Page 33 of The Love Bandits

When dessert—individual cups of dirt and worms pudding—is cleared away, Mrs. Rosings claps her hands and gets to her feet. Elaine, who was apparently waiting for her summons, returns to the room from who-knows-where. She’s carrying what looks like a custom-made wooden prize wheel. It’s double-sided, so even though Mrs. Rosings is sitting across from me, I can see the different options.

Tag

Charades

Truth or dare?

Duck, duck, goose

Hide and seek

There’s tittering laughter from the other guests, but Mrs. Rosings has a cunning look on her face that makes me feel like we’re the group of people at the beginning of a horror moviein which almost everyone gets slaughtered. Something tells me Elaine Whatever-Her-Last-Name-Is would be the final girl.

“The moment of truth, my friends,” Mrs. Rosings says, glancing at Anthony, whose jaw is so tight he’s probably going to need dental work after this evening. Then she puts a little muscle into her arm and gets the wheel turning. I watch as the wheel slows.

For a moment it looks like thirty adults will be playingduck, duck, goose, but then the stylus clicks over tohide and seek.

A feeling of anticipation fills my gut, especially when I see Anthony give his fiancée a significant look, followed by a slight nod. He’s going to cut the power now, before the slideshow. That means I’m about to make my move.

There’s nowhere to hide in the drawing room. No closets, no human-sized ottomans. Just a table with chairs, pushed to the side for this event, a couch with legs and no fabric concealing the floor beneath it, a few armchairs that equally lack cover, and those display cases, of course.

No one with any sense will try to hide there.

Admittedly, I’m not getting a very sensible vibe from this crew, but I’m pretty desperate to finish my mission and get out of here. It’s a go.

I feel eyes boring into me, and my gaze flicks up from the wheel to Elaine, standing behind Mrs. Rosings. Her friend is gone, probably back in the kitchen.

There’s a scowl on Elaine’s face as she watches me, her eyes that honeyed whiskey color, her lips lush and cherry red. I don’t usually get off on women disliking me, but that look incites something in me. It makes me want to hear her scream my name.

I’ll bet she’s not the kind of woman who loses control often—not because she’s type A but because she’s tough as hell. I’d like to know what made her that way, but like so many of the peoplewhose lives I’ve brushed against but never really touched, she’ll have to stay a mystery. It’s a bittersweet thought I don’t have time to chew on right now…although something tells me it’ll keep me up in the weeks and months to come.

Jobs do that sometimes.

They raise questions that’ll never be answered, make you like people you’re going to have to fuck over. Make you wonder what would have happened if everything were different.

There’s a reason I turned away from this life before Ryan went and pulled me back in.

“Well, how fun,” Mrs. Rosings says with a tight smile. “You’ll have five minutes to hide, and then Anthony and Nina will come find you. The only place that’s off limits to you is Adrien’s old study.”

God bless Mrs. Rosings. I’m guessing she just made all of us want to go in there, myself included, but I won’t be giving in to temptation. I have to follow Anthony down to the basement to make sure he flips all of the breakers—especially the one connected to the drawing room—then I need to hustle up, grab the necklace, and disappear into the night.

Forever.

Roark will let Ryan go, and after this fuckup, I’m ready to move on from what my brother did to me last year. Maybe I can convince him to go legit with me. This whole mess can be left behind in our dust.

The only part of that scenario that disappoints me is that I won’t be able to see the look on Elaine’s face when she discovers I took the necklace.

Something tells me this is the one time a woman won’t get off on being right.

CHAPTER TWELVE

LAINEY

I trail Jake, who’s trailing Anthony, like we’re playing a game of Assassins. Adrenaline pumps through my veins, filling me with its sweet, seductive thrill. With each soft footstep I take, I feel the beat ofsomething is happening.I’ve wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself for my whole life, and this is my chance. I could stop a real crime from happening.

Considering what we overheard earlier, I’m guessing Anthony’s going down there to cut the power, which I already warned Rosie about.

So why is Jake following him? Why isn’t he walking down there with him?

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