But mostly she hated the fact that she was still standing here, when she should have already left.
Of course he was right. She’d been bluffing about turning over this address to Huntley. She doubted she would have done it anyway. She certainly wasn’t letting that creep get anywhere near Mary after hearing what he’d done to her. That fight that Garrett had casually mentioned, as if it was a debate over what color to paint the living room…
That fight put Mary in the hospital.
No, she wasn’t giving Huntley anything, but she’d wanted Declan to think she might. She wanted him to have a moment of panic and fear caused by her.
A sense that for the first time in their relationship, she had the upper hand.
She walked over to the large leather couch facing what appeared to be a sixty-inch TV and sat down.
He sat down next to her and even that, his thigh rubbing against hers, was enough to annoy her so she inched away from him, only to have him inch closer still.
“I’ll not let you have any space between us.”
“Fucking Dickhead…”
“No, we’ve corrected that problem. It’s Declan.”
Sinead huffed. “Tell your story and let’s see if I buy it. Which I probably won’t because you’re a liar.”
He sighed. “What did Huntley tell you was in the safe? You’re getting twenty-five percent of what exactly?”
“Pharmaceuticals.”
“Well, it wasn’t that.”
She glared at him. “Yeah. I caught that. Like I said, he’s a really bad liar.”
Declan looked down at his hands instead of at her. “This isn’t easy for me. I’ve never had to actually tell someone the truth.”
She snorted. “There’s a shock.”
He frowned. “I don’t imagine we could do this without the sidebar?”
“Doubtful.”
Then he smiled and she refused to be charmed by it. “When you showed up at the house that night, I showed you a picture of me and Garrett at the wedding.”
“Yes.” She didn’t need to be reminded of how easily she had been duped.
“That’s what was in the safe. That and the thumb drive it’s saved on.”
“I’m sorry?”
“My mission was to enter the house, crack the safe, take the picture and the drive, and leave. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to cut off the security alarm, but I thought I would be able to crack the safe quickly enough so that it wouldn’t matter. Except the safe proved exceptionally difficult. Huntley spent a fortune on the damn thing. By the time I was leaving the house, the cops—or one cop, a rather beautiful cop…”
“You can cut the sidebar too.”
“Fair enough. Anyway, you were coming down the street. I didn’t know the area well enough to try and make a run for it. It was either take you out physically—”
“Take me out physically? I was an armed cop,” she said, insulted he made that sound easy.
“Take you out physically,” he repeated, “or see if I could talk my way out of it. I dialed the security company, so you would see it was the last number dialed, hung up and waited for you on the steps. I knew it wasn’t going to be an issue for me. I knew all the answers to the security questions because, as you’ve determined, my sister was married to that asshole.”
“Okay,” Sinead prodded. “Why is a stupid picture of you so damn important he had to keep it in a safe and you felt you needed to steal it back?”
He paused, as if searching for the words.
“Tell her, Declan. All of it. It’s the only way she’ll believe you.”
They both turned their heads in the direction of Mary. Once again Sinead was struck by how similar they looked. How crazy it was that she didn’t see that in the picture Huntley kept of them in his bedroom.
Mary was as beautiful as Declan was handsome. If only on a much smaller scale. Sinead had felt like an Amazon woman when she first shook hands with the tiny blonde.
“I figured it was safe to come down, and I wanted to make sure she at least stayed to listen to you,” Mary said, walking over to the bar. “I’m thinking drinks for everyone?”
“Only if she promises not to hurl this one at my head,” Declan said.
“I can’t make that promise,” Sinead stated.
Mary chuckled. “I think I like her, Dec.”
“Yes, everyone seems to love Sinead. Anyway, the reason that particular picture is important is because it’s the only photo of me that exists.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Uh, hello. You showed me ID that night, remember?”