Chapter 29
A little over twenty-four hours later, we were pulling up to the gala in Melanie’s SUV.
The planning had been meticulous but efficient.
Having flown solo for so many years, working with a team was both new and refreshing.
Everyone had a job; the plan would take all of us to pull off.
Perhaps most reassuring, if something went wrong, there’d be someone there to help.
I’d never had a safety net before. At least not one in the form of three women who’d take a bullet for one another.
I wasn’t entirely sure one of them wouldn’t use me as a shield from that bullet if it came to it, but at least they had one another’s backs, and because their success depended on my success, we were all in it together.
“Ready?” Melanie asked when she put the car in park.
We’d slowly rolled along the drop-off line as we got closer and closer to the museum’s entrance.
Fluttering banners advertising the gala draped the stone and glass building’s exterior, and spotlights shone up from the ground on either side of the arched entryway.
Melanie had snagged us some last-minute tickets through one of the charity boards she sat on.
“Oh look, they rolled out the red carpet for you,” Jana said into the invisible bug in my ear.
She’d arrived separately and was parked across the street, watching us from a car decked out with the necessary equipment she’d need to orchestrate the remote parts of the plan.
I could hear the eagerness in her voice.
The dark thrill at what we were about to embark on.
I’d quickly learned the moms were far more complex than their mostly innocent, suburban exteriors would suggest. These women knew what they were doing, and not only were they highly competent, they got off on breaking rules.
“Showtime,” Melanie said. She looked over at me like she was giving me one final evaluation. One final check to see if I’d crack.
I was not going to crack. The only thing between me and freedom was that rock. This was just another job to them, but to me, it was the last job. For real this time, because I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way. Nothing was going to stop me.
I nodded at Melanie and undid my seat belt.
A cool rush of evening air swirled in the door when the valet opened it, fluttering my long skirt.
Melanie had let me borrow a sky-blue gown suitable for a gala, since I didn’t have one on hand.
The one-shouldered bodice hugged my chest and waist and draped loosely around my legs.
Glamorous, but also suitable for running, if needed.
My heels were strapped securely to my feet and met the same criteria.
Melanie stepped out of her side of the car in a similar outfit, except her gown was black velvet and held up by two elegant cap sleeves. Sandra climbed out of the back seat in a pale pink chiffon dress that specifically showcased her baby bump, an integral part of our plan.
“Good evening, ladies,” the valet on my side said. He held out a hand to me but quickly changed tack when he noticed Sandra hoisting herself from the back seat. “Oh, let me help you, ma’am,” he said, and hurried to her side.
“Like clockwork,” Jana said into our ears. “Everyone loves a pregnant lady.”
“Oh, you’re too sweet,” Sandra cooed and took his hand. She made sure to put her other hand on her belly.
Sandra is our ace in the hole, Melanie had said yesterday while we strategized in her office.
People will bend over backward for a pregnant woman.
If she needs any kind of help, no one will be looking at us.
Sandra had fluttered her lashes and dramatically held the back of her hand to her forehead with a sigh, ready to play the part.
I hadn’t not believed them, but I was happy to see it playing out in person.
“Of course, ma’am. You let any of the staff know tonight if you need anything special,” the valet said, and I wondered if he had any sway at all or was just looking for a bigger tip.
“Thank you,” Sandra said in a syrupy-sweet voice. In truth, she probably wanted to smack his hand away and tell her she didn’t need any help, but her playing the pregnant damsel was key to our plan.
Melanie joined us on the red carpet and the three of us gazed up at the museum entrance.
“Always feels a little like prom, doesn’t it?” Sandra said. “Getting dressed up and making a grand entrance.”
“I never went to prom,” I said. They both looked at me with a hint of pity.
Melanie looped her arm through my elbow. “Well then, let’s try to at least have a little fun tonight.” Her smile was genuine and laced with that same daring thrill I’d heard in Jana’s voice.
I smiled back. “This is my favorite kind of fun.”
Sandra looped her arm in my other elbow. “Ours too,” she said with a small smile. Her frosty exterior toward me seemed to have thawed, and I was grateful for it.
