Don't Go Stealing My Heart - Kelly Siskind Page 0,106

was alive, but he hadn’t counted on another intruder.

He halted the guys and spoke low. “I’m going to check things out. If I yell Elvis, that means I need you.” Too much commotion could endanger Clementine more.

He crept down the steps toward the sound room, flattened his back against the wall and peeked down the hall. His heart lurched. Clementine didn’t look harmed, but an older man stood before her, his gun pointed at her chest.

“I homeschooled you because you needed to be educated,” he said. “Our cons involved high society. They required a level of book and street smarts. And, if you recall, you begged me not to send you to public school, which saved me from forbidding it.”

“Because I was terrified of being discovered and put back into the system. Another weakness of mine you exploited.” She let out a disgusted laugh. “Wow, Lucien. You really did a number on me.”

Jack reeled at the man’s name. Lucien had raised her, hadn’t he? He had clothed and fed her while training Clementine to steal. A fact that hadn’t sat well with Jack, but she’d only ever mentioned Lucien with fondness, no hint of bad blood.

She kept asking questions, his replies almost eager. The more he heard, the more it sounded like Lucien had been lying to Clementine, raising her under false pretenses. The conversation didn’t fully make sense, but there was no misunderstanding the weapon aimed at the woman he loved. A woman trained in combat. If he distracted Lucien and gave her an edge, she’d take it. She’d understand. Anything else, including an Elvis horde, could increase her danger.

Clementine pulled her right elbow back, just a smidge, ready to land a punch to Lucien’s kidneys. His weak spot. Over the years, landing a kick or punch there had always ended with them on the floor, sweaty and laughing. She’d never put her muscle into it back then.

She’d throw her entire body into it now.

“If I needed normalcy in my life,” she asked him, “what did Yevgen need? A puppy to mutilate?”

Lucien smirked, still happy to divulge his secrets, boast about his brilliance. Now was her chance, while he relived those glory days. She fisted her hand, but his pupils flared and his jaw hardened. His attention darted over her shoulder.

Oh, God.

She’d told Jack’s parents to stay put. Not to leave the room. She swiveled, dread rising with the move, and horror winched her chest. Why was Jack here? He couldn’t be here.

“When I envisioned meeting you, Lucien,” Jack said with his Elvis voice, deep and confident, “I never expected it to be like this.”

His eyes darted to Clementine, intensity in their depths, like he was trying to communicate with her. She wasn’t sure how he knew she’d be here or what he was doing, but she knew an opening when she saw one. Lucien was distracted.

She lunged and punched Lucien where it counted, but he didn’t hunch as expected, didn’t so much as wince. He always winced when hit in the kidneys.

The man who had used and corrupted her laughed. “I knew insinuating a weakness would help me one day.”

He backhanded her, his ring cutting into her cheek. She stumbled, too shocked by his latest revelation to keep her footing, and he raised the gun. Not at her. He pointed it at Jack and smiled. “Never fall for a con-woman.”

No, no, no.

Clementine launched herself as Lucien squeezed the trigger. Save Jack. He can’t hurt Jack. The prayer looped as pain shot through her chest. The floor rushed to meet her.

Jack roared. One second Clementine had the upper hand, the next she was on the floor, her blood seeping into the carpet, exactly as he’d imagined but worse. Agony ripped through his chest, like the bullet had hit him.

“Elvis!” he shouted and charged, no thought to guns or bullets or consequences.

Fury had never clouded his sense before. Nothing in life had been worth inciting violence, or so he’d thought. Clementine was hurt. His girl was bleeding out and moaning, and his self-preservation flew out the window. All that remained was vengeance.

The second Jack yelled Elvis, Lucien frowned. Then his eyes widened as men in jeweled jumpsuits flooded the stairs and lower level. Lucien aimed his gun and shot. The air by Jack’s face whizzed, the bullet just missing him. Jack was too close and enraged to slow his assault.

He pulled back his arm as he reached Lucien and put his whole body into the punch. His fist connected with