Page 75 of The San Marco Heist

I knelt beside her, surveying the damage. Blood had soaked into her skirt and stained her hands.

“I’m a nurse.” A woman joined me and put a gentle hand on Scarlett’s shoulder. How she maintained that calm with the drowned car, the alarms going off everywhere, and the screams, I didn’t know. Maybe she was a combat medic? “Can I check your legs?”

Scarlett nodded and took my hand. She gave one quick squeeze to get my attention and flicked her eyes to the stairwell, then the pool. We needed to get out, not spend the evening being treated.

“Can I take her to the hospital?”

The nurse lifted Scarlett’s dress to her knees, nodding as she did. “It’s mostly scratches, but it looks like a few pieces are lodged in her shin.”

“Everyone out!” yelled a man from the direction of the pool. It was one of the security guards. “The house is being evacuated. Medical attention is on its way!”

Scarlett grimaced as the woman prodded at her injuries. “I can walk. See if anyone else needs help.”

The nurse leaned forward to look Scarlett straight in the eyes. One pupil, then the other, and she turned to me. “Help her get outside and be sure she doesn’t leave until a paramedic looks at her.”

“I will. Thank you.” I took one of Scarlett’s arms and draped it around my shoulders, then slid my arms under her.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re hurt.” I stood slowly, attempting not to jostle her as I picked her up. “I’m getting you outside.”

She pulled closer and spoke directly into my ear, as though anyone could hear her talk over the continuing alarms. “You’re getting me to the Plan F rendezvous point.”

Plan F? She was bleeding and all she was thinking about was Plan F? That was the one where she and I got caught and needed to run from the backyard. Hug the eastern wall, where Jayce and Declan would be descending, slip between the tennis court and the trees. Pickup by Rav at the neighbor’s house instead of at the Albrechts’ front door.

“Fine.” I walked carefully over the uneven glass covering the floor, said a silent good-bye to the beautiful car, and followed the chaotic foot traffic to the central staircase.

Chapter 29

Scarlett

Painscreamedupanddown my leg.

Smashing my clutch into the glass covering the display case was a smart plan. I’d be flung back from the car, my hands would fly up in the air out of control, and I’d break the glass. Simple. Grab the ring. Also simple.

But Malcolm had collided with me and my simple grab had turned into a mad flail. I’d knocked everything out before I’d fallen. By some miracle, when I opened my eyes, the ring was right in front of me. Malcolm decking Thomas Maguire gave me the perfect opportunity to palm the ring while everyone was even more distracted.

No matter how many plans we’d made for the wedding, none of them had panned out. The only thing which had worked was Malcolm’s quick thinking about the car. He was good. Clever.

And he’d punched out the guy who’d touched me. Obviously not the first few times he’d wanted to, but at the exact right moment, he found an opening and took it.

I wasn’t as fast on my feet as he was. Rav and Emmett were better at that—Noah had been the best though.

Malcolm had done everything right tonight, and I’d pretty much failed at everything.

No, not everything. I had the ring tucked away in a special hidden compartment in the neckline of my dress.

But I wasn’t leaving under my own power. I hadn’t heard anything from Jayce or Declan since Brie gave them the warning to get out of the safe room. And I was being carried out of the house by the most infuriatingly sexy man I’d ever met. “Status update, everyone?”

The alarms surrounded us, blaring from the basement, the main floor, and upstairs.

“I tripped all the alarms I could find,” Brie said. “I haven’t seen Hugo Albrecht on any of the feeds yet, so he’s probably in the safe room. I saw Camilla heading there a few minutes later, so they’re probably locked away in safety.”

Malcolm crested the landing of the central staircase. Instead of heading for the back door, per our plan, he followed the crowds being herded out the front doors by the security personnel. “Any updates?”

“I can’t hear Jayce or Dec over the alarms,” I said.

“I’m sure they’re fine.” He kept his eyes forward. “Is the car ready?”

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