Fraud (Antihero Inferno #2) - Lily White Page 0,51

the little shit is also a shrewd businessman. It pissed me off, but also made me respect him a little more. I would have done the same thing at his age.

For the low-low price of five hundred dollars, Dylan let me know immediately when Emily and Ivy returned to the house, as well as unlocked the front door for me. I’m sure if I’d dropped another five hundred on top, he would have rolled out a red carpet and given me a celebrity welcome.

I didn’t need all that, though.

Just Ivy.

And now I have her.

Sawyer, thankfully, was more than happy to come along because I wasn’t lying when I told Ivy that he gets his pot from Dylan.

I’m not always a liar and a fraud.

Only about certain things.

Sadly, I never planned on chasing her down this fast, but a few phone calls I made after she left convinced me that having her close by would be more beneficial to me than the entertainment of watching her attempt to put her life back together.

Unlike Tanner, I don’t feel the need to keep the people I’m chasing close. I’m more than happy to let them run around until they’re good and exhausted.

Unfortunately for Ivy, circumstances changed, and I had to move quicker than expected.

“Why are you doing this, Gabriel? Have you lost your mind? This is a little nuts, even for you.”

Laughing at the rage in her voice, I turn a corner and head toward the highway that will take me closer to home.

“Somebody’s been lying, Ivy, and for the first time, it’s not me.”

She grows quiet for a second, and I can hear her shuffling around on the seat. A heavy thud sounds immediately after.

“Fuck! Watch it! You kicked me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she says with that sweet voice that always affects me in ways it shouldn’t, “did I hurt you?”

“Yes,” Sawyer grumbles.

Another thud and he yells again.

“The fuck! Stop.”

“Then I suggest you remove your hand from my ass before I kick you again.”

My eyes shoot to the rearview mirror, and Sawyer’s stare meets mine, his lips stretched into a shit-eating grin. He’s enjoying the abduction a little too much.

I narrow my eyes in warning, and when he laughs, I finally understand why Tanner was so intent on killing him.

“I haven’t been lying about anything,” she lies, presumably after Sawyer removes his hand.

Grinning at that, I can’t be mad at her. Ivy is just as much a fraud as me.

“Really? Then you won’t mind explaining to me what connection your family has with a tech firm in Georgia.”

And she goes silent again.

Just like I thought she would.

I’m counting down the seconds in my head until the next lie rolls off her lips. Reaching one, my ears prick at the sound of her voice.

“Why would I know anything like that? My dad tells me nothing.”

Traffic comes to a standstill, and I hit the brakes.

“It’s interesting you immediately assumed your dad has the connection and not your mom.”

Silence fills the car again as her mind scrambles for the next excuse.

“My dad is better connected...”

Not a lie.

“...and my mom knows nothing about technology...”

Also not a lie.

“...so assuming it was my dad would be a better bet...”

Half a lie.

“...but still I know nothing.”

Full lie.

She knows something, and the only reason I know that is because she’s no longer threatening to kill me for abducting her.

I’ll admit Ivy is a damn good dancer when it comes to dodging the truth, but she’s not as good as me.

Whatever she’s worried about is more important than the fact she’s currently being held down in the backseat of my car with a bag over her head as I drive us to an undisclosed location.

Actually, I’m just taking her to my house since Tanner banned me from his, but she doesn’t need to know that. The point is, she should be more concerned with being smuggled off somewhere and fighting that issue more than my question.

The fact that she’s not tells me everything I need to know.

We cross a bridge that leads away from the expensive suburban neighborhoods closer to the city, the storm that had been rolling in earlier even closer now. In the distance, thunder shakes the sky, a flash of lightning high up in the cloud layer cracking through the twilight.

Another fifteen minutes has me pulling down a private, tree-lined drive that leads to my house, the property surrounded by a thin ring of woods that gives it the appearance of seclusion. It’s not as flashy as Tanner’s house,