Chapter Seventeen
Niko smiled at her as she rolled down the window of the car.
“So, I will swing by this evening and we’ll get your stuff and get you out of there. I was thinking you could have the room at the end of the hall. It’s far enough away for it to be your own space.”
Betty giggled. “I don’t know if I can even pretend that I’m going to be sleeping there very often.”
“Sure you will. I didn’t necessarily mean alone. More beds, more options.”
She pulled him closer by the collar of his shirt. “I have corrupted you.”
“Delightfully so.” His lips met hers for a moment, with a sweet kiss.
Betsy pushed the car into drive. “Call me before you drive over. So I know to look out for you.”
Stepping back, Niko nodded. “Will do. I’ll cook for us tonight.”
She smiled and pulled away from his car in the parking lot. She rolled the window up and found herself with a stupid grin on.
This was the beginning of her new life. This was her chance. And to be able to do this with Niko was amazing. No one would ever be able to tell her that she wasn’t the luckiest woman alive.
No, she wasn’t really ready to move in with him. It shouldn’t feel right after so short a time together. But at the same time, it did feel right. Incredibly right.
Pine Valley was going to be her home. She was going to have a home again. And friends. And some day, a husband and children. He’d already managed the white picket fence.
Niko would make sure she’d never want for anything. And she would make sure she loved him for that for all time.
She wondered if she’d ever be able to invite Amy here, for a chance to be friends again. Her being a lawyer, there was a very good chance that couldn’t happen. Betsy sighed. Amy was probably an incredible lawyer.
Was there a chance that maybe she herself could finish her college? Betsy had no idea what she was going to do with it. There wasn’t much to be done with the vet degree. She’d be happy with a liberal arts at that point. She could totally see herself attending Stellingwerf University, getting sucked into bad Tuesday Shakespeare.
This was going to be her life.
She had a lot of crimes to atone for, but there was hope that Niko could help her. He said he’d wait. He said he’d help. If there were jail time, so be it.
Slipping the car into a parking spot, Betsy grinned. Even the thought of jail couldn’t deter her from feeling amazing. From feeling free. She walked down the sidewalk and into her building, humming. It had been a long time since she’d felt this good about anything at all.
The door pulled open, yanked out of her hand.
Betsy gasped.
“Hello, baby.”
Before she could react properly, Wyatt’s arms were around her waist and his mouth was over hers, his tongue forcing his way in. He tasted like stale cigarettes and cheap bourbon. She pulled away as fast as she could.
“What are you doing here?” Her heart was plunging into her stomach at breakneck speed.
“Got back early.” He grinned.
“I... I thought you weren’t going to be back for a few days yet.” She stepped out of his arms and walked into the apartment.
“We finished up what we had to do. And we thought it would be a nice surprise to come home early.”
As Wyatt slammed the door, Betsy turned to ask him about the ‘we’ and saw his brother standing there behind the door.
“Hey, Bets.” Wayne smirked at her.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here today.”
“You sound worried.”
She bit her tongue and turned away from the two of them. “The house is a mess. I’ve been busy. I would have made sure it was cleaned.”
Wayne shook his head. “So, are we ready to rip this jewelry guy off and get out of here? Like now?”
Wyatt nodded. “I think so. We have to move along just in case they try to trace that call you made to Mama in Illinois.”
Wayne pulled out his phone and looked at it. “Battery’s just about dead now. We’ll just leave it here. We don’t have much time. You need to get your shit together, and we need to roll. We’ll leave the Benz and take the Corolla. That at least hasn’t been traced yet.”
“I think we’re ready to do this.” Wyatt pulled a bag off the chair and yanked it open. “Only grab what you can carry, Betsy. And you’re going to have to tell us what this guy has that we can fence easy.”
Taking a deep breath, Betsy grabbed her small suitcase from the closet. “Small stuff. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires, gold, and silver necklaces. There are quite a few platinum settings that have no diamonds in them. Those will be good.” She pulled a drawer open and moved all of her clothes into the suitcase. She palmed her phone and shoved it down her bra when her back was to the two of them.
Opening another drawer, there were more clothes and she shoved those in. Wayne unhooked the computer on the desk as Wyatt closed up his laptop from the table.
