Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Kaira’s eyes startled open. “Oliver’s your friend?”
Finn stepped alongside Julia, worried she might unleash her anger on their target and this whole night would go sideways real fast. They were too close to the truth to let emotions come into play. He reached for her forearm and gently squeezed to offer support.
“Yes, and you tricked him. Told him your husband beat you so he’d confront Ario in your defense, and now he’s going to be executed,” Julia responded with tears in her eyes, and Finn knew it was fear for her friend as well as anger toward Kaira that had a stranglehold on her voice.
“I didn’t want to,” Kaira professed, “and I was hoping this would all be resolved much sooner so he’d be freed.”
Finn was well-versed in the art of bluffs and lies, and from where he stood, his gut feeling said Kaira was telling the truth.
But he also knew that wouldn’t dial down Julia’s anger. She needed answers and a way to get Oliver out of prison before it was too late, and his Wonder Woman wouldn’t back down without them.
“I know you’re upset,” Harper said softly to Julia, “but let’s see what they have to say, and hear how this all happened, and then we’ll figure out the next steps.”
Finn gently let go of Julia as she tore her angry gaze from Kaira, and looked to Harper instead, her shoulders sagging.
Harper was their soothing voice of reason, and Finn breathed a sigh of relief that she’d gotten Wonder Woman to back down from a fight he firmly believed she’d win, especially after witnessing her in the self-defense classes he’d taught.
Why did that make him so damn proud, too?
“Tariq will come looking for me soon,” Kaira said, sounding anxious as she moved to the glass doors that opened to the private pool.
She looked fragile and vulnerable in her pink dress and heels instead of the sophisticated, confident woman in the chic white dress from just the other day.
Was she feeling regret for what she’d done? Shame?
“We’ve got that handled for now,” A.J. said and stood next to Finn.
Carter remained leaning against the pillar, and Roman joined Harper at the desk. Hopefully, after Kaira laid out all the pieces of her story, everything would add up, and they’d get a lead on where to go from there.
“The Warhol isn’t here, is it?” Jack suddenly spoke up, and his question oddly broke the tension in the air. “But tell me it wasn’t a lie, and you really have one to give.”
Joan reached out and patted his hand in a soothing gesture, but also as if reminding him of the situation at hand.
The man had tunnel vision. Had he really given up everything, whatever the hell that was, for Joan?
It must have been seriously dangerous as well as illegal if it required a name and face change.
Finn had never bothered to check the files to see what Joan and Jack looked like as Stacey and Doug.
But Stacey had said she was in her forties, and upon closer inspection, Finn was pretty sure Giorgio had erased whatever signs of aging she’d had.
Her blonde hair was most likely dyed, and the blue of her eyes looked artificial, unlike Julia’s gorgeous natural hue, which meant she was likely wearing contact lenses.
And as for Jack, he was probably a decade older than his wife.
His dark black hair was neatly trimmed and styled, and he gave off an air of refinement more reminiscent of Pierce Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair than Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone.
Ah, The Thomas Crown Affair. Wasn’t Brosnan an art thief in that movie, too? Why am I thinking this?
“Sorry, my husband can’t always help himself, which is how we met Kaira and Ario in Miami,” Joan explained, and okay, Finn wasn’t expecting that. “How about I tell this part?”
Finn nodded but quickly adjusted his attention to Julia standing rigidly off to his side.
He wanted to hook his arm around her and help her through this, knowing that with each passing hour, she came closer to succumbing to panic as she worried about Oliver.
Finn was supposed to be her Richard O’Connell, her hero.
Well, tonight, her Indiana, but he didn’t feel much like a hero.
And what if he was unable to keep his word about saving Oliver? That promise, unlike the one he’d made to his brother, would result in saving a life, and Finn would do just about anything to keep his word. Hell, he would walk across the damn desert to make it happen.
“So, enlighten us,” he heard A.J. say when Joan had yet to spill.
Finn forced his focus back to Joan, whose gaze flitted to her husband before journeying toward Kaira, who still had her back to the room. “We were new to the country club in Miami, and—”
“Pause.” Harper held her hand in the air. “First, tell me how and why you changed from Stacey and Doug to the Romancing the Stone couple?”
