Page 129 of Cozen

Cozen tipped her head back, and stared at the clear sky overhead. Fluffy white clouds danced in the sea of blue. All in all, it was a beautiful day. She wished that helped with the way she felt.

Nothing helped lately.

She was too close.

Almost done.

Then she would be better.

She would be perfect.

“By the way, how’s your g—”

“I’ll call you when I get back to California to let you know how it went,” Cozen interjected. “Thanks for everything, Tye.”

She hung up the phone, and shoved it back into her pocket. Silently, she added, if I even make it back to California alive, that is.

Cozen figured Tye wouldn’t have appreciated that little tidbit. Although, she did feel slightly better to—once again—get confirmation from the man who had built and installed the program for electronic safe cracking into her phone that it should work.

As long as the safe was standard—the quick look she had gotten of Jett’s said it was—it should get the code, and open it for her. Without alarming any security systems attached to it, and it should do it within three to four minutes.

Cozen just needed to get at the safe in the office, and make sure she had the time to spare to get inside it. Nothing more, and nothing less.

And of course, these were all still maybes. Maybes because what if she got that safe open, and the ring wasn’t there? Who was to say Jett didn’t have the ring stored in a lockbox somewhere across the city?

Christ.

She kept her back against the cool brick—being it was the first of June, it felt like it was the only thing around her that was cool. Even the air was muggy, and hot. The black uniform The Kingdom required her to wear was constantly sticking to her skin.

Seemed like New York was going to have a heat wave this year. She couldn’t be more grateful that within a week, she would be gone from the city.

Gone from the smell of pollution, and the over packed streets. Back to her small house on the beach, and sleeping in her bed instead of a nest of pillows and blankets. Soon, she would be home again.

That was, if the Astors didn’t kill her first.

Think good thoughts. Think only good thoughts.

Even her mantra felt like it was patronizing her lately. It was times like now when she couldn’t help but think that maybe the life of a thief just wasn’t meant for her. Maybe she wasn’t as good at her chosen trade as she assumed, never mind what others whispered about her.

She knew those thoughts were garbage.

Self-doubt creeping in.

Anxiety working through.

She could do this—she would do this.

She didn’t give a fuck if she had to blow a wall out of the man’s house to get it done—she would do it.

Somehow.

“Zen!”

Cozen blinked out of her daze, and found the manager leaning out the back door. It seemed like her fifteen minute break was up, apparently.

Joy.

“What?” she asked.