Heist Royale (Thieves’ Gambit #2)

Chapter Eighteen

Eighteen

“Why don’t we find out what Baron’s team is doing, and do it first?” Noelia proposed.

“Déjà vu much?” As if she hadn’t already done that exact same thing in the last Gambit.

Noelia crossed her arms. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Which is exactly why I doubt Devroe’s going to let it happen to him again.” I gave her a thumbs-down. She flicked my hand away.

“Mylo, I thought this was going to be your thing.” I looked back his way. He was sitting crisscross in a chair, with his arms folded over the table, his head nestled inside.

“Ugh…” he groaned. “Look, I can give you card-counting cons all day, but I’ll be real with you. I’ve never walked out with anywhere near twenty million in one night from a con. Not even close. And even if I had, I have a feeling Hart’s isn’t a place where something as simple as card counting’s going to fly. We need something more…” He flailed his hands in the air.

“Original? Dynamic? Clever?” Noelia offered.

“Yeah. All of those.”

I slumped in my bed, feeling like we’d made negative progress in the half hour since Count had logged off.

Mylo ran his hands through his hair, getting even more irritated when he remembered how short it was. “Maybe we should watch some casino heist movies. Get the ideas flowing.”

Noelia looked like she could punch him.

“If you’re gonna waste time with a movie marathon, I recommend Baby Driver .” Mom flew through the med cabin door, instantly examining me. She frowned, eyeing the heating pads I was still under, though they were starting to feel more smothering than necessary. “Oh, baby girl—”

“Fine.” I forced myself to sit up. Noelia snapped toward Mylo and gestured for them to leave.

Mom stopped Noelia before she got out the door, though. “That tablet is from Count?”

Noelia nodded, handing it over. Mom tapped through for a moment before giving it back. “See if you can access anything from the private chat on here. There should still be a link if this tablet was used for that before.”

“Uh, why?” I asked.

“I’m curious about what kind of conversations Baron or Count may be having behind the scenes.”

“I’m not a hacker,” Noelia said.

“Don’t you have a cousin who is? Tell her it’s a favor for me.” Mom flashed a devious smile. Noelia narrowed her eyes before leaving.

“You just know all the Boscherts’ specialties?”

“It’s good to know weak spots. Even better not to have any.” Mom pressed a palm to my forehead. Ironically, I thought she felt cold. I brushed her off. “The med officer said I’m good. I’m not dying or anything.”

“Good. If you did, I would have to kill that boy.”

It wasn’t a joke, how she said it. Fighting a shudder, I stole a look at Devroe’s last message before sliding my phone away. “Mom, did you threaten Devroe’s family?”

Mom scoffed. She turned away, facing the bland gray walls for a second. “What do you think I’ve been doing for six months, sending Diane death threats? I already told you I haven’t talked to that woman in twenty years.”

“That’s not a no.” I pushed off the heating pads and went to stand before she put her hands on my shoulders. I matched her gaze. “Don’t lie to me anymore.”

Mom’s fingers curled into my shoulders. She seemed to be debating with herself. “I haven’t threatened Diane…recently.”

And there it was.

I stood, dragging my fingers down my face. “Okay, now, hold up,” Mom said. “I was serious when I said I hadn’t talked to her in, like, twenty years. But back then, she started following me, I knew she was. I was pregnant, and she was bitter. If she was watching me, what else was she going to do—”

“What did you do?” I asked slowly.

“Nothing!” Mom insisted. She pinched a piece of fuzz off the hospital blanket. “Nothing, really. I only broke into her apartment one night, and I left her a note…in her baby’s crib. I told her if I ever saw her again, she would regret it.”

My stomach turned. “You threatened to kill Devroe…as a baby?”

“Those exact words never left my lips.” Mom examined her nails and swallowed hard. “And I haven’t done anything to her since then, so don’t think I prompted some new drama. Even back then, I was only keeping you safe. There’s nothing more dangerous than a friend turned foe.”

Maybe she didn’t notice it, but Mom was pacing. She traced the walls, picked up my empty cup, tossed it in a sterile trash bin before huffing and turning back to me. Any ounce of regret was gone in under twenty seconds. Horrible as it was, she’d gotten what she wanted. Two decades of peace.

Rhiannon Quest wins again.

“Were you ever really friends?” I whispered, rubbing my arms. How similar were Mom and I, honestly? Even if I wanted to, did I ever have a chance of becoming the heartless victor she was?

Mom burrowed a glare into me I hadn’t seen since I was a little girl and had done something particularly stupid, like trying to run a mile down the beach to meet the nearest neighbors. “Renaissance fairs, midnight movie premieres. Yes, we were ‘real’ friends. I loved Diane, and I loved August too. Don’t ever question that.”

My breath caught at August’s name. August Kenzie. Devroe’s dad? Mom knew him too…and she still let him die.

“Mama, do you love me?”

“You know I do.”

“Okay, but I don’t…” I tried to arrange my thoughts correctly. “What makes me different from how you loved them? Are you going to let me die too one day for the sake of whatever goal you have at the moment?” I rubbed my chest, kneading at a building dread. Diane was already trying to kill me. What if someday it was someone closer to home letting my life slip away?

Mom seemed utterly gobsmacked. “Loving your friends and loving your daughter are not the same. Diane and August were something I loved. You’re everything I love, Rossie.”

What was the difference?

Mom must have read the question in my eyes. “They had each other. I only have you.”

Everything…the only thing?

Underneath her bravado, how lonely was Mom? How…purposeless without me?

She blew out and reached for me, cupping my cheeks in typical Mom fashion. I could sense the pivot coming. “Don’t you see why I know better than anyone not to trust ‘friends’? Even that won’t keep someone from carving your heart out and selling it on the black market when it matters.” Mom’s thumb traced my jaw. “It’s better to learn from someone else’s experience than work it out yourself.”

A lightbulb switched on. Perhaps I was just eager not to delve into all these emotions right now, but I peeled her hands off of me, eyes wide.

I knew what we needed for the next phase.

And to get it, we needed to go to Tokyo.