I nod and look straight ahead, scanning the place through the dark sunglasses for anyone I recognize. I see Dog and Eagle, the two bikers from the compound, but I almost don’t recognize them. They are wearing neon-yellow construction T-shirts and hard hats. To anyone not paying attention, they look like they belong here. They’re standing together, pointing out the large plate glass windows, looking like they are deep in conversation.

  Morris ushers me down the steps that lead into the lobby, where a few small tables and chairs are filled with guests. Some are sipping to-go cups of coffee with luggage seated on the floor beside them. A mother stands over a little boy who is swinging his legs and playing on a tablet.

  Children. There’s a child here.

  “Morris,” I whisper, knowing that Josh can hear everything I say through the earpiece. “There’s a little boy and his mom…”

  “Uh-huh. I see ’em.” He steers me deeper into the lobby, and we walk carefully down a set of tiled steps.

  I scan the lobby and see the front desk staff, a concierge, but no sign of any type of security. No police. God, I pray that Josh is right.

  Morris slows his steps and pulls a phone out of his pocket. “Excuse me a minute, darlin’.”

  I don’t know if his manners are part of the act, but while Morris picks up the call, just fifty feet ahead of me, I see the familiar form of my PI. He’s wearing an unusual set of sunglasses, ones that I know have the ability to record what he’s seeing. The battery on the glasses only lasts an hour—I know because Josh told me he wasn’t going to put them on until shortly before my stalker is set to arrive.

  Morris ends his call and then speaks loudly enough for anyone listening nearby to hear. “The tearoom said they’ll have a table for us in about fifteen minutes. Do you want to wait, or should we go someplace else?”

  I panic for a minute, not being entirely sure what he wants me to say. I look at Morris, and his face is calm, his smile sincere. “I’d really like to wait, sweetheart. Maybe we can hang out here in the lobby?”

  “Oh yeah. Yes, yes. Let’s wait,” I say.

  My heart is racing, and my stomach is clenched tight with fear. I try not to look at every person in the hotel, but all of a sudden, the place seems so loud, so full.

  I’m overwhelmed by what to do, how to act. But there’s no time to second-guess the plan. The two hours have passed, and I have four bikers, a biker’s old lady, and a PI at my side. I’m not alone. Whatever is about to happen, I’ll handle it. All I can do is pray that we all come through this okay.

  I didn’t ask Josh if Morris or any of the bikers are armed. I know Josh isn’t carrying a weapon, but he assured me he would take down anybody who tried to hurt me—or Alice playing me—with his bare hands. My hand starts to sweat, and the hat on my head feels too big and itchy. My skin is crawling, and I notice Josh lean forward across the table and whisper in Alice’s ear.

  Alice could truly pass for my twin. She’s even wearing the clothes I took off after grabbing this maxi at the Dress For Less near the strip mall. Her hair looks a little blonder than mine is, but even to someone who knows me well, it could just be the sunlight. With sunglasses of her own, my tank and shorts, and her hair in a loose ponytail, even I could believe she is me.

  I feel Morris’s body tense when Josh leans close to her, and I have to hold back a smile. These bikers really do protect their own. I can almost hear the ear-blasting I expect Morris to give Josh for carrying the ruse out just a little too convincingly.

  “Anything?” Josh’s voice comes through my earpiece, and I pretend like I’m talking to Morris.

  “Nope, but I’m looking around.” I pretend to pick lint off Morris’s shirt so I can look over his shoulder at the crowd around him.

  Suddenly, I do see someone who looks vaguely familiar. “That’s weird,” I murmur, staring just past Morris. The man in the business suit is walking right toward Alice.

  “You see something?” I hear Josh’s voice in my ear and feel Morris tense beside me.

  “Yeah, but this can’t be who we’re waiting for. That looks like my father’s law partner.” I’m squinting through my sunglasses. I want to move the dark shades from my face, but if I do, anyone looking for me will see my whole face.

  Before I can look back to confirm what I’m seeing, my phone buzzes in my purse.

  “Fuck,” I breathe.

  “Darlin, I think you should answer that,” Morris says.

  “Annie?” I hear a familiar voice address not me, but Alice.

