Page 23 of The Twilight Theft

“Did you not read the brief?” Zaria’s lips tightened, no doubt in response to Jayce’s lack of preparation—she had little patience. “Gideon’s wife is a celebrated artist. They have respective charities in technology and art, so the event will highlight the fusion of both. It’s a perfect opportunity to showcase Tremaine Industries’ newest revolutionary product.”

“Yeah, I read all that.” Jayce’s eyes rose heavenward. “But why? They’ve never held an event like this before, raising funds for both of their charities at the same time. They’ve never held an artistic event for one of his technology announcements before. Why now? What’s different this time?”

Zaria’s tense face loosened. “Constant evolution? New ideas?”

“Maybe?” Jayce shrugged and bounced out of her seat, heading for another bite of food. Not only had they been valid questions, but she made it clear she’d done additional homework. Maybe she was cleverer than she let on. Although she certainly didn’t deliver any of her speech with the smoothness Scarlett would have. “I mean, what are they going to do? A bunch of paintings and sculptures and stuff and then some random data chip sitting on a table? And why put the real one there? Why not just put a decoy and leave it at that? Is Gideon going to give some giant slideshow presentation on everything it does? You don’t need a functional data chip for any of that.”

Zaria began, “I don’t —”

“You’re right.” As much as I hated to say it, it was a conversation we had to have with Gideon. Why take the risk? “All we know is that the banquet room will have four special items on display, including the chip. Jayce, you and I need to get over to the venue to meet with Gideon and Liana to get more details on exactly this.”

Chapter 9

Jayce

“IfeellikeIshouldn’t touch anything.”

“Don’t worry, everything’s firmly attached. You won’t accidentally steal something.” Drew clenched his silly little jaw, gaze flicking from the traffic ahead of us to the rearview mirror and back again. The sleek, black Lexus screamed his name. From the wood trim accents to the elegant lines of the leather interior with saddle stitching, it was—there was no other word for it—clean. Not a speck of dust in the cup holders, nothing on the dash, and not even a fingerprint on the huge display screen.

“How long have you had the car?”

“A year and a half.” He looked at me, or maybe in the side mirror. It was hard to tell from behind his reflective aviators. “What’s going on with Scarlett?”

What kind of question was that? “You have anything to eat in here?”

“Do you not carry your own stash of food?”

“I ate everything already.” Normally, I’d be driving somewhere with Rav or Emmett and they’d stop for me. It wasn’t my fault I’d been extraordinarily hungry the last few days. “Can we get a burger on the way to the venue?”

“Gideon and Liana are expecting us.”

“What about a drive-through? It won’t take long.”

He touched the center console, which flipped open. “I have gum. Are you going to die without something else?”

I did my best to stop them, but my eyeballs rolled all on their own. It wasn’t about surviving; it was about thriving. Didn’t he know anything? I checked the center console. No surprise, there was a shallow sliding tray over an organized cavern underneath. A box of tissues, a perfectly spooled phone charger, hand sanitizer, and the package of gum. “Sugar-free spearmint? Even your gum is the most boring ever.”

He rolled to a stop and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Do you have any filter between your brain and your mouth?”

“Nope,” I said, emphasizing the ‘P’ as I popped a piece of gum out of its blister pack. Scarlett had tried to teach me when I first started working for Reynolds, but that was why she did the talking. Words weren’t my strong suit. Actions were. I pushed off my shoes and crisscrossed my legs. I put the package back in the shallow tray, twisted it one way, then twisted it another. “Is it in exactly the right direction? Or should it be five more degrees clockwise?”

His jaw clenched one more time, but there was almost a hint of a smile. In his line of work, he’d have to win people over. Surely the man knew how to smile. Or maybe it was just me that brought out the Negative Nelly in him?

“I was asking about Scarlett? I couldn’t help but notice Rav’s more protective of her than when we worked together before. At first, I thought he disapproved of her relationship with Malcolm, but he seems content to let her work with him for the gala.”

“I think I’m supposed to apply that filter now.” As much as words regularly tumbled out when they shouldn’t, this information was private. I wasn’t just being courteous or trying to piss him off.

The light ahead of us turned green and he began driving again. “I want to make sure it won’t jeopardize our job for Gideon. I recommended your team because you’re the best, but if something’s going on that would prevent that, I need to know.”

“Some stuff happened a couple of months ago.” Emmett’s kidnapping, Fenix courting Scarlett, and then the double- and triple-crosses in Rome.

We sped down a divided roadway and fell into silence, other than the quiet news channel that droned out of his speakers. Also, so Drew.

I stared out my side, which overlooked the Potomac River, thick with trees on either bank. A trail for walkers and runners followed the river. Tanner and I had walked down there once, the last time we were in Washington together. It’d been late at night, the path illuminated by classical-looking lampposts. Reflections of building lights from the opposite bank had glittered across the water. We’d talked about our dreams, worked through a mental block I was having with one of my routines, and chatted about what we were going to do once we’d each won at the Olympics.

My mother had been so upset because we were out past curfew. Back when she cared.

I closed my eyes, fighting the memories lodged in my throat.

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