“What else?” Wayne asked. “I have placed to fence the really good stuff. Like the diamonds. The big ones.”
“We’re in Minnesota, Wayne, you really think these hick farmers can do better than a half carat?” Wyatt rolled his eyes.
“I’m not knocking over a jeweler without a big prize. And I mean big.”
Betsy walked into the tiny bedroom with the bathroom attached to it. She retrieved all of her toiletries from the bathroom, keeping half an eye on the brothers. While she was bent down under the sink, she pulled the cell phone out and opened the notes app and started one called Amy.
LV w/bros. Surprised. Tell Niko I’m sorry. Don’t find me. Let me go. Luv u all.
She turned on the GPS and shoved it back in her bra as she heard footsteps.
“Grabbing everything from in here, babe?”
“You know it.”
“Good. Make sure you grab that toilet paper. I hate road shits without it.”
“Ugh!” She forced the laugh out.
He left the room again, and this time, Betsy slipped into the bedroom to grab some stuff out of the closet. The door was a perfect cover at that point, and she used it. Grabbing the charger from the bedside, she tossed the connection under the bed and slipped under the box spring. Yanking the phone out, she slipped it on the miniUSB plug and propped it against the wall, under the bed.
She had to hope the GPS could still be followed through the wall. Normally she and Wyatt would just leave the apartment Wi-Fi running when they left, but she was going to make sure to unplug it so the phone shifted over to the carrier network.
She crawled back out and grabbed a pair of sneakers as she did so, just in case one of the brothers was watching her when she backed out. Which was exactly what Wayne was doing.
“You women and your shoes.”
“Whatever.”
He leered at her, and she felt her skin crawl. He backed out of the room and she tossed him a middle finger he couldn’t see.
“You know I’m still not convinced this is worth the trouble.” Wayne moved around her as she walked out. He had been waiting just around the corner from the bedroom, ready to ambush her.
“What would make you convinced? This guy has skill in jewelry making. An art degree. He never buys bad jewels, and mocks up every piece before setting it in metal. There are hundreds of simple gold necklaces, and those settings are all unique.”
“I want a big rock.” Wayne folded his arms.
“Big rocks are hard to fence.” Wyatt cocked his head. “But if there is one, I can imagine that our girl here would have fucked its location out of him.”
Betsy froze, staring at him.
Taking measured steps toward her, he asked, “Wouldn’t you have, Bets?”
Wayne joined his brother as they circled her. He stopped behind, and Wyatt’s hand closed around the back of her neck and his bourbon breath wrapped around her as he spoke. “Wouldn’t you have, Bets?”
It was hard not to swallow at her terror. “I don’t...”
Wayne walked around to stare at her. The similarities between the brothers was shocking. “We saw you. With the jeweler. This morning.” He put his hand on her cheek. “There was no mistaking that kiss. That was the kind of kiss only two people who are fucking share.”
Betsy hated Wayne. She always had. Even though he was so much like his brother, there was something unfathomably cruel about him. His black eyes were dead. His hands were cold. He was crass, crude, abusive, aggressive, and small-dicked.
Literally.
Betsy wanted to throw up at that memory. They’d gotten her so drunk, and she agreed to it. Because that was how much she thought she was worth. And now he was here to remind her of that, to remind her who she belonged to.
“What were you doing there, pretty girl?” Wayne’s voice was cruel.
“What do you think I was doing there?”
Wyatt and Wayne shared a look over her shoulder, and Wyatt nibbled on her ear. “I think that, as amazing as you are with your planning, managed to catch yourself a little jewelry tail while casing the joint. And you have lots of stuff for us to take and go.”
Turning her head, Betsy got his lips off her ear and caught his eye. “And what if you were exactly right?”
“Well, did getting in his pants get you good dirt? What do you have for us?” He slapped her ass hard.
Betsy raised an eyebrow at him. “You have to trust me once in a while, Wyatt.”
Wayne grabbed her chin and turned her to look at him. “What did you find?”
Yanking her chin away from him, she scowled at him and narrowed her eyes.
“Tell me. Or I’ll make sure you don’t make it out of here.”
“Don’t threaten her, Wayne. She’s our brains.”
“Tell me.” His face was right at the tip of her nose.
Betsy wanted to spit in his face, but didn’t.
“There’s a diamond. A big one.”