The Con (Men Who Thrill Book 4) (6 page)
For the first time in my life, lies failed me. I couldn’t think of anything to say, had no words to smooth this over and get us back to where we were.
“At least you have the decency not to lie.”
Then she turned, shaking her head. “I knew better. Knew it was too good to be true. But I let myself believe…”
“Ruby…”
“You need to leave,” she said. “I’ll see you in two days.”
She kept her back to me, shoulders slumped with the weight of my lies and her own self-flagellation. I hadn’t considered this, hadn’t thought that she would blame herself, take my manipulations as a reflection of her weakness.
I should have, yet another way that I had failed her.
I reached out to touch her, but then reconsidered. Then, heart heavy, I left.
Chapter Twelve
“I can’t believe it!” Daniel said.
I had half a mind to take the rage, frustration, and sadness that had been tearing me to pieces for the last forty-eight hours out on him, but I had enough trouble at the moment. And besides, I could deal with him later.
I’d tried again and again to talk to Ruby, to get her to see reason, but she’d shut me out completely, would only ask whether I intended to go through with the plan.
I did, but to what end, I didn’t know. Maybe it was habit, or maybe, perversely some part of me believed that going through with it might show Ruby that I cared. I still couldn’t believe she wanted to be a part of this, but if she did, and her insistence told me that she did, I would help.
I’d rerouted the security cameras, so we rode the service elevator unwatched, Daniel excited, Ruby unreadable, and me on the verge of breaking. When we exited, Ruby scanned her badge as I’d seen her do countless times before, and then used that damned key that I now hated the very sight of to open the door. She stepped in, slipping out of my sight when Daniel followed. I was the last in and stopped short when my gaze landed on an unexpected sight.
A man, huge and intimidating, stood in the middle of the room, the harshness of the lights only making him appear that much more dangerous. Daniel stepped back but stopped moving completely when the man lasered him with an icy glare. Then he looked at Ruby.
“Ruby, I presume,” he said in a gruff voice. She nodded.
“Jordan says hello.”
“What the fuck is going on, Ruby?” I asked.
“You expected me to trust you?” she asked, scorn in her voice. “Not likely. I had to get out of this myself.”
I looked between Ruby and the man, who was focused on Daniel.
“Daniel, did you frame Jordan? Make it look like she was infiltrating Titan’s systems?” he asked.
“I didn’t—I mean—”
“We’ll discuss this further elsewhere,” he said. Then he turned to Ruby. “Good luck.” He then turned to me. “You’ll find what you’re looking for on the table,” he said.
I walked over and picked up the envelope. “What’s the catch?” I asked.
“No catch. Do whatever you want with it, but Daniel and I will be leaving now.”
With that, he clapped a hand down on Daniel’s shoulder and marched him out of the room. I watched the spot that they’d vacated, not quite able to wrap my mind around what had happened.
“So everyone wins. I get out of trouble and you get your precious whatever the hell that is,” Ruby said. Then she emptied the trash can.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
“I told you once before, you’re not welcome here,” Ruby said, glaring at me after she finally opened the door that I’d been knocking on for the last ten minutes.
“Just hear me out,” I said.
“I also told you I had no interest in your pretty, empty words. You’re a liar.”
Her eyes burned with scorn, scorn that I deserved.
“I am,” I said, and for a moment, her wall dropped and I could see her surprise. But it was back in place in an instant.
She went to close the door, but I reached out, stopping her.
“Ruby…” I said.
The moment stretched, but she finally nodded and granted me entry.
“I guess I am as stupid and weak as you thought I was,” she said, facing the door. Then she turned to me. “Say whatever you need to say, and when you’re done, I never want to see you again.”
She moved across the living room and sat on the sofa.
“I don’t want to say anything.”
She glanced at me.
“I have something better than words,” I said I entered the living room and sat on her sofa.
I reached into my pocket and retrieved the envelope, one that I hadn’t opened since the day I’d taken it from Titan.
“What you’re going to toss me a couple of dollars for services rendered?”
“No. I know you don’t believe my words, and you shouldn’t, but maybe you’ll believe this.”
I grabbed the lighter that I carried in my pocket, listened to buzz of the butane as the flame emerged. And then I lit one edge of the envelope and then the other.
“What are you…?”
I held the burning paper in the tips of my fingers, watching as the paper was eaten by the flame. And then when the edges had curled and folded until it was mostly ash, I dropped it into the porcelain bowl on Ruby’s coffee table and watched until the paper burned away to nothing.
“I wanted the life that paper would have bought me. I’ve worked for it for years.” Then I turned to her. “But then I found you, and I knew that a life without you wasn’t a life worth living. Nothing matters without you, Ruby. Not money, not the con, nothing. I’m sorry for what I did, and I hope you can forgive me. I love you, and I’ll spend as long as it takes to prove it.”
“You love me?” she asked, her eyes suspicious but lit through with what I prayed was hope. “Why should I believe you?” she asked, almost breathlessly.
“I just set nine figures on fire. That has to prove something.”
She looked at the pile of ashes and then back at me.
“Nine figures?” she asked.
I nodded.
“I guess that’s a start,” she said, and then she smiled.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any similarities to real people, locales, businesses, or events are unintentional. This work is intended for mature audiences only. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the author, provided that brief quotations may be reproduced for review purposes.
The Con
Copyright ©2015 by Kaye Blue. All rights reserved.