Chapter Nineteen

Nineteen

“Are you sure he hasn’t changed his number? It’s been six months.”

Noelia’s lip curled. “Just be grateful I didn’t delete it at all.” She aggressively brushed wrinkles out of her skirt, muttering something about kidnapping and honor.

For the umpteenth time, I reread the brand-new thread I’d started with the contact she forwarded me.

Opportunity available.

12PM

Ross Quest

I dropped a location too. Was it vague? Yeah. Did I sort of think that was going to make him more intrigued? Also yes. Did I debate adding my last name unnecessarily because I thought it would remind him that I was indeed Ross mother-hugging Quest and that would add a little extra clout to draw him? Definitely.

Even with all of this, I was starting to get nervous that he wasn’t going to show up at all. I mean, I’d sent the message sixteen hours ago, and besides temporarily flicking on his read tags to let me know he’d seen it, there wasn’t exactly a response.

If he didn’t show, then we’d wasted a lot of our prep time for nothing, and still had no idea how we were going to pull off this secret casino-heist thing.

So, was I nervous?

My sweaty hands were enough of an answer to that.

“Do you think the squid ink mochi will turn my tongue black?” Mylo looked up from the digital menu that covered our low-sitting table. Everything was low-sitting here. Instead of chairs, there were cushions on the floor, taking up most of the space in our cozy private room. Individual rooms for dining parties were definitely something I thought the rest of the world should adopt in restaurants as well.

“It’s bad manners to order before all guests arrive. Have you had no basic etiquette classes?” Noelia canceled his order on the digital tabletop.

“ If he shows up,” Mylo said, dropping his chin into his hands.

My gaze drifted to the time, helpfully displayed in the top corner of the menu.

11:59.

“Whatever,” Noelia sighed. “Show or no show, I don’t think one person’s going to increase our chances of doing the impossible that much. We might have been better off bingeing the Ocean’s franchise like Mylo wanted.”

Before I could mention that I’d already seen them all way too many times, the sliding door to the room slid open. We shut up. A server in a black-and-gray apron announced something in Japanese, then bowed at the waist before scurrying away. Taking his place was a boy with flawless skin, boxy glasses, the crispest wool coat I’d ever seen, and hair just as perfect as I remembered it.

Taiyō.

He actually came. Right at 12:00 too. Of course he was exactly on time.

“Oh damn,” Mylo murmured beside me. I swiped a glance at him and found him looking absolutely enthralled.

What had gotten into him?

Not counting Mylo’s remark, no one really knew what to say to break the ice. This was getting awkward, and I was just as much to blame as everyone else. Was I supposed to bring up the last time I saw him or…?

I opened my mouth, but couldn’t find anything in time.

And I guess Taiyō had had enough of the bull.

“Hello.” He pushed up his glasses. With that, he slid off his coat, leaving it on the hanger next to Noelia’s peacoat, and slid his shoes off, leaving them in the row alongside ours.

He took the only seat left, across from me and Mylo, next to Noelia.

He immediately tapped the call button at the bottom of the screen.

“Nice.” Mylo touched the skin above his right eyebrow, to indicate the same area above Taiyō’s. True enough, Taiyō’s skin wasn’t quite as flawless as I remembered. There was a pale line nipping the end of his brow and climbing halfway up his forehead.

“Thanks to Ross,” he said. The sliding door pulled open again, and the same server knelt in the doorway, a tablet in hand. Taiyō spoke to him in Japanese.

Mylo hit my thigh and whispered, “He has a scar now.”

I gave him a quick okay, and? look.

“I die for guys with scars.”

The door slid shut, and Mylo and I pulled away, ignoring Noelia’s side-eye. Taiyō was just looking at me. And I mean staring hard.

Right, I guessed this was the part where I apologized.

I cleared my throat. “So…are you, like, okay? Besides that.” I gestured at my own forehead.

“If by ‘okay’ you mean two bruised ribs, a fractured ankle, shattered ulna, concussion, and minor internal bleeding, then yes, I am ‘okay.’?”

“Hmm.” Noelia gave him a sympathy-free once-over, as if that wasn’t quite enough for her but pleasant to hear nonetheless.

Really not helping, Lia.

I fidgeted. Taiyō didn’t.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “But to be fair, you were trying to kidnap a fourteen-year-old, so, you know.”

At that, he finally cracked a bit, glancing away for a second. “I was only trying to win. Nothing more.”

“Weren’t we all.”

Another short silence. Taiyō fisted his hands in his lap. “I… appreciate you phoning the ambulance. Most of my injuries were minor, but I was told that the internal bleeding would have been much more severe the more time passed. I understand you didn’t have to do that.”

Not really a thank-you, but if I was being honest, my apology was underwhelming too.

“Now that we’re past all that,” Mylo said, slapping the table. “Wanna help us rob a casino?”

“Really?” Noelia said.

“What?”

“You have no sense of subtlety.”

“It’s cool, I’m sure Taiyō appreciates brass tacks,” I said. “We wouldn’t want to waste his valuable time.”

“And this impromptu casino heist itself isn’t going to be a waste of my time?” Taiyō asked. He was trying to sound disinterested. But I caught a minor sparkle in his eyes. He wouldn’t have been here if he wasn’t already intrigued.

The waiter returned, bringing a handleless cup of what I assumed was tea for Taiyō, and said something in Japanese that was probably promising the rest of the food to come. Gosh, how I really, really hated not knowing the local language.

