To Have and to Heist(78)
Twenty-Two
Despite the fact that I was running on only a few hours’ sleep, the wedding rehearsal at the Angelinis’ mansion went as smoothly as a wedding rehearsal could go when the bride was being forced into marriage with a cruel and sinister groom who happened to be the son of a New York crime boss. Beefy bodyguards wearing menacing scowls and ill-fitting suits wandered around pretending they weren’t packing some serious firepower and just itching to stick someone’s head in a vice or grab an ice pick and skewer a couple of eyeballs. I dealt with a bridesmaid and groomsman who kept sneaking off to practice their “horizontal tango,” a flower girl who threw a tantrum every five minutes, a priest who kept falling asleep, a crying bride, a glaring groom, unfriendly Rottweilers, overly friendly “uncles,” warm champagne, cold pasta, and a swarm of bees—real ones, not drones. It was pretty tame compared to the drama of a South Asian wedding rehearsal, so I chalked it up as a win before giving the wedding party directions to the post-rehearsal dinner in Chicago’s city center.
After that, everything went according to plan. Bella was fine with us leaving the van parked out front. Emma picked us up in the limo and drove around for forty minutes, then we all hid on the floor when she returned to the house to pick up Bella and her family for the rehearsal dinner.
“I’m half an hour early,” Emma said, leaning over the seat. “I’ve parked three feet from the van in the camera blind spot. The guards are shooting the shit on the steps. I’ll let you know as soon as they’re gone, and you can make the switch.”
It seemed to me, squeezed between Gage and Anil on the limo floor, that this part of the heist could have used a little more thought.
“What’s that lump?” I arched my back, trying to put some distance between Anil’s hips and my ass.
“Ski masks,” Anil said, leaving me both disappointed and relieved at once. “I brought one for each of us. I also brought surgical gloves, so we don’t leave fingerprints.”
“The gloves are a good idea, but Chloe will be shutting off the cameras. We don’t need ski masks.”
“It’s better to take precautions,” he said. “What if Chloe’s hack fails? What if they have a secret battery-operated camera in the room? What if the security guards get past Gage and find—”
“Not going to happen.” Gage rolled to his back and pulled out his gun. “No one is getting past me.”
“What part of ‘this is a no-weapon heist’ did you not understand?” I asked him.
“The part where we got shot at on the lake.” He holstered his gun. “If it makes you feel better, it’s for self-defense.”
“As opposed to what?” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm from my tone. “Cold-blooded murder?”
“I vote ‘yes’ for ski masks,” Jack said. He was stretched out on the seat above me. I didn’t trust myself anywhere near him. Just the sight of his handsome face made my blood boil. Between work and finalizing all the details for the wedding on Saturday, I hadn’t had time for anyone over the last four days, and especially not the man who had abandoned me and then didn’t even have the decency to call.
“Tell that person beside you no one cares what he thinks,” I told Chloe.
She cut her gaze to Jack. “Simi doesn’t care what you think.”
“Ask him who were the two men in hotel uniforms who broke into my apartment and threatened me with a gun while he hid in the bathroom like the pathetic coward he is.”
“Simi wants to know—”
“I heard her,” Jack said, his voice laced with amusement. “They were after the necklace, which means we can’t fail today.”
“Tell him the only reason he’s alive right now is because we need him to open the safe, but the minute we’ve got the necklace, all bets are off,” I said. “And tell him he’ll have to beg for my forgiveness and do a lot of groveling because he didn’t even bother to contact me to see if I was okay.”
Chloe leaned over the seat. “Simi says—”
“I heard her.” Jack sighed. “I had to get out of town and couldn’t risk any communication.”
“Christ,” Gage muttered. “Are we going to have to deal with your lovers’ squabble for the entire heist?”
“We aren’t lovers,” I spat out. “We aren’t friends. We’re temporary coworkers. As soon as this is done, I hope never to see him again.”
“But first he’s going to pay,” Chloe said. “I bought zip ties, a bucket, a hunting knife, pliers, bleach, and a mop this morning. No one hurts my girl—emotionally or physically—and gets away with it.”
“Bleach?” Gage pushed himself up on one elbow, his forehead creased in a frown.
“It’s multipurpose,” Chloe said. “It can clean, sanitize, take out stains, blind you, and it’s toxic if consumed.”
“You two scare me.” Gage lay down again. “Remind me never to piss you off.”
“You won’t need a reminder,” I said. “You can remember the sound of Jack’s screams and see his shriveled corpse before I bury him in a shallow grave.” I looked over at Chloe. “We’ll need a shovel.”
“I decided to get Prime since we’re going to be rich,” she said. “We’ll have it tomorrow.”