“Well, don’t have too much fun yet,” Jana said in our ears. “Security is coming up on the left. Bag check and metal detectors.”
We’d planned for as much. Turned out, Jana’s old contact did still work at the museum, and with a little innocent flirting on her part, he was willing to spill on what security would look like for the event.
Getting information out of men was embarrassingly easy sometimes.
We passed through security simply enough.
As much as I wished I’d had a gun strapped to my thigh, or even a small dagger in my bra, I was empty-handed.
Being unarmed put a jump in my pulse, but I’d dealt with it on enough jobs to know how to improvise.
Nearly anything could be turned into a weapon in a pinch: a stem snapped off one of the champagne flutes being passed around, the heels on one of the many stilettos in sight, a necktie if things got really messy.
But there would be no mess tonight. This job was going to be clean, and on the other side of it, my freedom.
Inside, the main hall dripped luxury out of every pore.
The string quartet in the corner, the black tie waitstaff circulating with trays of champagne and single-bite appetizers.
The glittering baubles on all the wrists and throats just begging to be nicked.
I’d been in rooms of such wealth before, and the desire twitching my fingers never faded.
“Not until we get what we came for,” Melanie appeared at my side and said.
I turned to her, startled, and saw a knowing glint in her eye. How she could read me so well, I didn’t know, but clearly, she knew I was itching to get my hands dirty. She nodded at the front of the room, and when I followed her gaze, there it was.
The diamond.
My breath hitched. Even from across the room, I could see the glittering rainbows shooting off it. The transparent piece of ice I’d held in my hands as a teenager, which set the next decade in motion. It was right there.
The desire to sprint to it, punch my fist through the glass case, and hold it in my bloodied hand just out of pure spite thrummed through my body like I’d been hit by lightning.
The source of all my problems—literally.
The same as when I’d seen my father, I wasn’t sure what mix of emotions to expect upon seeing it.
The cocktail landed somewhere between hope, rage, and … amusement?
A laugh, of all things, burst from my throat.
“What’s funny?” Jana said in my ear. Melanie looked at me with the same question lifting her brows.
I didn’t have an answer for them. I wasn’t sure why I was laughing.
Maybe because everything had come full circle.
The job that was supposed to set me free ten years ago—stealing this damned stone—was the key once more.
And was I any closer? I’d literally had it in my hand ten years ago, and everything fell apart.
Even with a team of pros at my side tonight, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t fall apart again, despite our best planning.
“I think I need a drink,” I said and stepped to the side to grab a champagne flute off a passing tray.
“She’s not going rogue on us, is she?” Jana said into our ears.
“No,” Melanie said with a certainty like she knew that wouldn’t happen.
I wasn’t going to go rogue; I had no plans for that. It was more a matter of what plans fate had for us. What wrench might be thrown our way and land me in prison—maybe literally—for another decade.
“Just give her time,” Melanie said as I sipped bubbles. They went down like a smooth, golden ribbon.
“Well, we don’t have a ton of it,” Jana said.
“Security shift change is in ten minutes, and you’ll need to be in position.
” An electronic barrier protected the case holding the diamond.
With it engaged, the glass was unbreakable, and getting too close would set off an alarm.
Jana was going to cut electricity to the whole room, killing the lights and the case so I could grab the diamond.
Turned out, behind her stroller-pushing picnic-playdate facade, she was a bona fide hacker.
Apparently, she’d double majored in computer sciences, and met someone through a company her husband’s firm had invested in who’d showed her the dark side of the web and helped sharpen her skills.
“We will be,” Melanie said in a tone that silenced Jana. She stepped in the opposite direction from me and reached for her own champagne flute. Sandra had sat at one of the tables trussed up with towering floral centerpieces and requested a class of sparkling water from a waiter.
Mingling was part of the plan anyway. Jana had the place scoped digitally what with the maps, and had already tapped into the security feed, but we needed to see the room live in person before we made any moves.
In case of a change in plans on the museum’s part.
In case they put the diamond in view of camera B instead of A or rotated security every ten minutes instead of twenty. So far, everything was on track.