Page 63 of Heist in Paradise

“We’re not running,” Callum deduced, looking pleased.

“No.”

“We’re saving those girls.”

“Yeah.”

“Beauty,” Callum said, rubbing his hands together greedily. The others stood taller.

Zola looked downright menacing. “Does this mean we can break out the real tech?”

“And the guns,” Callum said, fist bumping Ryle.

Nate was uncharacteristically silent in the wake of promised destruction.

Ryle lunged toward the stairs. “I’ll go tell Madoc.”

“Careful,” I said pointlessly.

There was no room for careful.

Not when we were about to pull off the toughest job of our lives.

OLIVIA

An existential crisis while standing on a balcony on an unmarked island after having my world rocked by an actual thief wasn’t on my bingo card.

But it happened, and I was sure as heck having one. It wasn’t just Jax, even though he was the catalyst. It was him and Molly and the future that awaited me, a future without either of them.

Panic clawed at my throat. It wasn’t that I didn’t want all those things Jax said—the white picket fence, the kids, the niceness. It was that I’d never permitted myself to want anything else. I was the girl who smiled at everyone, who got good grades and volunteered, who joined my sorority as a legacy, who became cheer captain by unanimous vote because I was organized and disciplined, and because my parents sponsored the team.

I wasn’t as good as Molly, who thrived on my parents’ approval. But I was good.

I was a good girl.

Who wanted to do really, really bad things.

Specifically to a six-foot-something deviant with dirty blond hair and busted knuckles and the kind of feral grin that belonged in a mugshot.

And then I just felt selfish. More than selfish. I was a terrible person who had just found out that her sister was the victim of a human trafficking ring. Grief had become my constant companion over the last two years. I missed her every day. Every second. The only time I didn’t was when Jax touched me, when he literally brought me to my knees.

Without him, everything I’d been avoiding came crashing over me. The tunnels, the videos, the proof. The fact that my sister was probably dead—and that an awful part of me hoped she was.

But I wouldn’t give up my search. I’d come too far—crossed too many lines—to stop now. I had Preacher waiting for me to deliver the proof. He’d take the video and the names in the guestbook and use his terrifying influence to bring them down. Bit by bit, we’d unravel the operation, and hopefully find whatever was left of Molly.

I wondered if Jax would be open to a new deal—

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening behind me.

Somehow, I knew it wasn’t Jax. My body tensed, sensing the demon at my back. “Of course it’s you,” I sighed.

“Thinking about jumping?”

He sounded more curious than alarmed. For some reason, it made me smile. There was something dependable about Madoc’s assholeness. While the rest of us burned in the fires of our own making, he just stood back and enjoyed the warmth.

I shot him a resigned look over my shoulder. “Would you stop me?”

He cocked his head in thought. “No,” he said after a minute. At least he gave it some consideration, I noted bitterly. “You wouldn’t die. It’s not high enough, and you’re conditioned to land on your feet.”