Page 33 of No Longer Mine (Rags & Riches #2)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Scarlett

Tonight was the night. I was going for Gavin, and then I was going to bring the ring back to Dimitri. I didn’t know which one I was more nervous about.

I shook out my limbs as I made sure the dark brown wig was fitted nicely to my head. I touched the coms in my ear. “Testing?”

“Here,” Oliver’s voice came through crystal clear. “Are you ready?”

As ready as I would ever be. I hated that I couldn’t wear my usual attire, all black with a ski-mask, but I needed to be extra careful. I needed it to look like I belonged in that building.

“How long should he be gone tonight?” I asked again. I already knew, but I wanted this night to go without a hitch.

“A few hours; he has business with Sinclair tonight. They are meeting at a strip club, of all places. That will hopefully keep him occupied, but if it doesn’t and he decides to turn in for the night, I’ll know it.”

“You’re tapped into the strip club’s feed?”

“Yep, and the apartment. He left a few minutes ago.”

I was only a few buildings down. We had a hotel under an alias, paid in cash, down the road from Gavin’s home.

I didn’t have to run to the subway. I could leave calmly and unbothered from the apartment and look like I was a natural.

I didn’t care about surveillance, Oliver would wipe that once I was out.

What I cared about was if someone else passed me.

I blew out a breath. This wouldn’t be my first call or my last. I could do this.

I’d broken into the headmaster’s office.

I’d stolen from him. We’d transferred funds.

We’d bled him dry in a matter of minutes, and he wasn’t the wiser.

I’d told him to leave me alone. He hadn’t listened.

I took everything, and when he found out?

I pushed the memories away and began jogging. It took me no time to get to the front of Gavin’s building. I swiped my arm over my forehead, checked my watch, and then approached the door like I owned the place. I quickly typed in the code at the door. No one around, no one to see me slip in.

Good, we were off to a good start.

“Are you ready?” Oliver’s voice came through the coms again.

“Yep,” I muttered as I approached the elevator.

Floor 12. Easy. Until someone shouted for the elevator.

Shit. Quick on my feet, I punched a ton of buttons and sighed dramatically when the man got on.

He was young, probably in his late teens.

He flopped his hair out of his eyes. “Hey!” And then his eyes rounded when he saw all of the floors punched. “Wow. What happened?”

I lowered my voice. “A prank, I guess. You sure you want to get on and risk your time?”

He laughed. “I’m only on the third floor. I wouldn’t mind taking the stairs, but I sprained my ankle last week.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, that sucks.”

He laughed. “Yeah, it was horrible. I have to miss track now. My coach is pissed.”

I nodded my head, and the doors pinged open to his floor. He mock-saluted me. “See you around!”

I waved and let out a breath as the doors closed behind him.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got the elevator reset,” Oliver said in my ear.

“Appreciate it,” I muttered, adjusting the strap of my bag as the elevator climbed past the unnecessary floors. My heart still pounded from the small hitch in my plan, but I wasn’t going to let it shake me. Not tonight.

The elevator dinged at twelve, and I stepped out into the hallway, my steps light, controlled.

“You’re clear,” Oliver’s voice hummed in my ear. “No movement inside the apartment, security is still looped. You have fifteen minutes max before the next cycle refreshes.”

Fifteen minutes was all I needed.

I approached Gavin’s door, glancing down the hall once before I punched the code into his door. I flexed my stiff fingers as I waited for the door to unlock. Superglue on my fingertips, just in case. You could never be too careful. I slipped through the open floor plan and back to the bedroom.

The card was still on the back of his bed frame.

I swiped the card along the safe, which clicked open.

A few Rolexes, some tennis bracelets, a couple of rings.

I swiped the necklace at the back with a teardrop pendant and closed the safe with a click.

There had to be more around here. Guns, stacks of cash, even some folders somewhere with invaluable information?

I would need to go into the office. I gritted my teeth as I slipped from his bedroom and straight to the office. I didn’t like this at all. Something felt off.

“How’s everything looking?” I whispered.

“Good. Gavin is still at the strip club. Sinclair hasn’t arrived yet, but I imagine he won’t be long.”

Gavin’s office was clean. Practical. It looked exactly how it had when he brought me in here just a few short weeks ago.

I made my way to his desk, my fingers brushing over the polished wood as I scanned for anything useful. Gavin was a careful man, but no one was perfect.

I crouched beside the desk, running my hands along the underside. Nothing. No false bottoms, no secret compartments. My fingers curled into fists. My gaze flicked to the sleek, expensive painting above the liquor cabinet.

I strode toward it, heart hammering, and carefully lifted the frame from the wall. There. A small black safe was embedded behind it, digital keypad gleaming under the dim light. I let out a slow exhale, pressing my comm, “I need more time.”

Oliver’s response was immediate. “You’ve got ten minutes before the loop resets. You need to be out before then.”

“I need the code.” My voice was steady, but my pulse was anything but.

A few seconds of silence. Then?—

“Hold on.”

I ran my fingers along the edge of the safe, checking for any signs of tampering. It was clean. Gavin was smart, but he was also arrogant.

The seconds ticked by. My breathing slowed, steadying.

Then Oliver’s voice cut through. “Try his birthday. Eight digits. 03141999.”

I pressed my lips together and keyed in the numbers. Nothing.

“Didn’t work.”

I took a deep breath as I thought over everything. The key code to his front door was eight digits. I punched it in quickly.

Click.

The door creaked open to reveal several weapons—guns, and various kinds of knives—stacks of cash, envelopes, and a thick folder. I put one of the many stacks of cash in my bag and pulled the folder free.

It was a folder for his firm of illegal dealings. At the top of the stack of papers was a list of names. I frowned as I ran my finger down the list. Hundreds of names, but they were in Russian?

I wasn’t so sure. Definitely not English. What was this? I pulled my phone out of my pocket and snapped pictures of every sheet.

I snapped the last picture, heart hammering as I flipped the pages faster, trying to take in as much as I could before I had to go. This wasn’t just money laundering or some shady business deals. This was something bigger.

The names—rows and rows of them, listed with numbers beside them. Transaction amounts? Identification numbers?

It hit me like a freight train. Human trafficking.

My stomach twisted. I clenched my jaw, shoving the folder back inside the safe, careful to leave it exactly as I’d found it. The cash in my bag was nothing. This kind of leverage was life-changing. It was… shit, I didn’t even know what it was. It was monumental.

My vision tunneled as I went over what I’d just found. This was it, this had to be what he was working on with Sinclair Cristof. Which meant my next heist of the night was going to make sure Dimitri wasn’t involved in it.

“Scarlett, wrap it up. You’re at five minutes until the loop resets.”

I exhaled sharply, nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. Get out. Get out now.

I moved toward the door, careful, calculated steps—until something caught my eye.

A small, unmarked USB drive, plugged into the side of his computer.

I hesitated. Fuck.

This could be it. This could have everything. Proof.

My fingers hovered for a fraction of a second before I grabbed it, shoving it deep into my bra. Better to have it and not need it.