The necklace.
Whatever this scary man demanded.
But I knew something my dad didn’t. If I told Romanthe truth, my dad would be saved but I wouldn’t be. Boris might break both ofmy dad’s hand, but he would cut off one of mine. Broken bones healed, butmedical science had yet to make a hand regrow. My fate would rest with the manI lied to.
I would risk Dad to save myself. The hardest con gameI had played yet.
Letting the tears fall unchecked, I turned back toRoman with a trembling chin. “Please don’t hurt him,” I begged softly. “Ididn’t take anything but the wallet.” I sniffled and pulled the money from mypocket. “You can have it. You can have all of it. It’s all I took, I swear.”Roman only stared at me, so I pushed forward, hiccupping more lies until theysounded like truth, until I believed them myself. “It was just a dare. I wasbored and I just wanted to do something. It was just a dare to see if I couldget his wallet. It was stupid. I’m sorry. Here, take the money. I don’t evenwant it. I’m so sorry.”
Nobody reached for the money. They didn’t needAtticus’s hundred bucks.
“Who dared you?”Dymetrusasked quietly, his voice hard rock against my soft, mushy tears.
“F-Frankie,” I wailed louder than I needed to. “I’m sosorry.”
The three bosses looked across the warehouse to wheretheir niece still sat against the wall, and back to me.
“Please,” I begged. “I’m so sorry. I’ll never do itagain. I swear. I’m so sorry. Please don’t hurt my dad. Please believe me.”
Roman’s expression wrinkled in disgust. “Enough, girl.No more of the useless crying.”
I wiped at my nose with the back of my hand, and tooka trembling breath desperate to follow that order. It was difficult, but Imanaged to stop the flow of tears by keeping my eyes downcast, focused on thefloor and not the scary men getting ready to do something awful.
“What do you think, Roman?”Aleksanderasked, amusement ringing in his jovial voice. “Is the girl lying? Should wehave her father’s hands broken?”
Dymetruslaughed next, thetension miraculously breaking. “It looks as though Boris is dying to break somebones, brother. Maybe we should give him this kindness,da?”
Roman chuckled, low and sinister. “No, brothers, thegirl has promised she isn’t lying. I’m inclined to believe her.”
All the men in the half circle let out surprisedchuckles. “Is that so?” Ozzie asked.
“She has promised that the money was all she took.Atticus hasn’t claimed that she’s taken anything else. There’s no reason tocontinue torturing the girl.”
I kept my eyes trained on my shoes, so they wouldn’tsee the victory I knew was there. “Th-thank you,” Itold them with another sniffle. “Thank you so much.”
“All right, girl, get out of here,” Rocco ordered.
I spun around, my tears already dried and my feardisappearing quickly. There was a smile trying to break free on my face so Idetermined not to turn around or look at them again. Instead, I threw myselfinto my dad’s arms and hugged him tightly, burying my face in his flanneljacket that smelled like cigarettes and cheap whiskey.
He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of myhead affectionately. More scheming. More conning.
From both of us.
He started scolding me softly, but I couldn’t hear him.My ears were whooshing with the disbelief that I’d gotten away with it. I’dconned thepakhan.
I’d stolen from Atticus.
“Caroline,” Roman called from behind me.
Shit.
Shit, shit,shit.
I half turned my head, keeping my cheek pressedagainst my dad’s chest. “Yes?”
“You have a gift. I have not seen anyone so young lieso proficiently before,” Roman told me. It was a compliment. And at the sametime, it was not at all a compliment. “You are very convincing.”
I immediately started to protest. “I didn’t—”
