“That will only gain you access to the main arena, because it’s impossible for you to take the talisman directly. Your only hope of getting it is for you to impersonate a member.”
He looks over at me, a greedy look in his gaze. I narrow my eyes at him.
I wouldn’t pretend to be your slave if we were the last people on the planet, asshole.
“You knew that, then?”
“I did.”
“It’ll be dangerous. The Lyon family is untrustworthy. Even if you manage to get in–which will be damn near impossible–and even if you manage to get past security, which I can help with, they’ll notice immediately if it goes missing.”
“Understood.”
We keep talking in rapid whispers until we have our plan, when someone knocks on the door.
Fabien opens it.
“Ah, Thayer,” he says when his brother enters. “Just the man I needed to see.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Fabien
We leave justas the bride and groom enter. My mother’s not happy, but when I tell her what’s going on, and that one of Nicolette’s best friends is in trouble, she kisses Nicolette’s cheek and wishes us well.
“Be careful,” she whispers. “And come back, Nicolette, won’t you?” She gets a troubled look, then winks. “He’s more…humanwhen he’s around you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, nothing, sweetheart. Bring her back soon.”
Nicolette looks distracted.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Oh,” she says, when we pile our things haphazardly in the back of a car that will take us to the airport. “Nothing much. Just a grand theft worth hundreds of millions of euros, while my friends are being arrested and someone’s planning an attack,your lecherous cousin’s vivid reminder that I’m nothing but a whore, the allusion toThayerhaving women of his own…”
Her voice trails off as she looks out the window.
“And what?” Something tells me she doesn’t want to talk about this.
“Eh, that’s it.”
“Nicolette.” I tug her hair and make her look at me.
“What?” she whispers. Her large eyes look guarded, somehow, as if she’s put a wall between me and her heart. Not that I blame her. She thinks I’m letting her go.
“Lying to me won’t go over well for you.”
I reach for her and bodily drag her onto my lap. Her back is stiff as she looks away.
“What is it, Nicolette? You’re hiding something from me.” When she doesn’t respond, I tighten my grip on her and try another angle. “Partners in crime can’t communicate well with one another if they’re holding things back.”
I feel the sting of hypocrisy prick at my long-forgotten conscience.
He’s more human when he’s around you.
“I don’t really want to… Look, we have a business arrangement. So when I get all disappointed or whatever, I just have to be realistic. You’re paying me a lot to pretend to be your girlfriend.”
