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We did it. Fuck,shedid it.
“You would’ve managed,” I say thickly.
“Seatbelt,” Oliver says, and I don’t realize he’s speaking to me until he reaches across my body and buckles me in.
“What happened?” Elliot asks as he pulls out of our parking spot and heads for home. He’ll have to turn around in a minute, but just in case we’re being watched or followed, we have to proceed like normal.
As Wren explains everything that went down, I close my eyes and focus on my breathing. Oliver’s fingers brush against mine on the seat. It’s a question—one he’s asked many times without uttering a single word.
Shakily, I intertwine my fingers with Oliver’s. His thumb rubs over my skin, and I let the touch ground me.
After a minute, Elliot turns us around so we’re heading toward our true destination. Last year, we bought a house closer to Ludo’s home. We weren’t sure if we’d ever need it, but it’s proving useful tonight.
When she’s ready to sneak out, Aubrey will give us the signal, but it’ll be hours from now. It’s only nine thirty, and Ludo doesn’t go to bed until after midnight.
“Aubrey said she’ll hang a red scarf from her balcony when she’s ready,” Wren says.
“We’ll have to move quickly from there.” Elliot’s fingers tap against the steering wheel. “Are we all good to stick with our current plan?”
“Oh, definitely,” Oliver says, and it may be dark, but I can hear the smile in his voice.
It’s not long before we’re pulling into the garage that’s attached to the house. The two cars we’ll use tonight are already here. One is Finn’s and the other is ours, but neither of them can be traced back to us. If one of Ludo’s men catches a license plate number, it won’t do them much good in finding us.
We pile out of the SUV and into the house. It’s not as large or extravagant as home, but it’s still nice. There isn’t much furniture-wise since we’re rarely here, but there’s a dining room table, a couch or two, and a couple beds upstairs.
After rummaging through her bag, Wren pulls out the hard drive and the safe cracker. “You want this now?”
“Yes.” Elliot takes the drive and sits at the table. He brought his laptop over the other day so he could start working on cracking the password tonight. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to break into a device like this, so we already have access to the software to help us.
“I’m gonna shower,” Wren says. “Can someone help me with my dress?”
“Of course,” I reply.
We leave Elliot and Oliver in the kitchen. Upstairs, Wren enters the first bathroom she finds and turns on the shower. With a sigh, she faces the mirror and leans against the counter.
“You still doing okay?” I settle my hands on her hips and catch her gaze in the mirror. She looks exhausted.
“I keep replaying everything in my head,” she says quietly. “Part of me wonders if I should’ve let myself get caught and just pretended that I got lost. Heading to the other side of the mansion was reckless. And running into Ludo like that was terrifying. If it hadn’t been for his ego, we’d all be . . .” She grimaces.
I’m grateful she doesn’t finish that sentence. With a kiss to the top of her hair, I murmur, “I used to do that, too.”
“Do what?”
“Run through a job we’d just finished and think about everything that could’ve gone wrong. I still catch myself doing it every once in a while. It doesn’t do any good, though.”
Silently, Wren nods. Her gaze falls to the counter in front of her.
“Hey.” I wait until she’s looking at me again to continue. “What matters is that you did it. You made a split-second decision, and it ended up working out just fine. We have the hard drive now—because ofyou.”
She spins around so she’s facing me. “And because of you. If you hadn’t been there to catch me, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
I shake my head. “You would’ve managed. Ludo is confident in his perception of you. Even on that side of the mansion, I’m sure you could’ve lied your way out of it. Otherwise, Ludo would’ve had to admit he was wrong about you—and he hates admitting he’s wrong.”
At that, a smile forms on her features, even though it’s faint. “To his detriment.”
I kiss her lightly. “And to our benefit.”
With a tired smile, she turns around, and I unzip her dress. It falls to the floor, and I take in Wren’s mostly naked body.