  “Talk to me, not her.” Josh stands and addresses the man. My hand shakes violently as I reach into my purse. The man approaching Josh is my father’s law partner, Martin Engler. And the person whose contact is coming up on the caller ID?

  It’s Neveah.

  18

  ARROW

  “Don’t talk to her,” I say, rising to my feet, my voice mean. I look through the shaded safety glass, making sure the tiny camera embedded in the frames focuses right on this man. “You talk to me.”

  Alice lowers her chin and ducks her head, refusing to look at the man and keeping her back to him, just like I coached her. She has on dark sunglasses, and from where he stands, I’m sure this asshat thinks Alice is Annie. I need him to think that for as long as possible.

  “Whoa. I’m not sure what the problem is.” The guy who’s approached our table is a completely average, normal-looking man. For a minute, I wonder if this is an innocent mistake. But then I think of the odds of Annie seeing anyone she knows in this place at this time. There’s no way. It’s fucking him. He approached us and called her by name.

  I look him over fast, trying to assess any vulnerabilities. The man’s suit is cheap. I can tell by the way the stitches are pulling loose in some places. The dark gray fabric is pilling slightly by the right front pocket. He looks to be about fifty, maybe late fifties, and he’s thin. I can’t tell if he’s carrying, but he looks meeker and shorter than I expected. If he has a gun, it’s holstered under that shitty jacket. The man holds up his hands in surrender. “I thought I recognized my former coworker, Annie Hancock. I apologize if I’m mistaken.”

  “That’s her,” I tell him, never taking my eyes off the guy. I’m hoping like hell I get the details right. If he says he’s Annie’s former coworker, this can only be one man. The fuckstain law partner who asked her out after her dad sent her off to art school. I try to put the pieces together fast. Could this all be about a middle-aged man who was rejected for a single date? He’s been stalking and harassing her because she ghosted him?

  I’ve known men to do worse over less. But for now, I hang tight to my theories and press him to admit this is no accidental meeting.

  “You know why we’re here,” I say. “This is no happy coincidence. You’re telling me you didn’t text her to arrange to meet here? In case you forgot, I’m the boyfriend. The tattooed, jerk-off boyfriend.”

  As I repeat the words of his text, his lips curl into a sneer. “Yeah, yeah, you are. And I do still hope you’re not planning to be a hero today.”

  I’m trying to pay attention to the man in front of me when I hear Annie’s voice in my ear. “Neveah is calling, Josh.”

  I nod slowly, angling the side of my head with the earpiece away from him. I just hope the guy in front of me thinks I’m focused on him. I hope Annie is careful. If Neveah is in on this, she’s got to be close. She may even be making sure that this fuck nugget is talking to her.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash of neon yellow as Dog and Eagle move imperceptibly closer to us.

  “So, what do you want?” I demand. “Or do you want to slip another little note under Annie’s door like a pussy?”

  His face burns red, and his nostrils flare. “Listen, cocksucker,” he says, leaning a little closer to Alice’s back. “I thought you agreed not to play the hero. You want things to get ugly, I’ll make it ugly.”

  “You can’t possibly be any uglier,” I say. “Just looking at your face makes me sick, Engler.”

  When I say his name, he shakes his head. “Fucking jerk-off. My business is with Annie. You want to be a part of this, I’ll make you a part of it.”

  “All I want to know is what you want from Annie,” I tell him. “And I want you to leave her alone. So, what’s that going to take?”

  Alice sits there perfectly calm, but I see a slight tremble in the hands that she’s tucked in her lap.

  “Josh.” Annie’s voice crackles in my earpiece. “Don’t let him leave. No matter what happens, don’t let him leave the hotel.”

  I scratch my forehead and nod slightly, again hoping that Annie sees my signal.

  “Why don’t we have a talk, just me and you?” I nod at Engler. “Outside, away from all these nice people. Like men.”

  Engler shakes his head. “No, thanks. I don’t need you to get me alone so you can try to beat my ass.” He taps his right hip with a hand. “Again, I’m not here to cause trouble. You play nice, I’ll play nice.”

