A Fortune I Seek

Chapter 9

A beautiful fanmade edit!! I am actually obsessed!!

Huge thank you to @redkissesxox for the amazing cover!! Xoxo

Now, enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maisie and I did not sleep that night. What was supposed to be a small plan of action turned into an all encompassing battle plan. Maisie has always been a fiend when it comes to strategy whereas I excelled at combat and Bear excelled at ... well ... just a general chaotic headfirst charge into unfavorable situations.

"Okay so let's review." Maisie flipped back several pages that had been destroyed by horrible handwriting and illegible scribbles, "I will set up alarms and surveillance using our own security system so that it cannot be hacked. It shouldn't take me much more than a day or so to activate. While I am doing that, Bear will assess the grounds and team up with Foxtrot's men to better fortify the estate against possible intruders. His main points of interest will be the fence since you clearly were able to sneak in, along with the back of the estate that is too far for the cameras to monitor. And you will use these pages," She tore out a chunk of papers and handed them to me, "As a guideline to educate the Bel Bunch about our rules."

The rules are what took up most of the night. They were intricate, precise, and strict. And mandatory. After meeting the group of young collectors, I have a very strong feeling that they will not enjoy this list as it limits their freedoms quite significantly. However, it is in everyone's best interest.

Bel's especially.

"And finally, the three of us will work together to keep them safe." Maisie declared, much to my surprise as it was not a part of the dissertation we had created last night, "You will be our charge, Bear and I will follow your orders. But, the least we can do is help lessen some of the additional stress of these extra kids. That way you can put your full focus on Bel and his safety."

I dove into her and hugged her tightly, "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

She laughed and hugged me back, "Maybe once or twice."

"There is just one last thing." I sat back and looked through the papers scattered around us, "We need a diversion for Mr. Abbot."

Maisie made a face, "Why?"

"Bel thinks Mr. Abbot killed his own brother and since he was bold enough to hire a mercenary to kill the son of one of the richest families in the country, it would be downright asinine to think he won't try again." I have been thinking about this since I accepted Bel's offer, "Whether he is guilty or not, it wouldn't hurt to keep the old man buried in busywork until this whole thing passes. It will be one less thing for us to worry about."

Maisie nodded through my explanation and made a note of it on the paper, "I will look into it. How busy do you want him?"

I thought of Mr. Sutcliffe's deathly sweet smile laying in that coffin. To think Mr. Abbot put him there made my stomach queasy, "Mr. Abbot only has a few grey hairs."

My cousin laughed, "We'll make sure he has a full head by the time we're done with him then."

That's what I like to hear.

We spent the rest of the morning making handwritten copies. We were tired but sleep deprivation was common in our line of work so we decided against rest until we had delivered our plan to Bel and the Bel Bunch, as Maisie started calling them.

After collecting the copies we made, we left to find Bear who was passed out on the couch in the break room with our younger cousin Tessa curled up next to him.