I swallow hard and pay attention.
Milo leans in closer and speaks in a rush of words. “The talisman will be left with a team of six security guards in a private room in The Underground. The access code will be changed at six p.m. to Napoleon’s birthday. When you enter it, you have six seconds to enter the room.”
“I’m sensing a certain theme,” I whisper, which earns me a glare from both men. Whatever. If we’re gonna be all cloak and dagger, can’t I have a little fun?
“That will only gain you access to the main arena, because it’s impossible for you to take the talisman directly. Your only hope of getting it is for you to impersonate a member.”
He looks over at me, a greedy look in his gaze. I narrow my eyes at him.
I wouldn’t pretend to be your slave if we were the last people on the planet, asshole.
“You knew that, then?”
“I did.”
“It’ll be dangerous. The Lyon family is untrustworthy. Even if you manage to get in–which will be damn near impossible–and even if you manage to get past security, which I can help with, they’ll notice immediately if it goes missing.”
“Understood.”
We keep talking in rapid whispers until we have our plan, when someone knocks on the door.
Fabien opens it.
“Ah, Thayer,” he says when his brother enters. “Just the man I needed to see.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Fabien
We leave just as the bride and groom enter. My mother’s not happy, but when I tell her what’s going on, and that one of Nicolette’s best friends is in trouble, she kisses Nicolette’s cheek and wishes us well.
“Be careful,” she whispers. “And come back, Nicolette, won’t you?” She gets a troubled look, then winks. “He’s more… human when he’s around you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, nothing, sweetheart. Bring her back soon.”
Nicolette looks distracted.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Oh,” she says, when we pile our things haphazardly in the back of a car that will take us to the airport. “Nothing much. Just a grand theft worth hundreds of millions of euros, while my friends are being arrested and someone’s planning an attack, your lecherous cousin’s vivid reminder that I’m nothing but a whore, the allusion to Thayer having women of his own…”
Her voice trails off as she looks out the window.
“And what?” Something tells me she doesn’t want to talk about this.
“Eh, that’s it.”
“Nicolette.” I tug her hair and make her look at me.
“What?” she whispers. Her large eyes look guarded, somehow, as if she’s put a wall between me and her heart. Not that I blame her. She thinks I’m letting her go.
“Lying to me won’t go over well for you.”
I reach for her and bodily drag her onto my lap. Her back is stiff as she looks away.
“What is it, Nicolette? You’re hiding something from me.” When she doesn’t respond, I tighten my grip on her and try another angle. “Partners in crime can’t communicate well with one another if they’re holding things back.”
I feel the sting of hypocrisy prick at my long-forgotten conscience.
He’s more human when he’s around you.
“I don’t really want to… Look, we have a business arrangement. So when I get all disappointed or whatever, I just have to be realistic. You’re paying me a lot to pretend to be your girlfriend.”
The tires roll over a bumpy part in the road. She holds onto me tighter so she doesn’t fall. I grip her harder to me, making sure she’s safe.
I don’t want to push too hard.
I don’t want to scare her away.
But if she’s afraid that she doesn’t want to be separated…
“Yeah. I’m paying you a lot, but that was our arrangement. We have five minutes before we get to the airport. Tell me what’s on your mind.”
“I’m enjoying this,” she says with a smile. “That’s all.”
“Enjoying… what, exactly?”
“Being with you.” She shrugs. “The way you get all protective and stuff. The way you… I don’t know. Just being a couple. I’ve never been a couple with anyone before and I like it, okay?”
“Fair enough. I like being a couple, too,” I tell her. I lean in and whisper in her ear, “We could take the scenic route to the airport. One push of a button…”
“Means we don’t get back in time for Cosette,” she says on a sigh.
“We’ll stick to the plan. But listen, we need to make sure that we don’t lose sight of what we need to focus on here.”
“Which is?”
“You and me, alone, while you earn your fee when we get back to my room tonight.”
“Yes, sir. So what were you on the phone about?”
I arrange my hands around her back so she faces me, and interlock my fingers. “I was arranging for certain items to be delivered to our room upon arrival.”
A wicked glint lights her eye. “Is that so?”
“It is.”
I kiss her cheek. “But there was more. It seems the man who attacked you had friends and enemies. They’re asking questions. I’ve had to call in some favors.”