A loud cry escapes my throat, and Tony pulls me in close.
“I’m sorry, Nikki. You have no idea how much I wish I had done things differently. And I look forward to slowly earning a small place in your life.” He releases a humorless laugh. “But I gotta say, the fact that you, rather than one of a multitude of people working this case for decades, gave us the breadcrumbs to nail the guy for life… now that’s some poetic justice.”
I quiet my sobs long enough to take my phone back. “So what was the evidence that got him arrested?”
“After we allocated more team members to comb through Ace Enterprises, we started looking for his fake Instagram account and found it. Our hackers were able to pin down the geolocations of where the photos were taken. Then we compared the dates large amounts of money were moved around to various countries over at Ace, to the dates and locations of his Instagram photos, almost like a travel diary. A lot of it seemed circumstantial at first, but then the idiot took a picture of a champagne bottle with the Sydney Opera House in the background. In the photo, we could clearly see his tattoo and documents on the table. Documents that, with some FBI technology, we pulled account numbers from. Hook, line, and sinker.”
Tony chuckles next to me. “Al Capone was taken out by the IRS. Adriano Bartoli was taken down by Instagram. Unbelievable.”
I smile. “Why Australia? I noticed that all his staff members were from different countries, and it always struck me as odd that hardly any Dominicans worked at the resort.”
“We’ve got a few working theories. He probably knew his reign was coming to an end, and he created the Barlowe as his sanctuary, since the Dominican Republic is a nonextradition country. I think he was embezzling money from all over the world and used visa sponsoring as a front to try to pay people on the inside in case he ever needed falsified documents to escape to a different country.”
“Oh God, this is all so crazy,” I say.
“Yeah, but we did it. We got him.” He sighs. “Hey, if you ever want to put your psychology background to use at the FBI, just let me know. I’m sure I can put in a good word after today.” He chuckles.
I laugh. “Thanks, Dad. As much as I would love to live out myCriminal Mindsdreams, the survival skills I acquired as a woman in the twenty-first century are what broke the case, not any diagnosable disorders. I think I’ll stick to what I got going on.” I smile.
“Okay, kiddo. You got it. I’ll let you go. I got more work to do on my end.”
I nod to myself, ready to say goodbye, until a thought comes rushing to the forefront of my brain. “Dad, wait. Now that this is over, can you please tell me your last name?”
I feel Tony tense next to me as I hold my breath.
I’ve waited my whole life to know my real last name. Spent decades hating the constant references made toDie Hard. Or people teasing me that Bruce Willis was my dad.
I hear my dad groan, and then he says the name I’ve been holding out for my entire life. “Smith. My last name is Smith, sweetheart.”
Tony’s chest starts to vibrate.
It takes me half a second to put it together.
“John Smith. Your name is John Smith? Are you fucking kidding me?”
Tony’s laugh finally bursts out of him, and he covers his mouth with his large hands.
“Yeah,” my dad says, sounding sheepish. “I never claimed to be clever. I probably didn’t need a fake name, did I?”
“The two most common names in the world? And yet you come up with McClane?” I shout, dumbfounded.
Tony grabs the phone from my hand. “Congrats again… Mr. Smith.” He chuckles. “We’ll let you get back to work.” He ends the call and drops the phone onto his nightstand. He pulls me onto his lap so I’m straddling him and kisses my head.
“Can you believe that? Nikki Smith.” I shake my head.
Tony cradles my head in one hand and lifts my chin with the other. His eyes bore into mine for a moment before he speaks. “One of these days”—he kisses me softly—“your last name will match mine. And you’ll never have to second-guess who you are or who you belong to.” He kisses me again, awakening a blazing desire in me.
I pull back to catch my breath, then smirk. “Oh yeah? If I take your last name, what will you take from me?” I jut my chin in his direction.
His eyes devour me whole as I feel him hardening beneath me.
“Everything.”
48
Nikki
We spentthe morning tangled beneath the sheets, only making it out of the bedroom by noon. Which gave me more than enough time to carry out my Valentine’s Day plans.
