Jack’s gaze swept the room. “There’re not my friends.”
“Except for Chloe, they’re not my friends, either,” I retorted. “They’re just people I know.”
Emma jumped on a chair, trying to catch the drone. Chloe had found Rose’s costume rack and was trying on an enormous feather hat. I couldn’t see Chef Pierre and Rose, but there were strange noises coming from the wardrobe at the back of the garage.
“Do you know anyone else?” he asked.
I didn’t understand why he was putting it all on me when he was the one with experience. “How can I be in charge if this is my first heist?”
“First heist?” Emma gave a fruitless swat at the buzzing drone. “What about the museum? Are you saying you’re a novice?” She trailed off when the door opened. I didn’t know who I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t my dad’s junior tailor Cristian.
He was wearing cargo pants and Nike slides, a green Save the Trees T-shirt, and a Bears cap turned backward. He caught my gaze and shot me a flash of whitened teeth. “Looks like I got here just in time.”
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
“This is your fault,” I pushed Jack up against the fence in Rose’s backyard, where Chloe, Gage, Jack, and I had convened to discuss Cristian’s attempt to blackmail us into letting him join the heist.
“My fault?” He gave an indignant sniff. “He’s your dad’s employee.”
“If you hadn’t come to the store in the first place looking how you look and acting how you act, Cristian wouldn’t have felt compelled to hide in the fitting room and listen to our conversation,” I retorted. “He’s insecure and he’s been trying to sleep with me since he started working at the store. You showing up looking all gorgeous and being flirty made you into a threat.”
“I get the impression Cristian spends a lot of time hiding in fitting rooms listening to conversations.” Jack’s lips pressed tightly together. “More concerning is the fact you didn’t notice he was sitting in the banquette behind you at the Black Dog.”
“It was dark, and he was behind me. You should have seen him.”
“I was looking at you.”
We stared at each other, chests heaving, tension shimmering in the air between us.
“It doesn’t matter how he got here,” Chloe said. “He knows about the heist, and he’s threatened to tell Simi’s family about it. We’re going to have to include him.”
“I refuse to be blackmailed.” My hands found my hips. “Let him tell my family. They saw me dragged out of the house in handcuffs and they still think they can find me a husband.”
“He won’t stop at your family,” Gage said. “I know his type. He’s a wild card. Better to have him here, where we can keep an eye on him, than out there making trouble. Does he have any useful skills?”
“Other than preening in front of mirrors and seducing women?” I was positively seething. “Clearly, he’s good at spying, hiding, and blackmail. He’s also not burdened by scruples, morals, laws, or common decency, so anything goes. I can’t imagine what he could contribute.”
Jack shared a look with Gage. “I can.”
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
?“Cristian will be our inside man,” I told the crew as I fought back an overwhelming desire to punch Cristian in his beautiful face. “He’s resourceful and very good with people. His job will be to form a connection with someone in the mansion so he can get inside and feed us information.”
“I’ll bet he’s good with people,” Emma muttered. “So long as the people have boobs, money, and utterly no taste.”
“You remind me of someone I really cared about.” Cristian gave her a smooth, guileless smile that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. “We should hang out. I’ve always enjoyed spending time with older women. You could teach me how to knit.”
Emma’s face turned three shades of fury. “Give me a pair of knitting needles and I’ll shove them up your—”
“We’re all here to help Chloe get out of a terrible jam and collect the reward.” I positioned myself between them, cutting off Emma’s line of sight. “It’s best if we try to get along.”
Anil raised his hand.
“Yes, Anil?”
“No offense to Chloe but I’m just here for the money and I want to know how many people will be sharing the reward.”
“Rose is taking a nonmonetary supporting role for now,” I said. “She’ll only become part of the heist if we need her services as a grease woman. So that leaves seven of us.”
“Six,” Jack said. “I’m on salary.”
“So that would be $833,333.33 each.” Anil’s face lit up. “That’s enough to get a place of my own far, far away from my parents and start training to be an MMA star.”
“You?” Emma snorted a laugh. “In an MMA ring? You’ll be creamed more than those puffs on the table.”
“Don’t be unkind,” Chloe said. “I’m sure everyone in this room has a dream about what they’ll do with the money.”
I sensed the room descending into chaos again, so I turned the floor over to Jack.
“The necklace we are after is called the Wild Heart,” Jack said. “It last sold at auction in November 2015 for $25 million. It features twenty-six oval-shaped flawless pink diamonds and a forty-carat heart-shaped pink diamond. Each diamond is enhanced by a cluster of oval-shaped green marquise emeralds supposedly crafted to resemble the leaves of the phalaenopsis orchid, but which in fact are more like dendrobiums that produce leaves that are opposite one another. The diamonds and emeralds are strategically placed to create a floral effect that makes the necklace resemble a lei of Orchidaceae. The gems are set in eighteen-carat white gold and precious platinum.”
“He likes plants,” I explained when I saw a few blank stares. “We met in the hellebore.”
“It wasn’t as romantic as it sounds,” Jack said. “She trampled it underfoot like a herd of elephants. I had to go back the next night to repair the damage.”
“I wasn’t trying to make it sound romantic.” I heaved a sigh. “I was explaining how I knew that you liked plants.”
“They probably understood when you said, ‘He likes plants.’？” Jack’s gaze drifted to Cristian. “At least some of them.”
“Can we have nicknames?” Anil asked. “We would call Jack ‘Plant Man’ and I’ll be ‘The Butcher.’？”
“The Butcher?” Chloe asked me, keeping her voice low. “I thought he was an engineer.”
“It’s his dream MMA ring name. Self-styled. He said it was ironic.”
“What butchering are you going to do wiggling your plastic joy sticks and flying your annoying drones into people’s hair?” Emma said. “We should call you Buzz.”
“I don’t want to be Buzz.” Anil folded his arms across his chest. “Don’t call me Buzz.”
“It’s not like you could stop me.” She flexed an arm, showing off her inked biceps. I made a mental note to hit the weight area of the gym the next time I was there.