  I hold up my hands now to show him I’ve got nothing in them. “I’ll play nice. Why don’t you tell us what you want, and then we can all go on our merry fucking way.”

  Engler nods slowly. “Annie—”

  “No. Not her. You’re talking to me.” I take a step away from the table, and immediately Engler puts a hand under his jacket.

  “I thought you said you were going to play nice,” he hisses. “Keep your fucking hands where I can see them and take three steps away from Annie.”

  I shake my head. “Not going to do that. I’ll keep my hands up, but if you take one step toward Annie, you’re going to have to blast through both of us.”

  “Fuck you.” Engler takes two steps back. “I can see you’re not in any mood to talk, so I’ll be on my way.”

  “Okay, okay… Calm down.” For whatever reason, Annie said I can’t let this guy leave. So, keeping him here is exactly what I’m going to do. “I’ll calm down, you calm down. We both came all this way. Let’s talk.”

  Engler throws a look over his shoulder and glares. I’m worried he’s going to run, so I take a huge risk and sit. “I’m sitting,” I say. “See? We’re all good here. Now why don’t you tell us what you want.”

  Engler twists his mouth into a frown. “You could do so much better than this piece of shit, Annie,” he sneers.

  “You could have had me.”

  He reaches out and touches Alice’s ponytail. She sucks in a breath, and I lean forward in my chair, ready to fucking tear his arm off.

  He just laughs. “That’s all right. I’ve got myself bigger and better plans anyway.”

  Alice’s shoulders tense, and I reach across the table to touch her arm.

  “Babe, you’re going to be all right.” I hope the act is convincing. So far, he hasn’t gotten a good look at Alice’s face, and I’m worried what will happen the second he does. I also need to keep him from seeing my earpiece. I turn my glare on him. “Why don’t you just tell us what you want, Engler? Unless what you want is a pen pal, because I don’t think Annie’s interested in getting any more little notes from you.”

  Engler’s calm and cool as he shakes his head. “I just need a password,” he says calmly. “And then I’ll be on my way and our business here will be done.”

  Fuck. A password is not something Alice is going to be able to give him. And if he insists on talking to Alice, this whole little show blows wide open.

  “What password do you want, and what do you need it for?” I ask, trying to stall for time.

  “Listen, you stupid little fuck.” Engler leans over Alice’s shoulders and points at me. “This has nothing to do with you. Annie knows what her father owes me. She changed the password to our trust account the day she left the law firm. All I want is the password, and I’ll be on my way.”

  In that moment, it’s clear that he sees my earpiece. His mouth falls open, and he squints.

  “You fucking piece of shit. I’m going to kill you.”

  Just as he makes a move for his jacket, I shout, “Dog!”

  Alice dives under the table, and suddenly the place falls into chaos. Dog and Eagle pounce on the guy from behind, Dog punching him in the back of the head and Eagle holding down his legs so he can’t move.

  A security guard comes running and starts clearing people out of the lobby as I hear screaming. Engler is on the floor and blood is dripping from a nose that looks incredibly broken.

  “You son of a bitch!” He flails against Eagle, who is holding down his legs like he’s a rag doll. “I’m going to fucking kill you, and you…you bitch! Annie, you bitch! You’re dead!”

  Morris is on us in a second, helping his wife to her feet. When Engler sees Morris tower over him, he immediately falls silent. Morris bends over with a sick gleam in his eyes.

  “Did I see you touch my wife, you filthy little piece of shit?”

  Alice has pulled off the sunglasses, and tears are streaming from her eyes.

  “I’m fine, babe,” she says, wiping her cheeks. “He’s nothing. It’s over now.”

  Engler sees that Alice is not Annie, and he starts lurching and kicking. “You fucking bitch! You whore! Where’s Annie? You whore!”

  I can’t stop what I fear is coming, and I’m not going to. I feel Annie beside me and I grab her arm, but she shakes me off. She tears the straw hat from her head and tosses it on the floor. The sunglasses are off, and I see a look in her sky-blue eyes that makes me proud.

  “Can you get him up?” She’s asking Dog and Eagle.

  They haul his ass up from the floor, and he grunts like a prissy baby when they yank his arms.

