Page 66 of The Wicked

“Good, I’ll be done here in an hour; be ready by then. If you’re not, I’ll leave you.” I began to leave, but she held me back by my arm.

“Wai—whoa.” She squeezed my arm, and I stood there inconfusion. Her gaze flickered to mine and then back to my arm. “You’ve got—real solid muscles. Do you work out?”

I wrenched my arm free from her hold. “Do you fondle people randomly? Because if you do, you must get that in check before tonight.”

“I don’t—why are you taking me? We can barely stand each other as it is.”

“I disagree. The last few minutes are proof that we can.”

“That’s because there are catches to be gained from being civil.”

“I don’t care about the catches. It appears that after recent events, killing you is more hassle than it’s worth.”

“I did warn you, but I still want to know why you’re taking me with you.”

I searched my brain for a concrete answer before standing straighter. “Because I would rather take the muscle-fondling demon I know than the one I don’t. There’s also the fact that you speak good Spanish, and I’m impressed.”

She momentarily looked surprised, but shook it off and released a sigh. “Fine. Guess I’ll see you in a few hours.”

I gave a nod and walked out of the supply closet, straightening my suit jacket the moment a female chef came out of the room opposite the one I stood in front of.

Zahra walked past me, offering the girl a wink before walking away with a confident sway to her—

Matter at hand.

I averted my gaze back to the girl, her cheeks growing red as she scurried away with assumptions about things that had never happened.

I took a sharp breath, shook my head at my situation, and returned to Casmiro.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Zahra

“Okay, Zahra, we’ve got you all covered,” Dog said, handing the comm to Devil, who fixed it inside my ear. “Turn on the comm anytime you want to talk to us. The tracking device inside should let us know where exactly you are. Only when it’s turned on.”

I nodded.

“It should be turned on at all times,” Devil reaffirmed. “Onnoaccount should we lose contact with you. Your phone should be in your hands because if something happens, or the comm stops working, that’s our next means of communication,” he said.

“Got it.”

“Right.” Milk brushed her hands together. “Shall we go over the plans one last time?”

“Attend the event with Marino,” Upper said. “Mingle and talk for a bit, familiarize yourself with the security around the space. Dog will handle the security cameras from the little cafe at the other side of the street when you go off toexplore.”

“The painting,” Devil took over, “is kept in a vault-like safe; the unlocking device sitting pretty in your purse will be able to rig the system without setting off any alarm.”

“It’s tested and trusted,” Milk cut in with a proud smile.

Upper nodded. “You get into the vault, and I’ll be there inside the vent tube, waiting for you to vent me in.”

“He gets in with his computer,” Dog continued, “disables the alarm so that when you open the safe where the painting is kept, the security won’t get alerted and storm the place.”

“You grab the painting, hand it over to Upper, he gets back into the vent with it and meets me and Dog at our getaway car a street away from the museum,” Devil said. “Meanwhile, you get back to the event, and stick to Marino’s side until he leaves.”

I nodded. “Okay, should be easy enough.”

Dog eyed me with concern. “You sure you’re okay with doing this? After the thing with Dion—”