Chapter 31
“So is there any reason why you’re wearing all black?” Keith asked as he glanced over at Stephanie.
She could tell he was fighting back a smile.
She was sitting in the passenger seat beside him wearing a tight-fitting, black T-shirt, black Capris, and a black beret. She gazed at him quizzically.
“You said we were going on a stakeout,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “What’s wrong? Did I wear the wrong outfit?”
He slowly shook his head in bemusement.
They were parked across the street behind a line of cars, not far from the wrought-iron gates of Manny’s Moorish-style villa. They had been hunkered down for almost an hour, sitting in the dark, waiting for Isaac. Stephanie was starting to feel a little anxious. It was odd to know that after all this time and after all they had been through, their journey might be finally coming to an end.
“Did you ever think two months ago that you’d be doing something like this?” Keith asked quietly, reading her thoughts.
She shook her head and giggled as she gazed out the car’s windshield. “Nope. I thought I was well on my way to seducing a rich financial consultant and becoming Mrs. Isaac Beardan.” She turned to Keith. “But in some ways, I’m glad things didn’t turn out the way that I planned.”
Really?” he asked, raising his brows.
“Yep. I mean . . . I still want my sixty thousand dollars back and for that bastard to rot in jail, but I don’t think I would have been happy with Isaac, even if he turned out to be the real thing and not a conman. That life was . . .” She paused, searching for the right word. “. . . empty. I was empty. It had to end. You gotta grow up eventually.”
Keith leaned back in his chair. A smile slowly crept to his lips. “What brought you to this conclusion?”
“I don’t know. Maybe going through all this stuff helped me to figure it out.” She shrugged. “I mean I’ve done more stuff in the past week than I ever thought I was capable of doing. Maybe falling in love did it too. It makes me see things differently now.”
He trailed a finger along her cheek. “You’re an amazing woman, Stephanie Gibbons.”
She grinned and leaned toward him, gazing into his eyes. “It’s about damn time you realized that.”
“Oh, I realized it. I just tried really hard to deny it.”
“Why?”
“Because just like you were set in your ways, so was I. It’s been just me and only me for a very long time, Steph. Mike keeps ragging on me about it, but I admit that it’s true. I was a single, independent guy and I liked it that way. No commitment . . . a few one-night stands . . .”
She frowned. One night stands? OK, he’s going to have to clarify that later.
“I haven’t been in a serious relationship with a woman in a very long time . . . probably not ever, if I really think about it. To let someone else wedge themselves into my life isn’t something that I’m used to.”
“So am I wedging into your life? And more importantly . . . Am I getting in?”
“More and more every day,” he whispered before lowering his mouth to hers.
They kissed and she felt the familiar tingle that she always felt when he touched her lips. She hoped he would continue to let her into his life, because she didn’t know what she would do with herself if she had to let go of this man.
The kiss deepened and she suddenly wished that they were back in their hotel room so they could go a lot further. Too bad they were stuck in some SUV staking out Manny’s house, waiting for Isaac.
Isaac! Is that Isaac? Stephanie thought with alarm when she heard the sound of a car’s engine. Her eyes fluttered open and she pushed herself away from Keith. She turned to see a black Bentley pulling up to the gate. The words TOO HOT were on the license plate.
“Oh, my God, Keith! I think it’s him! I think we finally found him!”
She and Keith watched as the driver’s-side window of the Bentley slowly lowered. And then it finally happened. After about a month on the road searching for him, she finally saw Isaac and she instantly saw red. The rage against him that had been bottled up for weeks and weeks suddenly burst to the surface. She watched as he leaned out of the car window and punched a code into the gate’s wall panel. The villa’s automatic gates then began to slide open.
Stephanie didn’t know what had taken over her, but the instant she saw Isaac drive his Bentley inside the property, she threw open the SUV’s door and bolted.
“Stephanie!” Keith whispered shrilly after her. “Stephanie, what the hell are you doing?”
She didn’t answer him. She didn’t have time to respond.
She wasn’t sure where she had found the strength or the ability to run that fast, but she did—making the distance from the SUV to the front gate in less than ten seconds. She made it inside the villa’s grounds just as the gate slid closed behind her.
Keith was probably thinking she had lost her mind, but there was no turning back now. She was officially trespassing, but she was on a mission. Seeing Isaac wasn’t enough. She had to confront him.
Stephanie bent forward with her hands on her knees and took several deep breaths. That run had taken a lot out of her. She rested her hand over her rapidly beating heart and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, her heart slowed its pace. She took her final deep breath and stood upright. She squinted and looked around her.