“You don’t have to participate,” Noelia said, making me snap my head toward her. But she wasn’t looking at me; instead she brushed wrinkles out of the napkin in her lap. “We’re only here because Ross thought you might have some insightful suggestions.”

“Suggestions?” Taiyō asked.

“We’re planning something…ambitious,” I clarified. That alone seemed to capture more of his attention. “We need to do it fast. You’re the person I thought would have the best chance of coming up with a plan with the highest probability of success in the shortest amount of time. Especially if someone’s pulled off something like this before.”

Taiyō thrummed his fingers against his cup, still not having taken a sip, though. He sighed and pressed his lips together, an action that almost made Mylo swoon next to me. I had to pinch him to get him back on track.

“What’s the objective?”

“Upward of twenty million American dollars from a shady place in Monte Carlo. They also deal in secrets and other unconventional currencies,” Mylo said. The more he talked about this, the more excited about this whole job he seemed to be.

Taiyō rubbed his chin. “That’s significant, but not impossible—”

“In one night,” I added.

Taiyō leaned back. “Ah, I see.” He took a sip of his tea. “And the reason for the time constraint?”

“We’re trying to win a Guinness world record,” Mylo said.

Noelia rolled her eyes. “It’s phase two in a new Gambit we’ve gotten sucked into.”

“Wait, what ?” Now, that got Taiyō’s attention.

“It’s a really long story,” I said.

“Hm,” Taiyō said, clearly thinking. But what was he trying to decide? Whether he wanted in on this, or was he already thinking of a plan? “And my cut is?” he finally said. “I’m assuming you’re not keeping all if any of these winnings. If this is another Gambit, I’m assuming the organization will be keeping any and all additional spoils. What incentive do I have to help you?”

“You mean other than another chance to impress the organization without having to kidnap a minor and end up in an ambulance?” Noelia asked. I would’ve kicked her if I’d had the room.

Taiyō’s eyes were sharp, unblinking. I squared my shoulders. Right, that would be the next question any one of us would have asked. Or one that I would have six months ago. Lately, I was thinking a lot less about money and cuts than I had in another life. Sometimes I forgot how being a normal player in this industry worked these days.

“I can offer you two hundred grand, American,” I said, which made Mylo choke on his own tea. I mean, they weren’t exactly getting paid for this themselves.

It was a big chunk of what I had left in my own personal accounts after I blew a hefty sum during my shenanigans at the end of the Gambit, and although I was technically being paid a very healthy amount of money for all the jobs Count and the organization were flying us around the world to complete, she had conveniently failed to mention that all of those payments were going to be withheld until my year’s tenure with the organization was finished. Insurance, she’d called it. To make sure no one took advantage of the organization by taking their payments and running off before the year was up. Also, why would we be in need of immediate money when they were covering all of our expenses for a year?

Taiyō watched me closely, and Mylo mouthed something to Noelia. I held my breath. If he was going to barter, then I could probably get up to a million if I went begging to Auntie to empty out some of the family accounts for me, but that was far from optimal. I could also probably get Count to pitch in if I convinced her how much we really needed Taiyō.

There was also the half a billion Mom was sitting on.

I suppressed an angry tremble, clutching my hand under the table. That money existed, yes, but Mom had conveniently not brought it up the couple of times we talked. What she was doing with it, had done with it, was unknown to me. And there was something about those dollars in particular that felt like the blood money Judas sold Jesus out for. Tainted. Unsafe. I’d feel…unclean just thinking about touching it.

Not to mention, I’d have to ask Mom for it. If she said no, then that would be another nail in the I-hate-you coffin, and I couldn’t deal with that right now.

“I don’t want money,” Taiyō said.

I frowned. “Uh? Can you repeat that?”

“Don’t you think I could easily leverage the information you’ve given me to make a pretty profit myself, if that was all I cared about?”

“And add yourself to the organization’s hit list? Surely you’re smarter than that,” Noelia said.

“Then what do you want?” I asked, leaning in. He hadn’t left yet; we were still stealing his time, and he was letting us. He wouldn’t have let us keep up this conversation for no reason.

Taiyō smirked, just a whisper of one, and it sent a ripple of unexpected nostalgia through me. I’d seen that smile before. A long time ago during a conversation about his plans for the future in a hotel in Marseille.

“Three pro bono jobs at my request,” he said. “And there’s no time limit as to when I can request them.”

“Three?” Noelia gawked. “One for the price of three isn’t exactly a fair deal, you know.”

“Not from you,” Taiyō said, verbally waving her off. “I only want Ross.”

“Ugh!” Noelia fumed. Mylo pouted, looking like a rejected puppy.

“You couldn’t even have offered us a pity request?” Mylo said. “That’s cold.”

Taiyō kept his focus on me. “I’d appreciate having your name to drop as an associate. Three times working together, under jobs I plan, seems like enough to make that true.”

I chuckled. “So you don’t just want me, you want the Quest brand recognition for your résumé?”

“Connections are everything in this industry.”

Connections are everything in a lot of the world, aren’t they?

“Done, then.” I put up a hand. “On the condition that we succeed in this casino heist.”

Maybe it was petty of me to add that last condition. What would it cost me to hold up my end of the bargain either way? But it never hurt to add that extra dash of incentive.

Taiyō’s half smirk was still there. In fact, it seemed to grow by a size. Mylo was dying next to me. “Unnecessary, but I accept.”

“Unnecessary?” Mylo asked.

“Yes,” Taiyō said. “Because we’re not going to fail. Not with my plan.”