  Annie steps close to him and puts her finger in his face. “You’re behind this? You’ve been stalking me at school all this time? You’ve known me since I was a child, Martin. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  Engler spits at her. “Fuck off, you worthless bitch. You’re a talentless, spoiled princess. You and your shit father don’t deserve anything. You stole it all from me.”

  I hear the sirens before I see the flashing lights. I look at my girl and know exactly what’s coming. “If you’re going to do it, babe…”

  Annie lifts her dress, picks up her leg, and knees Engler in the nuts. He gasps and his knees drop from under him, but Dog and Eagle have him restrained, and they hold him up despite his wiggling. He coughs and gags, sputtering tendrils of saliva from his stupid lips.

  “Martin, you are a worthless little bitch. I hope for every second of stress you’ve caused me, it comes back a hundredfold to you. Good luck in prison.” She turns away from him just as two dozen plainclothes and uniformed cops descend on the lobby. Not far behind them is Neveah.

  “Annie Hannie!” she screams over the noise of the crowd being cleared out. The officers serve Engler a warrant for his arrest and read him his rights.

  I turn toward the sound of Neveah’s voice just as she clasps Annie in a hug. “Chick, you scared the ever-loving life out of me.”

  Annie says something into Neveah’s ear, and they rock each other in a hug. Now that the cops have Engler, I turn to Morris.

  “Thank you doesn’t begin to cover it,” I say.

  He claps me on the shoulder and nods at Dog and Eagle, a shit-eating grin on his face. “I only wish I’d had a chance to get my hands on him before they took him away.”

  I thank the bikers for their role in this, and then, of course, the cops interview every single one of us about who we are and how we’re involved. While the lobby of the hotel becomes a de facto crime scene, I confront the one person who I suspect has all the answers.

  “You.” I point a finger at Neveah. I stride through the bodies, stopping to hug Alice and thank her for her bravery. When I get over to Neveah, she smacks me on the shoulder.

  “You almost outed me, you son of a gun.” She’s shaking her head. “I thought for sure you recognized me back in the dorms.”

  “I did,” I say. “But I didn’t want to give anything away until I knew exactly what side you were on.”

  I circle Annie’s waist and pull her close. “You okay?”

  She nods. “Never better.”

  Once I know my girl is okay, I turn to Neveah. “All right, spill it,” I tell her. “There’s no way this kind of police presence was for some jackass who wanted a password.” I lift my brows. “Those cops had a warrant, which means they’ve been onto this asshat for some time.”

  “Yeah. Thank God the tracker was still in Annie’s purse. And double thanks that she answered my call when I finally got her text.” A huge grin takes over her face. “But before I explain, there’s someone who wants to talk to Annie.”

  She steps aside, and a man who is about Engler’s age comes running through the lobby. He practically skids on his dress shoes when he sees Annie.

  “Dad.” Annie takes off running, parting her way through the crowd of officers and the few remaining guests. “Dad.” She practically jumps into his arms.

  “How long have you been working for Mr. Hancock?” I ask.

  Neveah grins. “About a year ago, Hancock discovered that Engler was working with a local rental firm. The rental agency was taking deposits from prospective renters on houses and apartments that weren’t even available. Engler would contact the family and say he had a way to get them back some of their deposit and would charge them a flat fee for his ‘legal services.’ He’d contact his buddy at the rental agency, collect half the stolen deposit to give back to the family, and then he’d keep the amount that they’d pay in legal fees. Most of the time, the poor victims ended up losing the entire amount to that asshole.” She shakes her head, a look of genuine disgust on her face. “Imagine being out thousands for a security deposit and first month’s rent, giving notice on your place, and then finding out you’d been scammed? Engler would get them half their money back but then keep it in legal fees. Some of these people were left on the street, man. Shady piece of low-life shit.”

  “And Hancock found out?” I ask. Annie is hugging Alice, who was talking now with her father.

  Neveah nods. “Rental fraud, mail fraud, and bank fraud. There was a mingling of funds between legit law firm business and this scam. Hancock had nothing to do with it, so he contacted law enforcement and has been working with them for over a year to gather enough evidence to bring down both Engler and his associates at the rental agency.”