Joan’s face fell. “Oh.”
“So, you know more than we realized,” Jack spoke up.
“Are you the infamous art thief who disappeared without a trace?” Roman asked, checking to see if his theory was on point. “But why change your name and alter your face if your real identity was never discovered?”
“That was my idea, actually. Although I didn’t recommend Giorgio,” Carter interjected, which should have surprised Finn, but Carter operated by a much different set of rules than even Finn’s off-the-books teammates did.
“When Jack was still Doug, we had a brief encounter during one of his heists. He saved my life when he didn’t have to and also helped me go after a much greater threat than someone stealing art from—”
“Bad guys. Everything I took was from really, really bad people.” Jack opened his palms as if hoping for a “not guilty” verdict from his audience.
“Well, aside from Ario and Kaira, but I wasn’t supposed to be, um, stealing anymore at that point.
And I had sort of assumed Ario wasn’t a good guy until I got to know him. ”
“I encouraged Doug here to give up the life of crime before he got himself killed, but he didn’t listen, of course.” Carter waved a dismissive hand through the air as if this was no big deal, and if Finn didn’t know the man so well, he would have thought Carter didn’t really give a damn.
“Until he met me at an art gallery while planning a heist. Of course, I had no clue the entire collection belonged to some mafioso guy. Doug became more enchanted by me than the art, and instead of completing his objective, he took me out for drinks.” Joan was surprisingly chatty.
“I had no idea what he did for a living, if it can be called that, until the day he got down on one knee and proposed. He confessed the truth before asking for my hand.” She was beaming, clearly in love with the guy despite his questionable career choice.
“I said I’d forgive him for his past as long as he stopped stealing.
And so, Doug reached out to Carter for advice on how to disappear. Mostly to protect me.”
“And he recommended we both change our identities to ensure no one would discover who I was before I met Stacey,” Jack explained. “Since I’d been stealing from criminals, Carter made a valid point.”
“One of the criminals I stole from was Giorgio, so I took advantage of that, and I offered to, uh, find a piece of art stolen from him in exchange for the plastic surgery and new identities for both Stacey and myself.” Wow, Jack was ballsy.
“So, you gave Giorgio back the painting you stole from him and made yourself look like a hero,” A.J. commented with a light chuckle. “Damn. Not sure if I should be impressed or creeped out.”
Same. But Finn was more interested in learning their connection to Kaira and Ario and how Ario ended up dead.
“I wasn’t a fan of Doug’s previous life of thievery, even if he was only stealing from criminals, so I’ve been slowly giving away the earnings he accumulated during that time,” Joan explained.
“But my husband has had some moments of weakness, one of which was when he discovered a Picasso in Ario’s home.
They invited us to a party shortly after we all met at the country club. ”
“We caught him in our house,” Kaira said, spinning around to face the room with her first smile of the evening. “I did, at least. And he was so shocked, and I was so stunned by his bold move . . . we all somehow became friends. It sounds a bit odd, I know.”
“And you told them the truth about your identities in Miami?” Finn spoke up.
“No.” Joan shook her head. “It wasn’t until Kaira reached out in December of last year saying she needed help and didn’t know who to turn to that we confessed we had a contact who might be able to help. And actually, it wasn’t until recently that we revealed who we really were to Kaira, either.”
“The truth shall set you free,” Jack said with a smile as if everything he’d done was water under the bridge.
“So, continue with the truth. We’re listening,” Roman said in an even tone, a hand on Harper’s shoulder as she sat in the chair in front of him at the desk.
Finn did a quick check to see how Julia was holding up. Wonder Woman looked rattled as if she were struggling to keep her composure. Unable to stop himself this time, he hooked an arm around her waist, and she eased into his touch.
“Ah, Evie and Richard.” Joan snapped her fingers. “The Mummy. I knew there was something about you two, but my husband heard Warhol and lost his mind. I was right when I called it, wasn’t I? You two aren’t faking being together.”
Finn ignored her observation. This wasn’t about him and Julia. “Please, tell us what happened, Kaira.” He wanted her side of the story now that they knew how and why Carter, Joan, and Jack were connected to her.