“Greg?” Cash asked.
“Yes, sir?”
“My son texted me. Is Clover in the bathroom?”
“Yes, sir,” Greg said. “I escorted him and a few boys here.” He knocked on the door. “Clover, your dad is here.”
The two of them fell silent as they waited, but after a minute, the door remained closed.
“Clover?” Cash knocked. “It’s me.”
A toilet flushed inside and a moment later, the door opened. Cash breathed a sigh of relief until he saw the strange kid.
“Clover isn’t in there,” the boy said.
“What do you mean?” Greg asked. “He was part of this restroom break.”
“Yeah, he was, but he isn’t in the bathroom,” the boy answered.
“Then where is he?” Cash asked, panic rearing its ugly head in his chest.
“I dunno.” The boy shrugged.
“Where is he?” Cash asked Greg.
“I don’t know, Sir. The boys were right behind me.” The man frantically scanned the hallways. “You said your son texted you? Maybe he was upset and didn’t want his friends to see him cry, so he ducked into another room to wait?”
“Maybe.”Cash pulled out his phone and dialed his son, but Clover didn’t answer,theringing eventuallysendinghim to voicemail.His panic doubled as he tapped on the find-a-phone app. His son’s cell was connected to his so that he would always know where the boy was, and Cash exhaled his fear when Clover’s phone pinged down the hall. It seemed Greg was right. Another kid probably hurt his feelings, and he wanted to hidehis tears. Cash wasn’t happy that his son had wandered off when he specifically asked him to stay with the group, but at least he wasn’t missing.
“Clover, it’s Dad.” Cash knocked on the door before pushing it open. “What’s wrong, buddy? Why are you hiding in here?” He flipped on the light switch and froze, his entire body stiffening at what waited for him in that dark room, and a primal, sickening fear churned his stomach. His worst nightmare stood before him, and terror tainted the venom in his voice.
“Where is my son?”
Sable didn’t cross paths withanyother thieves as she made her way to the Precieux Exhibit. The gala was barely underway, which meant guests weren’t intoxicated yet. The other competitors would undoubtedly wait until the partygoers were drunk and less observant. It would make their job easier,which was whyshe had decided to steal the egg so early. It would make her task harder but less crowded, and if she didn’tget out ofthis museum soon, she’d be sick. She hated her actions, but she didn’t see any other option. She loved Cash. He had to live.
Reaching her target vent, Sable unscrewed its cover and anchored her harness to the ceiling. With agile grace, she floated down until she hovered over the pressure plates hiddenin the tiles. Her legs swung like a dancer, building the speed she readied to make the long jump. With a flying leap anda dose ofdelusional bravery, she detached her harness at the last second and soared over the floor to miss the sensors. She landed with an elegant roll, the momentum thrusting her into the Fae magic, and holding her breath, she walked through the barrier.
And nothing happened.
No alarm. No flashing lights.Nocharging guards. The film on her lips had worked, and the tightness in her chest loosened slightly. At first, she had worried that Cash’s DNA would condemn him as a traitor, but she’d added a small precaution to save him some humiliation. The Merveille De L’art couldn’t be hacked, but throughout her attempted break-ins, she’d placed disrupters around the museum. Peter had designed them, and while they weren’t strong enough to disrupt the Fae tech, they were relatively effective on human-constructed surveillance. She’d turned them on as she dropped through the ceiling, but she occasionally flickered their strength whenshe wasstrategically turned away fromcertaincameras. Shots of her back would flash through the recorded static, but it was enough to prove she’d acted alone without Cash’s help. The guards were Fae. It wouldn’t take them long to figure out that she’d used his DNA without his knowledge, and Cash would undoubtedly recognize her even from the rear. But hiding her face wasn’t about keeping him in the dark about her betrayal. It was to prevent live footage of The Rabbit’s Foot from leaking to the world. People knew her name. Few knew her face, and she planned to keep it that way.
Sable pulled her tools from her belt and immediatelywent to workon the sensor below the egg. She was so close to winning. Just a few more minutes, and this would be over. Maybe she should take all those zeroes and move to Europe. Use them to drown her sorrow at betraying her soulmate. Ormaybeshewould set up an anonymous college fund for Clover. If she was going to destroy his life, the least she could do wasmake surehe became unexpectedly wealthy when he turned eighteen. If she kept the money’s origin a mystery, he might accept?—
The main door to the exhibit flew open, and stifling a shriek, Sable dove for the nearest display table. It was a joke of a hiding place. It held a few of Baptiste Precieux’s antique tools, and it barely hid her from view. If anyone came close, they would see her crouched below it, but she had no choice. It was the only place she could hide from her intruders.
Praying it was a guard doing a routine check, she watched as a man stepped into the exhibit. Avery tall, very handsome, familiar man.
Cash.
Only he wasn’t alone. A beautiful woman entered with him, and for a split second, a jealous rage bloomed in Sable’s chest until she saw the gun the stranger had pressed into Cash’s spine.
Sable slapped a hand over her mouth to stop her scream. Everything within her shouted for her to run to his aid, to save him from that gun. But before her hysterics made her act rashly, Cash’s face caught her attention. He wasn’t afraid… not of thegun, at least. He was ex-special forces. If she could beat a well-trained thief in his driveway, then he could undoubtedly snap this woman’s wrist and steal her gun without breaking a sweat. So why wasn’t he?
Sable turned her terrified curiosity on the woman shoving Cash through the room. Clearly under her control, Cash swiped his badge on the sensor, and the pressure plates under the tiles disengaged to allow them passage. Sable recoiled further under the table and prayed they didn’t look down. They aimed for the egg, coming dangerously close to her hiding spot, but as long as they kept their eyes on the prize, she should be safe. She wanted to flee, to climb back into the ceiling and disappear, but herescape route was blocked, so she studied the beautiful woman instead of her beloved Cash. She couldn’t bear to look at him. She wasn’t the one holding the gun, but she might as well be. Her actions were no more honorable than this thief’s.
The stranger was tall and elegant, with her black outfit and matching hair. Her eyes were void of color, as ominous as night in the white sea of her sclera, and her elongated ears peaked from her luxurious locks. Fae. This thief was Fae, and Sable had the sudden urge to vomit. The harsh eyes. The dark hair. The black aura. This woman reminded her of a shadow… of THE Shadow. This was The Ombra. She’d come for the egg, and as promised, she’d set her violence on Cash.
Sable tightened her grip on her tools as The Ombra shoved Cash through the genetic scanner. The Ombra could have the egg, but she couldn’t have Cash’s life, and Sable coiled her legs below her, readying to strike if the dark woman so much as twitched in the wrong direction.
