Page 81 of Villainous Kingpin

“Did we get features we didn’t need?” Davina asked, annoyance on her face. “I really hoped to do this without actually using anyone’s money but our own.”

“Theoretically, stolen money,” Ivy reminded us.

Juliette rolled her eyes. “We don’t need a reminder anymore. We need to finish this so we can move on obtaining a license from the Board of Education, creating a staff, curriculum, and who knows what else.”

“Wow,” I murmured, slightly impressed. Juliette might have finally found her thing.

“How do you feel about playing a round of poker?” she asked.

“Juliette, we said no more,” Davina groaned. “Liam will lose his shit. There is only so much calming, distracting sex I can have.”

Juliette raised her palm and faced it at Davina. “Listen stepmother, I don’t need reminders of your hanky panky with my father, who’s not really my father, but I think of him as a father.”

“Well, confuse us more, why don’t you?” Ivy chimed in. “If we get in trouble and my father finds out, I’ll be shipped to Ireland.”

“Like a bag of potatoes,” Davina added.

“We won’t let that happen.” Juliette swished her hand. “If we get at least one of the school buildings built, we won’t need dad’s place. We can just stay there. The school will need all our attention anyhow.”

“Yeah, let's stay there while workers are banging and building shit,” Ivy said sarcastically. “It’s my dream come true.”

I raised my eyebrow, surprised at Ivy’s reluctance to get into trouble. Usually it was Jules and Ivy that dove head first into mayhem.

“Okay, this is what we need to do,” I announced. “Juliettewill notbe paying bills. We need to be smarter about our spending. I know we want everything to be perfect, but we can always upgrade later, once the school brings in profit.”

“I’ll handle all business arrangements and contracts,” Davina agreed. “Wynter, you take care of the funds.”

I grinned, feeling lighter for the first time in over two weeks. “I’ll be the banker.”

“Sounds good to me,” Juliette commented. “I want to be the enforcer and kill people.”

The three of us shared a glance and rolled our eyes.

“You’ve handled everything amazingly so far,” I commended Jules. “You keep arranging the next steps, but let Davina do negotiations. I know you want everything perfect and it will be, but not at the point where we have to keep playing poker.”

Juliette nodded her agreement.

“I can help with decor and furniture,” Ivy offered. “When we are at the interior decorating stage, we should also start making offers to individuals we want working for the school.”

The four of us nodded, excited about our long term goals.

“But until then, we need to find someone to rob.” Juliette had to ruin the moment. Ignoring our protests, she continued, “I think we should rob Nico Morrelli.”

“Are you crazy?” Ivy hissed. “Didn’t I tell you he’s known as The Wolf?”

She shrugged. “So what? There are four of us and one of him.”

“Jules, stop it. We’re going to get in trouble,” I told her. “We haven’t been successful with any of it. But I can go there and play poker.”

That wasn’t stealing.

“Exactly,” she agreed. “Your counting cards. It’s not stealing exactly.”

I sighed. “It’s not strictly legal either.”

“Actually, I agree with Juliette,” Davina chimed in, surprising me. She usually sided on the sane side, with me. “Let’s go into one of Nico’s casinos in Baltimore and play poker.”

“You know there is no way to get millions off counting cards,” I murmured. “At least not the normal way and not bringing attention to ourselves.”