Page 50 of Steal My Heart

“Go back to the jazz band,” I interject, thinking out loud. “House band, or do they hire out musicians?”

He shakes his head. “No house band; I’m still waiting to learn who will be performing.”

“That’s how we get Remi inside,” I announce.

“I’m not following,” Maks says.

“She’ll take the pianist’s place.” Whether we have to bribe, kidnap, or kill the pianist, it matters not to me.

Remi’s eyes go wide. “But that means I’d have to?—”

“Play the event. And during a set break, that’s when you’ll disappear into the crowd, find the mayor, and swipe his phone,” I tell her.

She worries her bottom lip. “It’s risky. Pickpocketing is all about blending in; if I’m on stage, I won’t be doing that.”

“What if blending in isn’t the play?” Maks argues. “If you snag the mayor’s attention, that’ll get you past his entourage.”

My jaw clenches uncomfortably. While I can’t stand the thought of Remi snagging the mayor’s attention, I don’t have a better idea.

Remi considers. “Alright, let’s say we go with this plan. So you’re just going to bust the pianist’s kneecaps, and I’ll waltz right into the party?” she asks me.

“Why on earth would I bust anyone’s kneecaps?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Well, excuse me for not knowing how this mob thing works!” Remi huffs.

“Leave the logistics to me,” I assure her.

“But I’ve never performed on a stage before.” There she goes, worrying that bottom lip. It makes me want to grab her and turn her over my knee again.

I run my hand through my hair in frustration. Never have I evenconsideredspanking a woman before, and yet here I am, my cock one hundred percent on board with a repeat performance…

“Hello, did you hear me?” Remi says with attitude.

Focusing, I tell her, “We’ll get you the set list so you can practice, but don’t lose sight of what’s important here.”

“Why do you want the mayor’s phone, anyway?” she asks.

“Nope.” I tsk. “C’est tout.” I use Remi’s Cajun-French words against her.

She sticks out her tongue at me.

Maks’ eyes go wide, but he bites his own tongue.

“Let’s walk through this,” Remi says. “Who is going to be running counter surveillance? We’ll either need to be miked up together, or we’ll need a hand signal system.”

“That would be me,” Maks says. “I’ll be outside the venue with our IT guy watching the feed from both your camera andAngelo’s. Remi, I will be in communication with you via your earpiece.”

“In that case, it would help to have Angelo position himself and his ‘not girlfriend’ near the mayor when I make my move,” Remi tells Maks, the jab obviously directed at me. “How many guests?”

“Five hundred plus,” he answers.

Remi whistles. “For a crowd that big, it would be the safer play to use a duke man.”

“I’m going to need a translation,” I tell her.

“With that many eyes on the mark, there’s a greater risk someone notices me lifting the phone. If I have a duke man to pass it off to, should I be detained, cops won’t find the phone on me.”

“So you need a runner, basically,” I say.