With the exception of a few floodlights near the double doors of the villa, it was pretty dark outside. The decorative foliage on the grounds created many shadows. It made it a challenge to see around her, but the darkness was the coverage she needed if she didn’t want anyone to catch her.
She watched as Isaac threw open the driver’s-side door of the Bentley and stepped out. Panicked that he would see her, Stephanie instantly shifted, squatted, and hid behind a hibiscus bush and a palm tree. She pushed a few leaves aside and gawked at him.
Isaac certainly looked different. His goatee was gone, just like the shampoo guy Rafael had said. Isaac also had given up the perfectly tailored suits she remembered him wearing back in Chesterton and was now sporting a white T-shirt with a deep V collar that showed off his pecs and waxed chest. His jeans were so tight you could almost see the imprint of his balls even from this distance. He wore a garish silver chain around his neck with a giant gothic cross that dangled near his navel and a leather cuff on his wrist with silver studs.
The man was certainly a chameleon. He barely resembled the Isaac she remembered from back home.
She watched as Isaac shut his car door behind him, locked it with a loud beep, and tossed a leather jacket over his shoulder. He then casually strolled to the villa’s front doors.
Stephanie crept up the winding driveway, walking past the trickling water fountain then the Bentley. Just as Isaac inserted his key and pushed opened the villa’s front door, she ran behind him, giving him a hard shove that sent him careening into the marble-tiled foyer.
“What the hell?” he shouted then suddenly whipped around to face her.
Before he could get his bearings, Stephanie balled her fist and gave him the hardest punch she could muster—a right hook to his jaw. It sent him stumbling backward again.
Her hand hurt like hell, but the punch had made her proud.
“Oww!” Isaac screamed, raising his hand to his mouth. He then raised his gaze and looked up at his assailant. Isaac’s brown eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw her standing there.
Stephanie?” he squeaked.
“You goddamn right it’s me, you son of a bitch! Where the hell is my money? Where is it?”
“Stephanie, what . . . What are you doing here?” he asked, taking several hesitant steps back. “How did you find me?”
“That’s all you have to say to me?” she yelled as she stalked toward him. “What the hell do you think I’m doing here, Isaac . . . or Devon . . . or Reggie . . . or whatever the fuck your name really is? I want my money!”
He shook his head. “I don’t kn-know what you’re talking about, Steph. What money?”
“Bullshit! You know damn well what I’m talking about! Your conman days are over! You have messed with the wrong chick! You stole sixty thousand dollars from me! So either you give me my damn money,” she said, pointing her finger into his muscled chest, “or I’m taking it out of your hide!” She then balled her sore fist again and held it up menacingly.
Isaac’s mouth fell open in astonishment.
“Why is this woman screaming at the top of her lungs in my home, querido?” a voice suddenly boomed from above them.
Stephanie and Isaac looked up.
A patrician-looking man who was in his late fifties or early sixties stood at the top of the double staircase with one hand perched casually on the wrought-iron banister and the other hand holding a wineglass. He slowly walked down the stairs toward them.
He was wearing a white linen shirt, tan drawstring pants, and brown leather sandals. His skin was wrinkled but he had a healthy tan. His white hair was cropped short. When he descended the last riser, Stephanie saw that he barely stood five feet tall.
“Why is this woman here?” he asked Isaac. He then glanced at Stephanie.
“I have no idea, darling,” Isaac said, holding his mouth again.
Stephanie’s brows furrowed angrily.
“She followed me inside. She just started hitting me for no reason.”
“No reason?” Stephanie screeched. “You know damn well why I hit you, Isaac! You’re lucky that’s all I did!”
“Manny, you stay here with her, while I call the police,” Isaac said as he took a few steps across the foyer. “I want her arrested.”
“Yes, Isaac, call the damn police!” Stephanie shouted. “And while you’re at it tell them about the money you stole from me, the diamonds you stole from that other woman in Maryland, and all the other women you seduced to get their money!”
Manny gazed at Stephanie, absolutely stunned. “Devon, what is she talking about?” He narrowed his eyes at Stephanie. “And why do you keep calling him Isaac?”
“I’m calling him Isaac because that’s the name he gave me when we were dating. But that’s not his real name. Devon isn’t his real name either. He always changes his name when he’s running a new con.”
“What?” Isaac exclaimed, looking horrified by her accusation. If she wasn’t so angry she would have laughed at his shoddy performance. “She’s delusional, baby!”
“Manny,” Stephanie said, earnestly gazing at the short man, “he’s conning you now just like he conned me a little more than a month ago. I know now that he’s done this so many times that even he has probably lost count.”
“Lies!” Isaac shouted. “All lies, Manny! This woman is insane!”
