Page 185 of If You Give an Artist a Killer Muse

Oh, right. I need to focus on what’s important right now, though, which was hard for me initially because I sometimes kept forgetting the link between the senator and Rurik.

“You guys are the usual masterminds,” I shrug. “I’ll do whatever you guys think is right. All I ask is you leave Philip Greene to me.”

“Okay, the senator will be a guest speaker in this charity event this weekend,” Nat says, pulling up her laptop to show us the pamphlet for the event.

For a brief moment, a cold sensation washes over me before anger bubbles up from within.

The event is to honor and support overseas workers from third-world countries. To thank them for their hard work and to raise money to help a few lucky workers send them home for a well-deserved vacation break.

It’s such a generous event, and I had no idea it existed.

But the fact that Philip Greene is a fucking guest speaker?

Him?

My mind immediately flashes Amaura’s face.

Despite it being so many years ago, I can still hear her screams and the way it suddenly stopped. I didn’t understand what was happening then because I was only a child. But that type of shit stuck with me growing up.

I once tried to talk to a therapist recommended by Mr. Rogers about that. She said something about childhood trauma and all that, but I stopped going.

“How ironic,” I mutter after reading the event’s information. “So what, we go to this event and just take him?”

“Well, we have to be smart about it,” Oscar says. “We have to take his safety measures out first.”

“Like the guards.”

“Yeah. All of them. I’m sure there will be some hiding in the crowd pretending to be guests. There’s probably going to be some on standby all spread around.”

“How will we find them all and take them individually?” I ask, frowning. “I don’t doubt our skills, but it sounds like this is going to be a very busy event, and we can’t exactly do what we want and expect no witnesses.”

“Right,” Oscar nods. “I have someone on the inside. Mike. He will be assigned to be part of his bodyguard team with the senator. There will be three more men the senator will hire, and we’ll focus on taking them down first.”

“Dad will have his team spread around, too,” Nat assures me. “We’ll have everything covered, don’t worry.”

“It just seems too easy,” I say.

Oscar nods, “Yeah, but anything can happen, right? We’ll be fine. Mr. Rogers will be with us. We’ll wear the earpieces he gave us, and we’ll be able to hear and communicate that way.”

I may still look skeptical because Nat adds, “We’re going to stick together.”

“If shit hits the fan, we stop, okay?” Oscar says. “Like if we lose contact with any of our men, we stop. We don’t continue.”

“Okay, yeah.” I sigh before nodding. “We got this. We stick to the plan, listen to each other, always communicate, and stop when things get suspicious.”

Nat and Oscar grin.

They’re confident, so why shouldn’t I be?

*-*-*-*

“How are you feeling, little one?”

I open my eyes and glance over at Mr. Rogers sitting beside me. Shit, I must have been so tired because I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep leaning against their armchair.

“Uh, good.” My voice sounds hoarse from my nap. I clear my throat as I sit up. “I’m fine. How are you?”

He smirks. “Good. How are you feeling about what we’re going to do tomorrow?”

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