Read Scandal Exposed (The Lust List: Kaidan Stone #4) for Free Online

account. I wanted to pay them back… but that condition in the will made it impossible.”
    Kaidan’s eyes are wide, disbelieving. “So you stole the diamond? You never mentioned any of this. If it’s true, why didn’t you just go to the police?”
    “They told me they have cop friends and would know if I did. And they threatened to hurt Rowan if I didn’t do what they wanted.”
    Kaidan steps closer, until he’s mere inches from me. I feel Rowan stiffen beside me, ready to intervene.
    Kaidan searches my face. “Why didn’t you just tell me? If this is true… why? Why steal from me? And when? Was it that last night…?”
    He looks so betrayed, I want to hug him, but he must hate me so much right now. “Yes. It was. I wasn’t planning on taking it, but they had Rowan. They were going to kill him! I didn’t know what else to do. And I was going to tell you, but then the FBI showed up, and I never got the chance. And I was afraid that when I told you, you’d think I only got close to you to get the diamond.”
    “And did you?” he asks, his voice rough.
    “Maybe… maybe at first. But—”
    Kaidan holds a hand up and turns to go. “I can’t listen to any more of this.”
    I reach out and grab his sleeve, and he hesitates. “I thought I had more time! James said he was working on removing the one condition, but clearly he was just stealing all my money. I took the diamond to the law office, hoping I could get some of my inheritance… but then I found out the money was gone. I did the only thing I could to get them to free Rowan. I gave them the diamond as collateral to buy us some time.”
    Kaidan pushes my hand off his sleeve in disgust. He doesn’t believe me. He thinks I’m full of shit. He heads toward the door, and I hurry over to my phone. “I have proof.” I shove the phone in Kaidan’s hands. “Look.”
    He flips through the pictures—pictures of Rowan’s destroyed apartment, of Rowan, beaten up, kidnapped. His brows go up, and he looks at Rowan as if comparing his bruised face to what I’m showing him.
    Kaidan looks back at me, hurt in his eyes. “How am I supposed to trust you? This could just be part of your scam.”
    I wish to God I could escape the way he’s looking at me right now. Like I’m shit on the bottom of his shoe.
    Rowan steps forward. “I know where their operation is based out of. We’ve been there. This isn’t a scam. Hayley was going to turn herself over to the cops a few days ago… I didn’t want her to. We were gonna try to get the diamond back. She just did what she thought she had to do. To save me . If you wanna go to the police, you better tell them I stole that diamond.”
    Kaidan rubs his forehead and walks away from us both and over to the couch. He sinks down on it, head in his hands. I go and sit in the chair across from him, too scared to sit beside him. The way he looked at me just now… I’ll never be able to erase it from my mind. Or my heart.
    He hates me. But I hate myself more.
    Rowan gives me a look, and I gesture for him to leave. He pauses but then heads back to the guest room to give Kaidan and me a minute alone.
    When Kaidan finally raises his head, his expression is hard. There’s no feeling in his eyes. He’s cold. Distant. But I know now that he’s just hiding all his pain. Pain I caused.
    “We’re taking care of this,” Kaidan says firmly. “Now. I can’t deal with any more scandal.”
    I nod. “I’ll do anything you want.”
    “Good. Get Rowan back out here.” Kaidan clenches his jaw and looks through me, like I’m not even there. Like he can’t bear to look at me. “We have some plans to make.”

It’s Tuesday morning, and our plan is in place. There’re so many ways for this to go wrong, I can barely count them all.
    I’m sitting in my Mercedes in the seedy part of town where I came to get Rowan, but it’s not at their base of operations. Luis asked me to wait for him several streets away. There’s a rare storm