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“And that driver was you.”
“Yeah,” said Savannah sullenly. “I knew Louden was bad, and the things he did were probably worse. But I’d always separated myself. I’d never gotten involved.” She stopped pacing and stared back at us. “Except for this one and only time, when I broke my rule.”
Roman and Erik looked thoughtful, as they pieced things together. But I already had an idea.
“Louden didn’t come all the way up here just for you,” I theorized. “He came for a reason. And it has to be a good reason too, if he dragged Jarrett with him.”
Our girlfriend’s chin was on her chest now. She’d brought one hand to her forehead.
“Savannah…” muttered Erik. “Remember. Everything.”
“I know…”
“You pulled the job together,” said Roman, before she could go on. “You stole something. And somehow, you ended up here with it.”
She nodded again. This time her hand shifted over her eyes.
“What did you take?” I asked gently. “Savannah… what did you steal?”
> Stepping forward abruptly, she reached into her shirt and plucked something from between her breasts. Before we could react, she spilled it onto the kitchen table in a long, glimmering line.
“This.”
Fifty-One
SAVANNAH
The guys stared down in wonder, the morning sun gleaming brightly against the line of gemmy green stones. It was like they’d never seen a small fortune in jewels before.
“Are those—”
“Emeralds,” I said plainly. “Some cut, some uncut.”
I dropped the soft leather pouch on the table as well. Then I pulled out my chair and sat down.
“So you robbed a jeweler,” Erik breathed.
“More like we intercepted a delivery,” I corrected him. “But yes. In essence, that.”
They stared down some more, totally mesmerized. I couldn’t blame them. After the robbery, I’d spent most of the first week staring myself.
“My God,” said Roman. “You are rich.”
“No, I’m lucky. Lucky to be alive, actually.” A cold shiver ran through me — the same one that always did. “I should’ve never gotten away.”
“I can’t believe you kept this from us,” said Zane. “I mean… you could’ve told us. You could’ve—”
“That’s not all I kept from you,” I cut in, no longer able to contain the guilt. My throat was going tight now, as if trying to stop me. But I had to finish. “I… I mean…”
God, why was this so hard? It seemed like such a small lie. A simple lie.
A necessary lie.
“My name’s not Savannah,” I said glumly, unable to meet their gaze. “It’s Julia.”
I could feel them staring without looking up. In my mind’s eye I could picture the disbelief, the look of betrayal in their eyes.
“You’re… Julia,” Zane repeated. The word sounded especially strange coming from him, like he had to twist his mouth around it.
