Stolen Heart

chapter 7





Annika was livid. Her pulse was racing and her head was pounding. How dare that son of a bitch threaten Saving Grace? She took a deep breath to calm down. Not working. She took another, and another. Finally, her pulse lowered and she felt some semblance of control returning. She had an important job to do tonight and couldn’t afford to be distracted.

Kieran had been correct. Annika had opened and been operating Itch for the past five years solely with the intent to make money to fund Saving Grace. Annika had never needed wealth or other fineries. She’d grown up with it and what had it gotten her? Nothing but heartache.

Instead, she worked hard and poured all of her profits into Saving Grace. Kieran was correct. Annika took a very small salary from Itch. Enough to rent her apartment—which was indeed crappy--put some food on her table and buy clothing that wasn’t threadbare. The rest of the profits all went to Saving Grace. But it was never enough. With so many charities in New York, Annika couldn’t depend on private donations or federal and state grants. She had to dredge up the money mostly herself. And outside of working at Itch, the only other way she knew to get money for Saving Grace was to steal it.

Yes…that made Annika a very bad person. Immoral most would say. But she could care less. She lived in a world where there were people that were far more immoral than she was. And she truly did try to redeem her actions. She stole from the rich and gave to the abused. A modern day Robin Hood so to speak. Without the goofy tights and hat.

And it wasn’t just any rich person she would steal from. No…Annika’s targets were carefully researched and chosen especially by her. She targeted only those people that deserved to be robbed. That were immoral, just like her.

Her target tonight was Candace Weinburg, a wealthy socialite that lived in a Park Avenue apartment. She had made a career of marrying rich, marrying old and outliving her previous two husbands. On the outside, Candace lived a squeaky clean life. She, herself, was on the boards of many charities and considered quite the philanthropist. Annika knew different.

Before Candace Weingburg became Candace Weinburg, she had been Candace Sanderson. Same life, just a different apartment on Park Avenue. Before she had been Candace Sanderson, she had been Candace Peebles. Candace Peebles was from a tiny town in south New Jersey and had gotten pregnant at the young age of eighteen. She never married the baby’s father but went on to raise him on her own. Some may call that admirable…except for the fact she raised a monster.

Candace’s son was Brian Peebles. He was twenty-nine years old and worked in construction. He was also a raging alcoholic and a wife beater. His bride of three years, Sarah Peebles, was currently living at Saving Grace. She had moved there two months ago after leaving the hospital with a crushed eye socket, broken collarbone and cigarette burns across her breasts. All courtesy of Brian Peebles.

Now, Annika wasn’t necessarily blaming Candace Peebles Sanderson Weinburg for raising a monster. She knew that you could be the best parent possible and produce little monsters. She was blaming Candace for aiding and abetting her monster of a son in almost killing Sarah. For on the night that Brian Peebles went into one of his drunken rages and attacked Sarah, he did so while his mother Candace watched and egged him on.

Brian was convinced Sarah had cheated on him and his mother accepted that as truth too. Now whether Sarah had cheated on Brian was none of Annika’s business. But even if she did, she didn’t deserve what Brian handed out. She certainly didn’t deserve his bitch of a mother egging him on, screaming at Brian to hit her harder.

That alone would be enough for Annika to target her wealth. But it went further. Candace used her considerable funds to bail Brian out of jail and hire him the best shyster of a lawyer available who managed to get all of the charges dropped. That was a bad, bad use of your money, Candace. It put you on my radar.

So Annika’s job tonight was to lighten Candace’s load a tiny bit. It would help to renovate the third floor of Saving Grace and add seven more rooms. It took several weeks to fully research Candace Weinburg. Annika knew everything about the woman, and had been in her apartment on three occasions so far to do reconnaissance. She knew exactly where the woman kept her money and jewels hidden. Tonight she would go in for the last time, take the booty and hand it off to Marcus. Marcus’ job was to fence the items and bring her the cash for Saving Grace…after a five percent cut for himself, of course.

The job shouldn’t take too long. She knew Candace was out for the evening romancing husband number three. She had a tight window to work in but wasn’t worried about it. She almost hoped Candace would walk in on her. She would quickly morph into the scariest street thug she could imagine and give the woman the fright of her life. Annika snickered. If only.

