Black Listed(71)

He loomed over her, his whiskey stench overwhelming. “I’m not going to kill you. You and me, we’re going to work as a team again. We’ll be the new Bonnie and Clyde.”

“Bonnie and Clyde were killed by the cops,” she pointed out.

He shrugged. “Then we’ll be better than them.”

He was crazy if he thought she’d go anywhere with him.

“I have no desire to go back to the life of a criminal. I’ve got a good life now. Why can’t you just let me be?”

“You ain’t living. You’re biding your time until your life begins again.” He grabbed her by her shoulders, his fingers digging into her flesh. “Conning is in your blood. You don’t turn your back on it. You can pretend all you want, but it’s who you are, and one day, you won’t be able to control yourself. It will start with a little lie. Nothing too fancy, but just to see if you can get away with it. And when you do, that high will surge through your blood, and you’ll crave a stronger hit. I’m saving you the trouble and all that wasted time you’ll spend being someone you’re not. Don’t you remember the rush you got when you pulled off a successful con? Don’t you miss it?”

Miss it? Most days, she felt as though she hadn’t stopped. Pretending to be Lisa Smith was just another long con. Only this time she hadn’t been conning a mark. She’d been conning herself.

“No,” she said vehemently. “Because I never got any satisfaction out of swindling people. Only you and Mom and Dad did. I did it because I had no choice. Because I didn’t have any other options. But now I do, and I choose to work a legitimate job for my money.” She shook off his hold on her and stormed to the door, opening it. “So I’m going to tell you again, get the hell out of this hotel and out of my life. For good.”

For a moment, she thought he wouldn’t leave. But with a swagger a man who looked like him shouldn’t have, he walked out into the hallway and turned to her. “You will give me that black list, Annaliese. If you don’t, the people you love will eat one of my bullets, starting with your husband and ending with your friend the reporter. That’s what happens when someone like you cares about people. You put their lives in danger. I’ll give you twenty-four hours, and then I’m going to blow your lover’s brains out right in front of you.” With an evil glint in his eyes that told her he meant every word, he got onto the elevator and left.

She slammed the door and locked it with trembling hands. It felt as if the air in the suite had dropped to arctic temperatures. Her teeth chattered, and her body shook uncontrollably.

Cold. So cold.

She felt as if she’d never be warm again.

She couldn’t call the police. Not unless she wanted to spend the next twenty years behind bars. She couldn’t call her friends. Mitch had obviously done his homework on her, as he’d proven when he’d mentioned Rachel.

Sawyer. She needed Sawyer.

She tried dialing, but her fingers were shaking so badly, she kept messing up his number. It took her three tries before she managed to get it right. It rang and rang and rang until she finally got his voice mail. She hung up and tried again, but the phone slipped from her hands onto the carpet.

She left it there.

Stumbling into the bathroom, she flipped on the shower, making it as hot as possible without burning her skin. She waited until the room filled with steam before she removed her clothing, stepped under the spray of the shower, and slid to the tile floor.

It would never end. No matter how much she wanted to forget the past, it refused to let her go. Would there ever come a day when she didn’t have to look over her shoulder? When people like Chad Winters wouldn’t hire an assassin to kill her? When she wouldn’t have her family threatening to take everyone she loved?

Her mind turned to Sawyer. Always Sawyer.

Was it fair to bring him into this kind of life?

What if they had children?

As her body was racked by harsh sobs, she saw them in her mind’s eye, a little boy with golden hair and eyes as copper as a penny, holding his daddy’s hand, while his sister, a girl with curls, blue eyes, and chubby cheeks, sat on her daddy’s shoulders eating cotton candy and laughing at all the carnival’s sights.

With Sawyer, she had the opportunity to have a real life with a real family. Could she throw that all away? Allow her life to continue being controlled by fear?

She wasn’t sure how long she rocked back and forth under the water. It could’ve been minutes or hours. Time had no meaning. Not until Sawyer pulled open the shower’s glass door and stepped inside, fully clothed.