“It took weeks to track him down and trace him here,” Stephanie continued. “He stole my money. He told me his name was Isaac Beardan and that he was a financial planner. He told me lie after lie after lie. He gained my trust and he stole my savings.”
Manny seemed to study her, gauging whether she was telling the truth.
“Baby, you’re not actually listening to this crap, are you?” Isaac yelled, pointing at her. “You wouldn’t take her word over mine, would you?”
Manny stayed silent.
“I have no idea who this woman is or why she’s saying these things!” Isaac insisted, feigning being hurt. “You have to believe me, baby! I’ve never seen her before in my entire life before today! She—”
“So why did you call her Stephanie?” Manny asked quietly, turning his penetrating gaze back to Isaac.
Isaac paused. “Wha-what?”
“Before I came downstairs, I overheard you call her Stephanie.” He turned to look at Stephanie and pursed his lips. “That is your name, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “Yes, Stephanie Gibbons.”
Manny glared at Isaac. “How did you know her name, querido, if you two have never met before?”
Isaac’s face clouded with alarm. “Umm, I . . . Well, I—”
“Don’t lie to me,” Manny said firmly, holding up an index finger in warning. “Just answer my question. Do you know this woman? Did you steal money from her?”
Isaac took a deep breath. He looked at Manny then looked at Stephanie then back at Manny again. He knew when he was cornered. His shoulders slumped. “Honey, let me explain.”
Manny slowly closed his eyes. “That’s all the explanation I need,” he said, shaking his head. “Miss Gibbons, would you please follow me? Querido, you can come too.”
Manny then slowly walked toward a room adjacent to the foyer. He took a sip from his glass as he went. The soft flap of his sandals echoed off the marble floor in the foyer.
Stephanie and Isaac glanced at one another in surprise. Manny seemed to be taking the news about Isaac being a conman pretty well. Stephanie hadn’t expected him to start screaming and throwing things—which was definitely more her style—but she hadn’t expected this subdued reaction either.
She followed Manny into the adjacent room, which turned out to be a home office. Isaac trailed behind her.
The space was opulently decorated with lush leather furniture and floor-to-ceiling wooden bookshelves filled with volumes upon volumes of books. All the books had antiqued leather and gold binding that made them look like they should be on the auction block at Christie’s or Sotheby’s. Several expensive-looking pieces of art hung on the walls and a few small sculptures decorated the room.
Stephanie understood now why Isaac had targeted Manny. The man obviously had a lot of bank.
She watched as Manny walked to the large desk in the center of the office.
“You don’t have to explain anything to me,” Manny said as he set down his glass and opened one of the desk drawers. “I’ve seen plenty of beautiful young men pushed into these situations before.”
Stephanie frowned. Huh?
“The world can be cruel. It leaves you with little options. Some young men turn to these games in order to survive. They use their pretty faces to their advantage.” He pulled out a gold pen and checkbook. He then gazed at Isaac. “Believe me. I understand. I’m not judging you.”
Stephanie’s mouth fell open in shock. You’ve got to be kidding me, she thought with frustration.
Querido, whatever you have done in the past means nothing to me. You will always have a place in my home and in my heart. You don’t have to steal or play these games anymore. I will take care of you.” He suddenly ripped off a check he had been writing and held it out to Stephanie. “Is this enough?”
She gazed down at the check and saw that it was written for one hundred thousand dollars. Her mouth dropped even lower to the point that her chin was almost on her chest. She gazed at Manny, utterly aghast.
“Why are you giving this to me?”
Manny cocked an eyebrow. “I’m giving this to you so that you have more than enough money to cover your loss . . . because I want you to take this check and leave us alone. My giving you this money is contingent upon that promise from you. You will not follow Devon anymore. You will leave him at peace.”
“But didn’t you hear what I said? He’s conning you too! He’s doing the same thing to you that he did to all of us! You’re no different!”
“Sweetheart, what he did with you women was just a performance.” Manny smirked and raised his nose triumphantly into the air. He then walked around the desk toward Isaac. He wrapped an arm possessively around the younger man’s trim waist. “What he and I have is real passion . . . true love.”
Stephanie then stared dumbfounded as the tiny man stood on the balls of his feet and kissed Isaac with the same passion he professed. To Isaac’s credit, he didn’t flinch. He leaned down and kissed Manny back just as earnestly.
Stephanie felt as if she had just stepped into the Twilight Zone.
Manny pulled his mouth away from Isaac and licked his lips. “Now if you would please take this check and leave,” Manny said, holding it out to her again. “I had planned to have a quiet evening at home with my fiancé and you are ruining that prospect.”
