Reluctant thief Baz Barret is tasked with stealing from the formidable archaeologist Rei Collingwood--who happens to also be his college crush and rival--but when Rei goes missing after the burglary, Baz must find her before he's blamed for her disa...
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Fantasy crashed violently with reality.
Until that moment, Baz hadn't realized how much he wanted there to be another option. Running away from his problems had been a back burner, if-all-else-fails solution. Rei offered it up as the first and easiest option, just like that.
Baz's stomach twisted, not unlike the way it had at the very top of Hillside. Both were, in different ways, leaps of faith he had to decide to take.
Rei sipped her tea on the other side of the island, so unaffected about abandoning her life for a little while longer.
Her hair was tied up in a bun, long silky tendrils of it falling loose around her face. Rei's eyes danced. Baz remembered that about her, the way her eyebrows arched and her dark eyes shone, like she was perpetually on the verge of mischief.
In school, her confidence appeared unshakeable, impossible not to notice both for reputation and demeanor. Now, she was a woman hiding in an apartment.
"You can't just leave," Baz protested.
"Yes," Rei said, matter-of-factly, "I can."
"Where would you go?" he asked.
What country would distract her from all that Temperance had to offer?
Rei shrugged. It didn't really matter, did it? The entire world was at her fingertips. Rei Collingwood could go anywhere she wanted.
"Italy?" Baz asked, more icily than he intended.
Rei froze, her teacup poised in front of her face, obscuring her expression. Could she manage strolling through Tuscan vineyards knowing she left Angelo Ferrero in the hospital in a coma, forfeiting everything he asked of her?
"Wouldn't you like to escape for a while? Even Cheng's attention span runs out. He can't chase you forever," Rei said. "Where would you like to go?"
Possibilities danced in her eyes, easy to lose himself in. Baz already knew the answer. Rei might've, too. He'd go to France in a heartbeat. He'd tour art museums, sit and read in hundred-year-old libraries. Everyone would pronounce his name with the same cadence his mother did, right on the first try.
That was a fantasy he entertained, a distant promise with unfulfillable prerequisites. He'd go when he could afford it. He'd go when the time was right. Maybe when all the planets and all their moons aligned.
Rei watch him knowingly. Baz hastily hid behind his own cup.
"We could be fugitives, wearing big sunglasses and trench coats," Rei said.
Except, Baz didn't mention out loud, only he would be a true criminal. She would just be playing pretend. Another game, another adventure.
"Is that an invite?" Baz asked.
"Well, I don't think this career choice of yours suits you," Rei said.
Baz wavered. Could it really be the best way out? That lie he told Gwen about meeting Rei in Europe could become true. Rei would be at her Rei-est. How could anyone who saw her at her Rei-est not want to find her?
