He shakes his head. “Absolutely not. I’m coming with you.”
“Oh, what are you doing?” Vienna asks, taking the joint from Sage and putting it to her lips. “Maybe we can help.” She gestures to Tristan and herself before taking another drag, then holding it out to us.
Tristan takes it from her and puts it to his lips as I shake my head.
“Yeah, no, it’s work stuff, but thanks for the offer.” I try to let her down easily, but I can tell she’s disappointed. “But maybe we can nap here for a few hours before we have to leave,” I suggest, trying to soften the blow.
“Okay. I can compromise. That sounds nice.” Her smile is bright, even if it doesn’t reach her eyes. She does a good job of hiding her disappointment.
“And anyway, you don’t want to have to wake up and find Sage sprawled across the whole bed. I swear, since we’ve been sleeping together, I wake up with more aches and pains than today’s accident gave me,” I joke, and he glares at me, but she laughs lightly, the rest of the disappointment fading from her eyes.
“Tris is the same, a complete bed hog. It’s why we make him sleep on the outside.”
Tristan grumbles behind me. Sage holds out his hand for a fist bump, and he quickly complies.
“Did you guys get some food?” I ask her. We were at our picnic a lot longer than I thought, and it was already dark by the time we emerged.
“Yes, Suzy fed us after the doctor left. She’s the best. You are so lucky to have such an amazing family,” Vienna says, sounding a bit envious.
“Yeah, we lucked out. My dad was amazing as well,” I reply quietly, and Tristan’s arm tightens around me, giving me a little squeeze as he passes me the joint. I take a drag, blowing out the smoke before asking, “Speaking of family, did Gio come home tonight?”
Vienna shakes her head. “No, he and Casey stayed in Suncity in your suite at the Lucky Diamond.”
I breathe out a sigh of relief that I obviously don’t hide too well.
“What’s with you and Gio? I thought you guys were tight, but since we moved in, I sense some tension between you,” Tristan asks casually, and I see Vienna’s attention turn from Sage’s creeping hands to me.
“Is it because of us?” she asks quietly, but I’m quick to shake my head.
“No, not at all. We were having issues long before you moved in.” I don’t tell them that I think the issues stem from his relationship with Casey and his interest in being more like them then running the family business. “Don’t worry about us, it will all sort itself out eventually,” I assure her, even though the reality is there’s a good chance we might come to blows, and one of us may not survive.
We pass the joint around between us a little longer and talk about mundane things. Vienna is excited for our spa day and the party over the weekend, and it’s nice to keep my mind occupiedand not obsessing over tonight’s job. Eventually, we decide to turn in. A few hours of rest will help keep my mind sharp, and if it’s spent between a sexy man and woman, I’m not going to complain.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Are you ready?” I whisper to Sage as I pull the balaclava over my face. I tried to leave without him, but it was a little tricky. With Tristan on one side, Vienna on the other, and Sage next to her, I had to get away from three people without waking them, and I wasn’t successful. I’m not complaining, though, because I got two delicious goodbye kisses from the ones who stayed behind. Colton and Xavier were still knocked out, the pain killers the doctor gave them doing their job.
“Let’s do this,” he confirms, his voice slightly muffled by his own balaclava.
We’re both dressed in tight black clothes suitable for breaking and entering and scaling buildings. I decided a roof ingress was the best option once we dealt with the dogs and guards. The dogs were easy. I just stole some chuck from Suzy’s fridge and stuck the sedatives in it. They wolfed it down, and we waited fifteen minutes for it to activate before we climbed the chain link fence. Thankfully it wasn’t electrified, so it was one less thing to worry about. Then, it was just a matter of taking care of the guards. Eight in total all received a tranq dart to the neck. After that, we could have pretty much strolled into the building, but I didn’t know who or how many were inside, so weclimbed the fire escape to the roof and peered down through the skylights.
“Holy shit!” Sage swears as we take in the contents of the warehouse. Cages like dog kennels, but bigger, have been set up, and they are not empty. There appears to be about twenty in total, and at least three quarters have bodies slumped in either sleep or despair.
“Can you see any guards?” I ask him as my gaze scans the area we can see. It seems the majority of the space is just this one large room, but like ours, there appears to be a reception area and possibly some bathroom facilities on one side. There is also a large mezzanine level that circles the space. I can see two men using a money machine to count a pile of cash.
“Only the two there.” He nods to the two I noticed.
“We need to go down there and see if the fed’s sister is there. None of this is helpful to me unless she is.”
He sighs. “It couldn’t just be easy this one time.”
“No rest for the wicked,” I reply as we creep toward the fire escape door. It doesn’t seem to have any security on the outside, which is what I expected. I just hope there isn’t a bar across the inside of it. I try the handle, and it turns easily and quietly.
“Thank fuck,” Sage mutters. “I’m too sore to smash through a window and repel into the building.”
“And it doesn’t exactly scream subtle,” I say sarcastically as the two of us slide through the door, our guns at the ready. The exit is behind some shelves, and neither of the men counting cash on this level have noticed us. We both lift our guns and aim, firing at the same time, and the darts hit the guards, who both shout in surprise, but the sedative is fast acting, so before either of them can react, they are out for the count.
“Grab the cash. We will make it look like a robbery so they aren’t suspicious and pack up and shift their operation before the feds can raid it.”
