Page 66 of Revenge & Truth

Breaking keycodes—child’s play.

Hell, I could manipulate most security systems without Hound, but it certainly made it easier to have him along.

With the codebreaker done, the combination unlocked, so now all there was left to do was turn the keys at the same time. The thunk sound of the safe opening had to be one of the most satisfying sounds on earth. Grasping the handle, I slightly twisted and pulled the heavy door open. Laying on the middle shelf was the gun all wrapped up in the evidence bag, looking as authentic as possible. I wrapped a hand around the grip and lifted it out of the safe, getting a feel for how it felt.

One of the easiest ways to fuck up a job was to fumble the end game and risk dropping it. Only once had that happened to me, and unfortunately, it was a priceless piece of porcelain that had been hand-painted and gifted to the queen of a country that no longer existed. I walked away from that job with a small trash can full of broken pieces but still felt good about how things went. The bitch who owned it happened to be the mother of a girl I hated because she kept trying to get into Ryker’s pants. At that time, I was fine with him dating whoever he wanted, just not her. When he told her no, she tried to drug him at one of the high school parties. The cunt crossed the line with that move, so I stole her inheritance, and my clumsy ass broke the damn thing. Now her family will never get out of debt by selling it off.

Karma is a bitch, and her name just happens to be—

“Astin,” Atticus yelled, making me jerk away from the hand that rested on my shoulder, causing me to crash into the safe, which closed with a bang.

Whipping around, I yanked out one of my earbuds, heart in my throat, to glare at the man watching me with a stunned expression. “What the fuck was that, Atty? I nearly pissed myself with you yelling like that. Thank fuck I didn’t have a gun I could shoot in my hand, or you’d be dead.”

“I-I’m so sorry,” Atticus stuttered, completely thrown by my reaction.

Setting the gun down on the workbench next to the safe, I pulled off my gloves, giving me a moment to recover. “We’re both fine, nothing happened this time, but I’d suggest trying a different tactic next time. You could pause the music on my phone, stand where I can see you, or even flash the lights if that’s an option. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but with the stress and possible threat on all of us, it has me on edge.”

“Thank you for explaining and offering a wiser alternative,” Atticus said, wringing his hands, still unsettled. “I grew concerned when I called your name a few times with no response. You were just standing there staring at the gun like a statue. I was afraid you were having another episode of being trapped in your own mind.”

Walking over, I slipped my arms around his neck and gave him a hug we both clearly needed. He enveloped me instantly, resting his head on top of mine. We held each other for a bit until Atticus pressed a kiss to my forehead and loosened his grip. I looked up, finding he seemed calmer, but his face still held tension in it, betraying his worry.

“I’m good, Atty, I promise,” I assured him. “When preparing like this for a job, I put myself in a meditative state that blocks out everything but what I’m working on. I’d just finished up but got caught in a memory, totally missing the fact you were trying to gain my attention.”

“You seemed upset. Was the memory the cause of this?” he pressed.

I couldn’t help but smirk. “It was about the time I got too hasty and dropped the item I was going to steal. Shattered the damn thing all over the floor, so I had to sweep it up, put it in the trash, and take the whole thing with me. They had to believe I’d stolen the item and it’s lost out there in the world, or my revenge wouldn’t be as fulfilling.”

“I see. Now the expression on your face makes more sense,” Atticus agreed.

Releasing him, I started to gather all my tools, unwilling to risk forgetting anything important. “Did you need something? I assume you didn’t come out here for us both to scare the shit out of each other.”

“Oh, I didn’t need anything from you. I was just coming to tell you there’s a stripper waiting for you in the front room,” Atticus shared.

“Well, that’s not something you hear every day,” I said with a chuckle. “Why exactly is there a stripper waiting for me?”

“She claims to be a friend of Miss Foxxx and has something for you. I find this highly unlikely since Miss Foxxx has proven that she prefers to do these meetings face-to-face. A change like this seems rather suspicious.”

He had a point. Ivy wouldn’t send a random person to my home without telling me or at least Liu. Grabbing my phone, I noticed three missed texts from none other than Ivy.

“Huh, what do you know… she did send the girl,” I commented, offering my phone to Atticus. “Looks like you’re not the only person I was ignoring while in the zone. Let’s go see what was so important that Ivy took such a risk.”

twenty-three

Atticus and I arrived at the front sitting room, where I found a young woman with one of our security grunts standing guard. The woman was clearly nervous, her leg bouncing a million miles an hour, and the cuticle on her thumb she was chewing had started to bleed.

When she spotted me, she leaped to her feet and rushed over. “Are you Astin?”

“I am. Who might you be?” I asked.

“Name’s Destiny, but most people call me Dezie,” she answered quickly as she grabbed an envelope out of her purse and handed it to me. “Ivy told me to make sure I gave this to you and to wait for you to follow her instructions before I head back to the club. She said to tell you I only have an hour, so you better be quick.”

Dezie glanced at her phone and cringed. “Never mind, I only have forty minutes now before I have to be back. They can’t know I was gone, or it’s gonna get a lot of girls in trouble.”

The small manila envelope was sealed, and there were no signs of tampering, so I trusted that Dezie had no idea what was inside. “Thank you, Dezie. Give me a moment to deal with this, and I’ll have you on your way back. Would you like a drink or something to eat?”

She shook her head violently. “No, I’m good. Thank you.”

Nodding, I walked out of the sitting room before opening the envelope. Inside was a note along with a key. Pulling out the note, I scanned the contents and sucked in a breath. Now I understood why Dezie was so anxious.