“I’ll make sure to gather that.” Nicholas raises a brow, settling back into the couch. “But how about you start with what the plan was in the first place?”
Koen glances at Ace, who nods, signaling for him to proceed. “A Christmas show. We had Veronica, Belmont, Harold Foster, and Marcus Blackwood in the audience, and we?—”
“Wait,” I interrupt, already lost. “Veronica and Belmont are clear, but who are the other two?”
“Foster oversees the casinos Veronica owns,” Koen explains. “But he’s also involved in prostitution, the kind that’s not consensual. Veronica is his biggest stakeholder.”
“My mother’s into sex trafficking?” Nicholas’s shock is palpable. “What the actual fuck?”
Sylus lets out a low whistle. “Delightful, isn’t she?”
I shoot him a warning look. “Sylus…”
“Sorry,” he mutters, though the smirk on his face betrays him.
“And Blackwood,” Koen continues. “Is her enforcer. The guy who makes people disappear. Firearms, knives, you name it. We suspect he’s the one who killed Oscar.”
“Wait, no. He’s the head of her security,” Nicholas protests.
“Sure…” Ace shrugs, his tone flat, “… he’s that too.”
“Fuck,” Nicholas mutters under his breath.
“I went out and found each of them the day the show was supposed to happen.” Koen picks up where he left off. “I hypnotized them and made them attend. That almost fell apart when I couldn’t locate Belmont in time.”
Sylus waves a hand. “That won’t happen again. We’ve got his private number now, thanks to Sparkle here, and I’ll locate him.” He grins at me, his arm still loosely around my waist.
“No, it can’t happen again,” Ace shakes his head. “That part of the plan was way too risky, and we all knew it. Who knows if they aren’t suspicious now? Asking themselves why they were at the show in the first place. We thought we could get them there and fuck the consequences, but now we’relivingthe consequences. I don’t want to bet on that working a second time.”
“Fine…” Koen raises a brow, “… but how do you plan to get them to the show? These people aren’t stupid and won’t just show up when we send them an invitation.”
“I’ll figure it out,” Ace replies, nodding to himself. “But hypnotizing them into coming again is the last resort. It leaves us too exposed.”
Nicholas frowns, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the armrest. “And what is the plan when you get them to the show?”
“Exposingthem.” Koen leans back in his chair, his smirk just shy of cocky. “Every single one of them. Their crimes, their secrets,everything. Mostly how they helped Veronica build her empire on lies and other people’s suffering. We’ve been gathering evidence for years, and the show is our stage to lay it all out for the world to see.”
“And how will you do that?” I ask, crossing my arms.
Sylus grins. “We’re gonna display their wrongdoings for everyone to see.”
Koen glances at Sylus. “Dove and I talked about that, Sy. We want it even bigger. Do you think you could manage to project everything onto the billboard screens outside the Lane Building?”
“Outside?” Sylus furrows his brows. “When people will be inside for the show?”
“No.” Koen’s gaze shifts to Ace. “Think we could make everything happen outside on the street?”
“The street?” Ace echoes.
“It’s Levi’s idea.” Koen nods. “If we hijack the street between the Lane Building, the Plaza, and Harrington Heights, we could gather a much bigger crowd. Spread the word on socials beforehand, make it accessible. No tickets, no barriers. People can just show up. Ezra even said it’d be easier for him to make sure the police will be there too.”
Ace exhales sharply. “Why are you only coming to me with this now?”
“Because we only talked about it yesterday,” Koen admits. “But I’ve thought it over, and I like the idea. Do you think we could pull it off?”
Ace’s gaze shifts to Sylus, who shrugs with casual confidence. “It’s doable. I can use drones as cameras and project everythingonto the screens on the Lane Building. The illusions work outside, especially if we do it at night. We’ll need to set up projectors in advance. I’ll probably need a van to have the tech close. You have to tell me if it’s realistic, though.”
Ace nods slowly, his fingers steepled in thought. “I’ll have to think it through, but I like the idea. We could incorporate the roof-hopping as part of the show. Let people see Koen risking his neck for it. Make it even more headline-worthy.”