Following the job, Annika had one more pressing matter to handle this evening then she had a new woman she was going to help move into Saving Grace tomorrow. After that was handled, she could concentrate “helping” Kieran to recover The Scepter

Annika had to laugh about one thing. It was funny how she had been chosen by Kieran to help him steal something and she had turned him down. Funny, because stealing was a big part of her life. And he had no clue that he was recruiting a very good thief. He thought he was just getting someone with a fancy magic trick that he would use to suit his purposes. He really was getting quite a bargain.

***

Leaving the nightclub, Kieran had waited outside in the shadows across the street until Annika appeared. It didn’t take long. Whatever she had to do, it wasn’t something that required her to change clothes. She was wearing jeans, a Counting Crows t-shirt and black Doc Martens. She hailed a cab and he was lucky to get one right behind her. His cabbie had no problem with following and before long, they ended up on Park Avenue, where she got out of the cab and started walking.

From there, Kieran followed at an easy distance behind her as she walked north up Park Avenue. Turning left onto 79th street, he watched her duck into the first alleyway. He couldn’t follow her in without being seen, but not five seconds later, a woman emerged.

The woman looked to be mid to late 40’s and was elegantly dressed in a high end cream colored suit with expensive pearls around her throat. Her platinum blond hair was in a tight chignon and she oozed wealth. Kieran knew right away that it was Annika. There was no way a woman of that class would be hanging out in a dark alley.

Kieran watched as Annika, wearing her glamour, walked back to Park Avenue and right up to the the first luxury apartment building that bordered 79th street. She talked briefly to the doorman and entered. What the hell was she doing?

Kieran waited about forty-five minutes and then saw Annika--aka Rich Lady--walk back out, carrying a light brown leather briefcase. She headed straight back for the same alleyway but before she could get there, he spotted a familiar man approach her from the opposite direction. It was Marcus. He watched amazed as they walked right past each other, not even looking the other in the eye. But he didn’t miss the subtle exchange as Annika handed the briefcase off to Marcus and he walked off with it in his hand.

Annika made it back to the alleyway and turned the corner to enter it. She didn’t walk all the way back into the darkness this time. She stood with her back against the brick wall and quickly morphed back into Annika. Then Kieran watched as she slowly faded away into nothingness. F*ck! Annika had left The First Dimension. He looked back down the street to find Marcus. He would follow him to see what was going on, but couldn’t spot him. With no other choice, Kieran hailed a cab. Rather than head back to his hotel, he instructed the cab driver to take him to Itch. He would hang out there awhile and see if Annika returned.

Kieran sat at the bar, nursing a beer. He’d been approached a few minutes ago by the same blonde he had been eyeing the night before. She had approached him from behind, unnoticed and raked her nails along the back of his neck.

“I see you came back, sugar.”

Kieran turned toward her and for a brief moment, didn’t recognize her. But when she pouted her lower lip out, it came back to him. “Indeed I did.”

“Fancy buying me another drink tonight? A vodka gimlet?”

“It would be my pleasure.” Signaling to the bartender, he ordered the drink.

When it arrived, she picked her glass up and clinked it against his beer. “Here’s to a hot, hot evening,” she purred.

There was a time, in the not too distant pass—like just two days ago—Kieran would have jumped all over that offer. But instantly, Annika’s sweetheart face and lavender eyes popped into his mind then he remembered her luscious body moving up and down on him. And he realized—much to his chagrin—that he had no interest in the blonde. And that mere fact had Kieran’s stomach in knots. Annika clearly held nothing but disdain for Kieran and he’d be lucky to walk away from this partnership of thievery with his balls intact. Still, he just couldn’t muster up any interest in the woman standing next to him.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. But I can’t tonight. I already have plans.”

Not willing to give up, she leaned her red slicked lips in toward his ear and whispered, “Are you sure? You’ll never have better than what I’ll give you tonight.”

Nope. Not even a twitch of interest from his boy down below. Interesting…and slightly scary.

“Sorry, love. Not tonight.” Kieran stood from the bar, threw a few bills down for a tip, and walked out of the club. Annika had not returned and he figured the best thing he could do was get a good night’s sleep. For tomorrow night, he was going to follow her again and find out what she was up to.

During the cab ride back to his hotel, Kieran ruminated about what he’d seen tonight. Annika had clearly left the First Dimension. He really didn’t know if she was gone for good, or had just made a quick trip somewhere. She clearly had not transferred. That spell produced an instant disappearance and reappearance to the new location. When you traveled to another dimension, you faded away as your body was slowly pulled into the new dimension. Yes, last night, she had definitely taken a trip out of The First Dimension, but the question is where? And would she come back? He’d find out for sure tomorrow night.