Black Listed(74)
Ten minutes later, she headed to her office, sitting in her brother’s rental car and drinking the iced coffee he’d brought her.
“Are you sure you want to give me the journal?” Asa asked, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “If you gave it to the Feds, Mr. Moneybags could probably use his millions to get you a reduced sentence in exchange for throwing the rest of us under the bus.”
She ignored Asa’s criticism of her husband. They were both under a lot of stress now that they knew Mitch was responsible for the threats and was after the black list. It was just as important to Asa that the journal not fall into their brother’s hands.
“I wouldn’t do that to you. Not when you’ve worked so hard to build a better life and become a better man. Thea and your children need you.”
He slid her a glance and smiled. “That’s what I love about you, Annie. You always take good care of me. Except, of course, when you left.”
The accusation in his voice stung. “I regret leaving you behind, but I don’t regret leaving. I did what I had to do to keep my husband safe, and I’ll continue doing whatever I have to. I love him, Asa. Just like you’d do anything for Thea, I’d do anything for Sawyer. I won’t let Mitch hurt him.”
He parked in the empty lot across from her office and unsnapped his seat belt. When he turned his gaze onto her, she was surprised to see the anger in it. “It’s always about Sawyer. What did he do for you that I didn’t? I was the one who held you when you had nightmares. I’m the one who bandaged you after one of Dad’s beatings. I would have done anything for you.” He took her hand and kissed the top of it. “I love you, Annie.”
She smiled at him. “I love you too, Asa.”
He shook his head, squeezing her hand a little too tightly. “No, Annie. You don’t understand. I’m in love with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Her world started spinning.
She must have misunderstood.
Asa couldn’t be in love with her.
He was her brother.
Asa continued, not noticing her abject horror. “Before you say no, just think about it. You and me together on the road, traveling wherever we want, pulling off the kind of con that would even make Dad proud. You’d never have to worry about anything ever again. I’d take care of you, and you’d take care of me. Like we used to.”
The spinning increased, making her feel as if she was in a rowboat on a tumultuous sea. She wiped her sweaty forehead and unfastened her seat belt. “Asa, you’re my brother. I love you, but not like that. I love Sawyer. And you love Thea.”
He rolled his eyes. “There’s no Thea.”
Her breath stalled in her chest. “What?”
He chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. “You really have been out of the game too long. Couldn’t even tell when your own brother was pulling a con on you.”
She couldn’t focus anymore, her head feeling heavy on her shoulders. The dizziness wasn’t normal. She looked down at the coffee, realizing he’d drugged her. “I don’t understand. Why would you lie?”
He shrugged. “You understand how the game goes. Got to get the mark to trust you before you can make your move. What better way to get you to trust me than to let you think I’d changed my ways?”
Her tongue felt thick, and her stomach churned. “So there’s no farm? No Thea?”
“Oh, there is. I fleeced her parents good.” Laughing, he slapped his knee. “Get it? Fleeced? Like sheep?” His eyes grew hooded, a sleepy look in them. “She was a sweet thing. Real trusting. All I had to do was convince her I loved her, and she gave me everything I needed to steal her parents’ nest egg. Really was stupid of them to put all their eggs in one basket.” He laughed at his dumb joke. “I’m killing it today!”
He was crazy. How could she have been so blind? Sawyer had seen straight through Asa’s act. He’d tried to warn her. And she’d dismissed it.
She put her hand on the door handle, not surprised to discover it locked. But when she pressed the button to unlock it, nothing happened. Her hand clenched into a fist.
How could she have forgotten that her brothers and her father all knew their way around cars? If they were different men, they would have ended up as mechanics or engineers, rather than criminals. “You’re not as funny as you think. Now let me out of this car.”
“Sorry, Annie. Can’t do that. Someone’s meeting us here. Oh, and give me your phone. I don’t need you calling your lover boy to come get you.”
She reluctantly handed over her cell and shivered with revulsion, his nickname for her tainted by his abnormal affection for her. “Someone’s meeting us here? You’re working with Mitch?”