Chapter 28 #2
"Says the man who can crack any safe in under thirty seconds."
"I'm going to have to see that in action sometime," Aurora tells him, and then turns back to me, her eyes hungry as she bites her lip. "Say something to me in Italian."
"I tuoi occhi sono I piu—"
"Got it," Atticus says, interrupting what was going to be a beautiful poem. "There's a private exhibit taking place in the Musee Matisse outside the city. There's going to be a Modigliani on display. That's got to be it. He's going after it."
"Not if we get to it first," Sev corrects.
"Don't they keep the art in that basement vault ahead of the display dates?" I ask. "Dad did a job there once. I remember the blueprints."
"No," Atticus says. "It's too risky. We stay here."
"You could stay here," Sev suggests. "Me and Eli can handle it, can't we, Eli?"
Aurora stops moving her Chinese noodles around with the chopsticks, setting the virtually untouched box on the table. "What about me? Can I come?"
"I wish," Sev says at the same time I say, "No, Angel. You need to stay here to keep your cover."
Atticus whirls around in his seat. "No one is going."
"So the intel is totally wasted then?" Seven's tone is bitter.
As nervous as it makes me to try to pull off another heist after what happened at the La Tante Sophistiquée, I can't help feeling like it is wasteful. And my mom loved replicating Modigliani. "If we move fast, we could get it before him. I know we can."
Sev claps his hands together, rubbing them with his lower lip caught between his teeth and that glint he gets in his eyes right before he does something particularly reckless.
"Come on, man. You could set it up. We'd be there and back in forty-eight hours, tops.
We've got a whole week before she has to meet with Ambrose.
What are we going to do, sit around twiddling our thumbs? "
Atticus pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs angrily through his nostrils. "As if I don't already have enough to do. Besides, it would be a three-man job. You couldn't pull it off without me."
I recall the size and security at the Matisse and think he might be right.
"Does one of you need to be here?" Aurora asks. "You could all go. Like you said, I just need to keep acting normal. There won't be much going on, on my end until next weekend."
"Forty-eight hours," Sev assures him. "It'll be like old times."
A thrill goes through me that isn't pure anxiety this time.
We've been thwarting Ambrose's deals for years, but we haven't been actively collecting or trying to beat him to the prize.
Not since my hand injury made certain aspects of that job seem impossible.
But after Paris, I think I'm ready. I can do it.
We can start building a new collection.
"We can do this," I press Atty, and he drops his hand from his face to look at me, jaw tight and flexing.
"I'll have Céline here with me," Aurora puts in. "And I'll adhere to whatever safety protocols you want."
She gives me a warm look, and I know she's only offering to let Atticus go the whole nine yards of overwatch for me.
Fuck, I love her.
"Fuck it, fine," Atticus says. "Let's do it. But you will still meet with Eli for his English lesson on Monday, and you'll take one of these."
Atty grabs another silencer from the case and holds it out to her. "You'll use it to call us at least twice a day while we're gone, at predetermined times."
"Okay." She takes it.
Atty pulls a pinhole camera and a bug from another case. "Put both of these in your living room."
She frowns, but takes them.
"Just until we're back. That's the deal. I need to know if they try to enter your apartment when you're not there."
This time, there's hesitation, but her eyes flit to me for an instant, and then she plucks them from his hand.
"When will you leave?" she asks.
"I need the night to plan," Atty replies.
"We leave in the morning. Back by Tuesday.
Then we meet on Friday to go over some contingencies for your lunch with Ambrose.
Then…" He trails off, sighing. "Then it'll be your break.
And I promised you I'd do what's necessary to make sure you can spend that time back at the house.
It's not going to be easy with Ambrose upping his presence here, but I'll keep my word. "
Another sigh, and I know pulling off this job on top of everything else Atticus is taking care of behind the scenes is a lot, but this is why we love him. He gets shit done. Always has. Always will. There's no one else I could count on more than him, save for Sev. And maybe my angel.
"If it's too difficult…" Aurora trails off. "I could stay on campus."
Atty lifts a hand. "I gave you my word. I intend to keep it this time."
Sev clears his throat, reaching over to snag Aurora's takeout box from the table. "You going to eat this?"
"Sev." I give him a what the fuck look, but he's unperturbed as Aurora shakes her head.
"It's all yours."
But before Sev can get his chopsticks in the box, Atticus has snatched it right from his hands, sealed it back up, and set it on the table in front of Aurora.
"Take it with you," he says, eyes dropping to her waist and legs, which I'm now noticing have lost some volume. "You aren't eating enough. We need you strong."
For what’s coming.
He doesn’t say it. None of us do. But we’re all thinking it.