Page 92 of Mile High Heist

The watch.

The one containing half a billion dollars’ worth of stolen CIA cyberweaponry.

I fumbled it, nearly dropping it before clutching it to my chest and staring at him. “Are you insane?” I hissed. “Wait. Of course you are.”

Madoc shrugged and slotted both hands back into his pockets. His posture was loose, unbothered. But he never did anything without an ulterior motive. My calorie-starved brain just had to figure out what it was.

“You’re giving this to me?” I asked him, suspiciously.

“Looks like it.”

“Where did you even find it?”

His eyes tracked down my face to my chest, where I was clutching the watch. “The little dove was chatty,” he said, inclining his head thoughtfully. “She told me all her hiding spots.”

Something cold dripped down my spine. I didn’t want to know what Madoc did to get that information.

I looked down at the watch, the tiny engraving mocking me. I turned it over and popped open the back compartment, finding the device nestled within.

“That’s it?” I murmured in disbelief. A half-billion-dollar weapon and it was no bigger than a piece of gum. “It’s so small…”

“Small things can be deceptively dangerous, mouse.”

I grimaced. “Don’t call me that.”

I’d nearly died to get this prototype. I’d spent countless nights imagining myself handing it to Preacher and securing Molly’s ongoing protection.

“No matter what happens, darling,” Preacher had said. “You must make sure Jax does not leave with the prototype. This weapon in the wrong hands would be catastrophic.”

And now it was in my hands.

Just like that, the little bubble of happiness in my chest popped. The doubt seeped back in.

What if Jax was lying? What if there was no grand plan?

He was a thief. They were all thieves. They’d spent their lives bending the rules without considering the consequences. When I met Jax, he’d been one of Dr. Z’s most valuable assets. He’d seen the potential in Jax.

What if that same potential was leading me astray? Manipulating me into giving up everything?

“I’m the bad guy, princess. Shady comes with the territory.”

Jax told me that once. I chose not to believe it then.

Should I believe it now?

My stomach sank. First with dread, then with shame.

No.

Jax wouldn’t do that to me. I refused to believe the same guy who gave up a hundred-million-dollar score to thwart an international trafficking ring would betray me like that. The same guy who nearly died to save me in the cargo hold. The same guy who kissed my tears and told me he believed in me.

I had to believe in him, too.

Throat tight, I looked up at Madoc. He hadn’t moved an inch. Probably hadn’t even blinked. He was watching me intently, gauging my reaction. Dissecting it.

Typical.

I stepped forward and extended the watch toward him. “Take it,” I said.