“I’d pay three times its replacement cost to do it again.” Marcus pulled his wallet out, grabbed some cash, and crammed it into the bear’s hand. “Let me know if that doesn’t cover it.” And then he smiled at her.
Holy freaking hotness. Maybe she should let him handle things more often. He was so getting laid for this. Xio couldn’t hold back. She jumped up and ran into his arms, lacing her fingers in his hair and pulling him down for a kiss. “I need you. Right. Now.”
Gee cleared his throat behind them. “After you finish the dishes and someone helps me clean up this mess.”
***
Marcus stared at the numbers on the laptop Xio had spun around for him to see. He tapped his foot under the table and he shoved a hand in his hair. “Good Lord. You stole all this?”
“No, I invested wisely.”
“Unfortunately, because it was used in a crime, all of it will be going away. I have an old friend who owes me a favor—a hacker who ensured me it can be sent out to my old field office by wire. Anonymously. They won’t know where it came from, only that it’s drug money from someone who developed a conscience and decided to come clean. Nobody will be able to track it. He’s the best.”
“That’s forty million dollars. Not all of it came from crime. Diego gave me money for stuff and I invested it instead. I sold businesses. I—”
“Used drug money to get the ball rolling. We need to start over, fresh, and we can’t do it with this monkey on our back. I’ll leave the decision to you, but I want you to know how I feel. That’s blood money. It doesn’t matter how much of it came from investments, the source all leads back to the past and a place we don’t want to go anymore. You are no longer a bank robber. You made your money once. You can do it again—the honest way. I know you can. Let it go. For me.”
Xio sighed. “Fine. I guess you’re right. I made a lot of money before. I can do it again with money I earned honestly. But I want to go on the record that this sucks.” She nodded at the laptop. “Those are all the account numbers. Everything.” It was a good thing Marcus had made friends with a few criminals over the years, or she might not have a way to get it into federal hands without ending up in prison.
After he’d rescued her, she’d decided she needed to tell him everything. She just hadn’t realized that meant she’d have to give it all up. But as usual, he was right. It was all linked to crime one way or another, and she no longer wanted anything to do with living that life. She’d keep no more secrets from him.
Starting with breaking the news about the twins.
Here? In the bar? Her internal wolf paced. Nervous. What if he wasn’t ready for a family? He’d mated with a felon and saved her life from some very nasty men. That would make the best of men change their minds about settling down.
What? I should wait? Like that’s ever worked in my favor.
Some of the medication she’d taken to treat her injuries after the explosion had caused her birth control to fail. Since the pill smelled a lot like pregnancy to a wolf, Xio was fairly certain Marcus didn’t have a clue. Not something she’d wanted, but over the last few weeks, the idea had grown on her. She could do this wife-and-mother thing. After all, how hard could it really be?
Things would be different. Her children were going to know about their heritage, and they’d have parents who cared when they screwed up, made sure they learned right from wrong.
And there were two. After Diego had taken her down to the floor in The Den, she’d been sent to the hospital to make sure she didn’t have any injuries, and they discovered not only was she pregnant, but she carried twins. At first, she’d freaked. How would she handle this? She didn’t know anything about kids. Then she realized her children had a chance at a life she could have only dreamed of growing up. Speaking of which—time to learn about her family, so she had something to pass on.
Xio glanced over at Gee, who polished glasses at the bar. She’d been practicing really hard the last two months. “Hey, Gee. You want to tell me a story?”
“You ready to listen to the way I need to tell it?”
She smiled and grabbed Marcus’s hand, giving it a squeeze. She wasn’t the only one who’d been learning to speak Chinese—Marcus had learned right along with her, and between the two of them, they were quite a fluent duo. “Yes, we are. Need to have some stories to tell the kids.”
Marcus’s mouth dropped open. “We’re having a baby? I mean, I thought I smelled something off with you, and you’ve been really moody, but I thought maybe you were just adjusting to being mated.”
“Moody?” Xio growled.
“Never mind. So, a baby.”
Xio smiled and raised two fingers as Gee came over, handed him a beer, and clapped him on the back. “Congratulations.”