Player & the Game (26 page)

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?”