waist, tickling her smooth skin.
“Both of us?”
I kiss the corner of her lips, angling her head up to me.
“Thank you. M-merry Christmas, Bella.”
She hangs up, and I reach for her lips, but she puts her phone in the way. “Bella got us a Christmas present.”
I pull back. “She did?”
“Yes.” She lowers her phone, and her lips twitch as she fights a smile. “Tickets.”
“Please say to Harry Potter World.” I smirk.
“No.” Maya chuckles. “To an escape room in an abandoned insane asylum.”
I wince. “Ah… she shouldn’t have. I just escaped one of those.”
Maya pinches me. “It was that or the Home Security Expo.”
I throw my head back and laugh. That little girl is a riot.
But this one in front of me is my favorite. “So where to?” I ask.
She walks her fingers up my chest, settling her hand around my neck. “How about California?”
“Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”
“In that case…” She rises to meet my lips. “Let’s go to the asylum. I need to see what you’re made of after all these years.”
I shake my head. “Fighting the bad guys doesn’t impress you, huh?”
She purses her lips. “A little. Mainly because of the muscles.” Her hands drift over my chest, and I bite back a smirk.
“In that case.” I scoop her up and throw her over my good shoulder.
“Soren!” She giggles. “Put me down this instant!”
“When I’m good and ready.”
“Where are we going?” she asks.
“Home.”
I don’t know where that is, but I can’t wait to find it with her.