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“What about the stuff that happens in not so private situations?”
“Aud,” Sin groans.
“Okay, okay, I’ll keep it to myself.” She picks up her club sandwich and takes a bite, chewing slowly before she looks over at Saint. “Can you obtain Jason?”
Whoa topic shift. Tension fills the table, like an electric current.
“After the Valentine party. If I do it before, then he will be missed sooner.”
“Is he going to the party?”
“He was,” Saint admits. “He is on the security team for Valentine.”
“Well, good thing it is a masquerade.” She shrugs.
“You’re not going,” Saint says.
“I’m the thief. How are you stealing a painting without me?”
“We aren’t,” I say.
She pulls back to look up at me. “What do you mean, ‘we aren’t’? That is the whole reason I’m with you guys, is for the painting.”
I know she doesn’t mean it the way it sounds, so I ignore the way she phrases it. “Austin doesn’t want it now.”
Her mouth pops open before she clamps it shut. Still, she can’t fight the words that flow from between her lips. “He went through a hell of a lot to just change his mind at the last minute.”
“I’m on my sister’s side on this one. What would make him change his mind?”
Saint sighs. “He hired Jason Vanross as the man to help with the job. He isn’t willing to put Audrey into that situation.”
“Funny fucking time for him to act like he actually cares what happens to me,” Audrey replies.
“He is head over heels for you. He just doesn’t know how to express his emotions,” I say.
She snorts. “He desires me. He doesn’t love me. Those are not the same thing. And I’m not letting a minor hiccup like Jason stop him from getting what he wants. Because I actually have fallen for him. As stupid as that is.”
“A little hiccup like Jason?” Sin says, repeating her words slowly, like he hadn’t heard them correctly. “Aud, you are not working with Jason to steal a painting. It will get you killed, or worse.”
“I can handle it. If I don’t talk and I wear the mask, he won’t know it’s me.”
Her brother shakes his head, his jaw ticking. “No.”
“No? You can’t tell me no.” Her voice raises, and I glance around at the other people in the diner.
“Maybe not the best place to have an argument,” I caution.
“I can, and I fucking will. You think these three have you locked up? I will physically chain you to the motherfucking wall if you so much as think about going to that party.” His voice rises to match her energy, and he leans across the table.
“She won’t go to the party,” Saint says calmly.
“Yes, I will!” she cries. “I’m getting that painting so he can finally find the happiness he craves.”
“Whoa, guys, maybe take this someplace else?” I say, attempting to draw them all back down to a normal level.
Three sets of eyes pin me with a look that makes me want to sink into my chair. Instead, I straighten my shoulders and return their stares.
“Unless you want the entire city to know about the heist, lower your voices,” I say. “But I still think we made this conversation for the penthouse, not the corner diner.”