Fiancé?” Stephanie squeaked.
Isaac proudly held up his left hand and smiled, showing a silver wedding band. “We’re having the nuptials in New York next month.”
Stephanie shook her head. Some people couldn’t be helped. She had tried to save Isaac’s next victim from a similar fate as her own, but he was hell-bent on the idea that he and Isaac were truly in love. She had been lulled by the same stupidity and the same hubris. She could sympathize—a little.
Pride goes before the fall, she thought. But that didn’t mean she shouldn’t be made whole in this crazy situation.
“Fine,” Stephanie said, snatching the check out of Manny’s hand. She then folded it and tucked it into her bosom. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
 
“You’re a real piece of work,” Stephanie mumbled.
Isaac gave a sly, self-congratulatory smirk as he held her arm and dragged her back to the villa’s front gate. “Aren’t I?”
Isaac was escorting her off the property per his fiancé’s instruction. Manny stood silently in his study window, watching them as they went. Stephanie glared up at Isaac, wishing she could punch him in the jaw all over again.
“Oh, come on! Don’t look so mad, Steph!” Isaac said. “You’ll leave this whole nightmare forty thousand dollars richer! Now tell me that isn’t a good thing.”
“That’s not the point! It’s his money, not yours! He did this for you because he’s in love with you, Isaac! This isn’t just some game to him! Don’t you feel like shit taking advantage of him like this? Have you ever felt bad for what you’ve done?”
Isaac sucked his teeth as they walked. “Oh, please, honey! A lecture from you? How many men have you taken advantage of in your life, Stephanie Gibbons? How many men did you pretend to love to get money from them? You’re just as much of a con artist as I am. I knew what you were the minute I laid eyes on you.”
“But I never stole from them!”
“No, you just lied, connived, and seduced.” A smile crept back to his lips. “You know . . . you and I aren’t much different, Steph.”
She cringed in disgust.
“And out of all of my cons, I admit, you were one of my favorites. I had a lot of fun with you, gorgeous—in the bedroom and out.” He ran his thumb gently along her forearm. “I could teach you a thing or two about how to run the hustle, how to do it properly. You’re pretty good, but you still could use a few pointers in how to pleasure a man.” He smirked. “Sometimes your performances were a little . . . uninspired, shall we say.”
“Go to hell,” she spat.
Isaac chuckled. “Oh, if you weren’t so angry, you could see that there are real possibilities here, Steph! I’m offering you a great opportunity, gorgeous. Think about it . . . We could do these cons together. Play off of one another. We could be partners! We could be a team!”
She gazed up at him in bewilderment. He’s actually serious, she thought. Did he conveniently forget that he had lied to her and stolen money from her, or did he just expect her to forget?
“You and me—together! Can you imagine the damage we could do? We’d be unstoppable, Steph! Come on, what do you say? You willing to put old offenses aside for an opportunity like this? You game, gorgeous?”
As they drew closer to the gate, she saw Keith standing on the other side. He was clutching the wrought iron in his fists and gazing at her worriedly.
“No, thanks,” she said to Isaac. “I already have a partner.”
“Steph, are you all right?” Keith shouted. “Did they hurt you?” He then glared at Isaac. “Open the goddamn gate, you son of a bitch!”
Isaac instantly paused. The unease and dismay showed on his handsome face. “What the hell is he doing here?”
“I couldn’t do this alone. I had to hire a detective. It only made sense to hire the guy who was already tracking you down.”
“Damn it,” Isaac snarled.
“Yeah, so guess that means you’ll be on the run again, huh?”
“Probably,” he muttered.
The two men stood glowering at one another.
“Isaac,” Stephanie said, nudging him, “open the gate.”
He swallowed loudly before finally pressing a button along the driveway’s stucco wall. The gate slowly slid open and Stephanie instantly yanked her arm out of Isaac’s grasp. She ran toward Keith, but he was faster in closing the distance between them. He wrapped her in his arms and picked her up. He kissed her so hard it knocked the breath out of her. He then pulled his mouth away so he could examine her.
“Are you OK?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Why the hell did you do that, Steph? You just ran! You scared the shit out of me! You were gone for almost a half an hour! I thought something was happening to you in there!”
She demured. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
He kissed her again. When he pulled his mouth away a second time, she rested her head on his shoulder and let him embrace her.
“Well, isn’t this touching,” Isaac murmured sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest.
Keith shifted Stephanie aside. “You’re lucky she’s OK. If something happened to her, I wouldn’t have waited for the cops to make an appearance this time. I would have gone in there to kick your ass myself!”
Isaac grinned. “Come on, detective. You’ve been following me long enough that you know roughing up women isn’t my style. I’m a lover not a fighter.”
