Page 23 of Heist in Paradise

“Take it.”

Olivia clearly possessed enough self-preservation not to rise to the challenge. I was still confused by Madoc’s need to antagonize her. It was rare that he found anything remotely interesting enough to annoy to death. With a huff, Olivia joined Ryle and ripped open the drawers on the desk, sifting through paperwork and stationery with furious intent. Meanwhile, Callum, with a frosty Zola, carefully secured the painting in the hardshell casing used for transport. At least that was one problem solved.

I turned at the rustling noise behind me. Nate emerged from the wardrobe, looking disappointed. “No secret doors back here, boss.” He hit the liquor cabinet next. “At least he drinks good whiskey.”

“Bingo!” Olivia produced a sleeve of old receipts and waved it proudly above her head. She frowned at our lack of enthusiasm. “He keeps a paper trail. That’s a good thing.”

“I doubt he filed ‘kidnapping’ under goods and services,” Ryle said, giving her a sympathetic smile. “It’s probably just household stuff.”

Olivia shrugged and tucked the sleeve under her arm, undeterred. “It’s a start. Maybe he has a suspicious number of handcuffs and chloroform on back order.”

“You know chloroform doesn’t actually work,” Ryle said, the fun fact of the day. “It’s more likely to kill someone than knock them unconscious.”

“Something tells me you’re speaking from experience.” The fact that Olivia only seemed mildly alarmed by the topic was surprising.

Ryle clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Nah, Jax won’t let us experiment anymore after we blew up our first workshop.”

Olivia’s eyes widened. “Blew up?”

“Nate has a thing for explosives.”

Nate raised his hand in proud admission when Olivia looked around, unsure which one of us hellraisers was Nate. There hadn’t been much time for introductions. I wanted to keep it that way. The last thing I needed was for any of them to get attached to her. It wasn’t a problem for Madoc or Zola, but the others were giant suckers for a lost cause. I could already see the dumb look forming on Ryle’s face, like when he found that old cat living under the porch steps.

Olivia was certainly proving she had claws. “Where is my binder?” She glared at Madoc, unmoved by the weapon he wielded as effortlessly as a dinner fork. I’d seen him spear targets from a hundred feet away. Olivia didn’t know that.

I hoped she wouldn’t find out.

In response to her question, Madoc simply smiled. It was chillingly cold, vacant behind the eyes. It only made her glare intensify. “Seriously,” she huffed. “What is your problem?”

Madoc remained silent. Olivia sighed in annoyance and turned to me with flushed cheeks. “Can’t you take away his toys or something?”

“I’d rather keep my fingers attached, thanks.”

Olivia looked on the verge of stomping her foot. On top of being stubborn as hell and easily corrupted, she was also kind of bratty. A total princess. It shouldn’t appeal to me as much as it did. It shouldn’t make me want to pull on her hair and watch the flush spread all the way down her chest. Madoc was doing enough of that on his own.

The realization stopped me cold.

Madoc was pulling on her hair. Figuratively, at least. He was riling her up, getting under her skin. It made my chest tight and jealous as all fuck.

Whatever expression crossed my face had Ryle honing in like an emotional support wasp. “Jax? You okay?” Before I could utter a response, my throat dry as sand, he stepped around the desk and eyed me up close in concern. “Is it your stomach again? I told you that sandwich had a weird look about it. Never trust airport tuna.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re sweating, dude.”

“And you’re fussing.” I patted his cheek and shoved him away in the same motion. Then I pushed back my hair—it was pretty sticky—and addressed the room. “Listen up. We do a full sweep of the mansion. Buddy system. No one goes anywhere on their own.”

“There are seven of us now, Jax,” Zola reminded me sweetly. “Who gets stuck with the spare?”

Olivia frowned and then scoffed a second too late when she realized what Zola meant. “I’m the spare? You guys hijacked my mission. I was here first.”

I slapped my hand on the desk before Zola could retaliate. “Olivia is with Madoc and me,” I said, though it might as well have been a declaration of war from the betrayed look that crossed Zola’s face. “We have a deal. You don’t have to like it.”

The way Zola withdrew into herself made it very clear that she didn’t.

“And the safe?” Olivia asked, chewing her lip. “Three attempts, right? I know his birthday.”

“It’s never so obvious, lass,” Callum said. “Let us find his skeletons. They’ll be here somewhere. That might give us a better idea.”