Chapter 12
JOAQUIN
Lake stepped out first.
Of course he did, ever the protector.
With sunglasses on to shield his eyes, he smoothed a hand down his suit as he waited for the rest of us to step out.
Atlas was next, then Kim helped Beasty scoot to the edge and after Atlas helped her down, Kim followed. The crowd screamed and cameras snapped like crazy. I slipped on my own pair of shades as I climbed out behind them.
The plan was already underway.
Kim and Atlas each held one of Beasty's arms as they walked down the red carpet. Lake and I faded into the background. Just how we liked it.
As we moved past reporters and people leaning against a velvet rope, no one paid one lick of attention to us. Good. Over the years, I'd wondered more than once how Atlas and Kim were able to do it, but they seemed to enjoy the attention, which made our lives a hell of a lot easier.
Inside, the noise quieted and the screaming was replaced with a low hum of conversation and the light clinking of glasses.
Tonight was the Light Beyond the Silence Gala, an event for awareness and a fundraiser for trafficked survivors.
It was a great cause to support and one we’d typically be seen at.
Parker was smarter than I gave him credit for. No one would blink an eye at us being here.
Just past check in, Atlas walked off through the crowd with his hands in his pockets, smirking at people, practically daring them to make conversation with him.
Kim and Beasty, arm in arm, took a different approach.
Stopping to talk to everyone he knew, Kim smiled and wooed them all.
He played the sweetheart so well, even I could forget sometimes that he would just as easily push these people over a bridge if they looked at Beasty crossways.
"Come on," Lake said as he tucked his sunglasses in his pocket. "Let's grab a drink. We still have a few." A few minutes before we started our hunt.
Sighing, I followed after him, but my eyes kept wandering to Beasty.
Like an inexperienced teenager, butterflies erupted in my stomach every time the crowd parted and I caught a glimpse of her. Tonight, the ballroom was packed with mostly tech millionaires, old money heirs, and politicians. Not our usual crowd, but we'd ran into a few of these people before.
"Do you miss this?" I asked under my breath as I grabbed a tonic water with lime, stirring it with the little wooden stick before taking a sip.
Lake scanned the ballroom before downing half of his own tonic water. "Nope. Not even a little. And anything I do miss, I get plenty of at Snatched in our controlled environment."
I grinned. Lake was such a hardass with how he needed to control everything.
"I don't miss it either. Don't get me wrong.
I love the luxury, the name we've made for ourselves, and power it gives us by default, but this?
" I covertly tipped my glass toward the circles of people chattering about their latest European vacation, the private school they're sending their kids to, or their next big business venture. "I don't give a fuck about them."
"That's so nice to hear we ranked high in your esteem."
I stiffened. Lake looked over my head, and his scowl fell firmly into place. That settled it. Whoever was behind me was someone I did not want to see. I turned anyway.
A woman of maybe thirty, although with the money in this place she could be fifty for all I knew, stood behind me with a fizzy glass of champagne. She took a sip.
I peered at Lake. Did he know this woman?
"What are you doing here, Celeste? I didn't think this was your crowd."
Ah. It made sense now. As unassumingly as I could, I worked my way around the other side of Lake. He shot me a glare and I winced in apology. Tonight wasn't the night for us to squabble, but I did not want to be caught in the middle of someone he'd fucked in the past.
And this woman, from her severe frown—or I think that was a severe frown, it was hard to tell with all the botox in her face—and her bitchy attitude, this was exactly the type of woman Lake would want to hurt.
So I left him to it, only half-listening as I looked for Beasty and Atlas in the crowd.
Celeste scrunched up her nose as if she smelled something foul, barely sparing him a glance before angling her body toward the other end of the room. "I was denied entry into Snatched. I suppose that means you've moved on," she said quietly.
Right away, I could tell this woman was a veteran at making men come to her. I recognized the cues from a mile away. She wanted Lake to step closer, so anyone watching would think he was pursuing her. He didn't bite, instead staying exactly where he was as he took another drink of his water.
"No one I've ever encountered is on the list." He shrugged like he wasn't hitting this woman right in her ego. She wanted to feel special, desired and Lake was telling her that she very much was forgettable.