“Yeah, a lover of women and men, so I’ve heard,” Keith said, tilting his head. “You just love everybody, as long as they have money!”
And?” Isaac answered blandly. “Is that so bad?”
“You’re a leech, a parasite,” Keith continued through clenched teeth. “And I look forward to the day when the cops throw your ass in jail!”
“They’d have to catch me first.”
“Oh, they will. I’ll make sure of it this time! And the next time I see you, you’ll be prostituting yourself for a pack of cigarettes instead of a Bentley and an ugly-ass silver chain.”
“Platinum,” Isaac clarified dryly before giving a lofty sigh. “Look, detective, I’d love to continue this banter, but my fiancé has dinner waiting. I should head back.” He turned to Stephanie. “Remember my offer, gorgeous. It still stands if you’re interested.”
“No thanks. I’m not,” she answered succinctly.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Your decision.”
Stephanie watched as Isaac turned and strolled back up the driveway. She wondered how long it would take him to high-tail it out of Miami now that he knew Keith had found him. She wondered how long it would take him to find yet another victim.
Not very long, knowing Isaac, she thought.
The gate slowly slid closed behind him. She and Keith walked back to his Ford Explorer.
“So what did he offer you?” Keith asked. His arm was still wrapped around her shoulders protectively.
“He offered to become partners. He said he could teach me to become a proper con artist because I needed the training.”
“He’s a real piece of work,” Keith murmured as they reached the SUV.
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
Keith opened the driver’s-side door and climbed inside. “So I guess you talked to his boyfriend, Manny, too? How’d that go down?”
Stephanie opened the passenger-side door and climbed inside. She then told the story of her encounter with Manny. When she finished, Keith sat gazing at her, dumbfounded.
“Wait, so he wasn’t angry? He actually made excuses for him?” Keith asked.
“He insists that he and Isaac are in love. Isaac must have really worked his magic on him.”
“I guess so.”
“You should have seen it, Keith! Isaac really knows how to work it. He tongued that little shrimp down right in front of me. If I didn’t know what a liar Isaac was, I would have believed he was really into him too.”
“Uh-huh. Well, I’m glad I missed that one,” Keith muttered as he inserted his key into the ignition. He turned on the engine. “I also suggest you cash that check as soon as possible. Manny’s probably going to put a hold on it as soon as Isaac is arrested.”
“That’s if Isaac gets arrested. I bet he’ll be out of town again by tomorrow night. The police in Virginia and Florida may not get things coordinated by then.”
“Maybe not . . . but the FBI will,” Keith said as they pulled off.
Stephanie frowned. “The FBI?”
“Yeah, while you were going to salons and spas, I wasn’t just sitting on my hands all day. Mike suggested I get in touch with the FBI since it’s an interstate deal now. I used one of my old contacts at the ATF and managed to get a meeting with one of the agents at the FBI’s Miami field office. I explained the situation and how Isaac is wanted in Virginia, South Carolina, and it looked like now he’s running a new con in Miami. The agent didn’t promise me anything but he said he’d look into it.” He glanced at Stephanie as he drove back to their hotel. “Once I saw you running inside, I knew the shit was about to hit the fan. Isaac would get hot feet and run out of town again. I gave the agent a quick call and said we found Isaac. Before the agent hung up the phone, he said he was on his way. I expect him, a few other FBI agents, and maybe some Miami-Dade police to be pulling up to Manny’s villa any minute now.”
“Well done!” Stephanie said, supremely proud of her man. “Why didn’t you tell me you were doing all that stuff behind the scenes?”
“Because I know you! You’d get pissed enough at Isaac that you might blab to him that the FBI was on to him now too.”
“I would not!” she yelled, feigning outrage.
OK, maybe I would, she thought.
“Besides,” Keith said, giving her a side glance, “a man’s allowed to have some secrets.”
A woman is too, Stephanie thought.
That would explain why she hadn’t told Keith that she should have gotten her period a week ago but as of today, she still hadn’t gotten it. She’d let him bask in his victory now and drop that little bombshell later. Besides, maybe she was only late due to all the excitement in the past few weeks.
“So now that Isaac is taken care of and you’re swimming in cash, what do you say we spend a couple of days just enjoying Miami?”
“That sounds wonderful,” she gushed, gazing up at him lovingly.
“First order of business is a bubble bath though.”
“Indeed.”
“Maybe I can wrangle up some candles from room service.”
“We have to stop and get some chocolate syrup too.”
He did a double take. “Chocolate syrup?”
“For before the bubble bath,” she clarified.
“Ahh! Chocolate syrup, it is.”