I step forward, slowly reaching for her shoulders, letting my fingers softly wrap around her skin.
‘I know I left, Gianna.’ I keep my eyes locked with hers. ‘I left Booker Bay, but I didn’t leaveyou. I need you to understand that. Do you still trust me?’
She looks uncertain, and for the first time, I can’t put my finger on what she’s thinking. Then I feel her shoulders relax.
‘The guy’s name is Landon.’ She finally lets out.
‘What’s he look like?’
‘Blond. Annoying. Wears ugly boat shoes.’
I know he’s blond, but that’s the fucking extent of it. I’ve never got a good look at his face. I need more information before I can know for sure. ‘What else?’
She shifts on the spot, battling with something. There’s a second where I think she’s going to open up, tell me the truth. Then she shakes her head.
‘I don’t know … why is this important?’ she groans. ‘You need to leave. I have an early morning.’
I step forward, cupping her face in my hands. ‘Please, baby. I need you to tell me, and I need you to be specific. Is Landon someone you’ve seen before, or did he mention anyone he might be working for?’
She shakes her head. ‘No.’
She’s telling the truth.
‘Then what does he look like?’
‘There’s nothing else distinctive about him.’ She closes her eyes. ‘But I do need to tell you something.’
Finally.
‘Landon’s who I lost my money to in the race I was telling Mr F about.’
‘I know.’
Her jaw drops and her eyes pop open as she lets out a scoff. ‘Of course you do. But there’s more. Before the race, I wanted to see if Landon had tuned up the Civic, so I broke into Midnight Spares, which is a—’
‘A chop shop in EC.’
She holds her towel with one hand, cocking the other on her hip. ‘If you already know all of this, why do you need to hear it from me?’
I brush off her remark, plopping my ass on the bed. ‘Go on.’
‘Landon came back while I was there. I stayed hidden but the Porsche, the one that Alexander brought into the shop – they’d stolen it that night. The shop is full of all these stolen classics. Then I heard …’ She pauses. ‘Ryker, if I tell you this, you need to promise me you won’t do anything stupid. Not with Dellenty on your ass.’
‘Dellenty?’ Her sudden outburst and change of subject has me confused as fuck. ‘He’s the least of my fucking worries. Spit it out, Gianna.’
‘I heard Landon say he’s got eyes on the Mustang.’
‘So why’d you still turn up for the race?’
‘I thought I could make a deal with him and get him out of town. I needed him to know that he’ll never have our car. That I was onto him. And you know what, I think it’s worked, because I haven’t heard from him since.’
‘Sweetheart,’ I say gently, ‘you haven’t heard from him because he’s already got all your money.’
‘But he hasn’t come anywhere near the Mustang.’
‘Not yet.’ I run a hand down my face, ‘but leaving your door open isn’t exactly a deterrent. You need to be more careful. I’m serious. Lock the door.’
‘I have Chuckie.’