She snapped her head around, fire in her eyes. Ah, there was the real woman underneath. "Everyone is talking about...the Black Room," she nearly whispered, "and I want to join. I would think with our history, that would get me to the top of the list."
Lake shook his head once. "There is no list, and even if there was, I told you, no one I've encountered is on it.
I don't shit where I eat." He pretended like something across the room caught his attention.
It didn't because all three of our family were on the opposite side.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm needed elsewhere.
" He strode off, cutting through the crowd like a hot knife.
I didn't spare a glance at the woman as I followed after him, setting my drink on one of the trays at the edge of the room.
Lake didn't stop until he was by one of the exits that led into the museum. There would be a private tour for the donors after the reception, but the statue was luckily in a wing that wasn't on display tonight.
He stopped at a column and nodded at Guy, who walked by on his patrol.
"You're not worried about what that woman will say to Beasty?" I asked, shoving my hands in my pocket as I searched them out.
So far, that woman was still by the bar.
"I don't fucking like it, but there's nothing I can do. The upside is, I don't think she knows Beasty is with anyone but Kim." We'd talked about it, and for right now, we wanted to keep it that way. When we wanted to shock and awe the world, we'd add the rest of us in.
But I wouldn’t put it past the lady to make nasty comments in her displeasure. Maybe a plea for admittance first, then in insult when she didn’t get her way. I was sure there would be plenty she could say that would hurt Beasty.
"Right." My hands itched to grab my cards that I'd shoved in my pocket. Pulling them out would be a mistake. We couldn't do anything here that would make us stand out any more than we already did.
The lights dimmed and someone walked out onto the stage. Applause started and Lake muttered, "Let's go."
He headed down the hallway marked with signs for the bathroom, but as soon as we were out of sight of the main ballroom, he slipped into the next hallway leading to the other wings of the museum.
Guy was patrolling again and while he glanced at us, he didn't nod, or make any motions that would betray his tie to us.
Lake was a man on a mission and I was just along for the ride following behind him.
He found the wing with no problem, and though we'd passed a few security guards, they were all ours. I kept checking the cameras and as far as I could tell, they were all turned off.
Parker had someone in the Network lock the feed so they'd have no idea we were here.
Lake shrugged off his jacket and took off the flattened duffle he'd been carrying like a flat backpack all night. Then he pulled gloves out of his pocket and I took mine out, just in case.
In the center of the room was a small statue of embracing women. It was about two feet tall, dull from years of age, and not even that good. I was a lover of art as much as the next person, but I couldn't see why this thing was the piece Parker was salivating over.
"Can you send the signal?" Lake asked as his glove snapped into place.
"Yup." I pulled my burner out and texted the number Parker had supplied us. It was one of his men who ran his largest US heist team.
30 seconds was all the response said.
"What the hell? Does this mean we're good for thirty seconds or we have to wait thirty seconds?" I pulled back from the phone but the words never changed.
Lake leaned over to read the message. "We have to wait. It takes them a bit to break into the security system and turn off the alarm.
Go, the next text said.
"It’s time." I blew out a hard breath and just like we'd talked about, Lake punched in a few buttons on the keypad on the base.
It beeped, and he lifted the glass case.
I bent over the rope, sucking in my stomach to not touch it.
Kim had purposely picked Lake's and my suit from a department store so they matched the most common fabrics, but I didn't want to take any chances.
I snagged the statue when the glass was high enough.
Holding my breath, I straightened and Lake replaced the glass.
Nothing. No alarm blared, no real security came running.
"Shit, okay, we're good. We have to go," I chanted to myself as Lake fluffed open the dufflebag and I laid the statue inside.
He zipped it up and we started walking, taking off the gloves and sticking them in our pockets as we went.
We didn't run, we didn't breathe as we kept our gait calm but steady.
One of Parker's men was in the hallway. Dressed in a janitor's outfit, he pushed his cart past us and Lake smoothly placed the dufflebag on the middle shelf. Almost invisible to the eye, the man flicked down some kind of sheet, covering it.
We never stopped and neither did he, but a door shut quietly behind us.
Guy walked past the entrance as we came around the corner. His gaze scanned our bodies before he disappeared again.
The lights in the ballroom were just starting to brighten. As we walked in, everyone faced the stage.
But my attention zeroed in on Kim and Beasty.