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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Rei waited until the water ran in the bathroom, washing Sébastien's long nights away in a deluge of hot water.
"Why are you taking him?" Diego said.
Despite the fact that Diego had a broad frame and was probably double her weight, Rei was not intimidated. She was slight and led a career full of run-ins with men who meant her harm. Diego didn't, not really. He wanted the truth, and he would no doubt return it to her. Rei got the distinct impression that he would be honest with her in a way that Sébastien never would.
"Because my brother is in the wrong and I don't know what else to do about it," Rei said. She kept her gaze steady, refusing to shrink under scrutiny.
"That's the best you can do?" Diego said.
Rei pursed her lips. "It'll die down eventually," she insisted, "it doesn't have to be a permanent arrangement."
If the police found Cheng with all the artifacts he'd had Sébastien steal, then there would no longer be a need to find a suspect. Rei could eventually make herself known again, resurface when her responsibilities were taken over by lawyers. They wouldn't be on the run. They would just be on vacation. They would be lying low.
"All I know about you is that you have a lot of money and Baz talks about you like you invented sliced bread," Diego said. "What I know about him is that he'll let almost anyone direct him around if it means he doesn't have to make his own decisions. Whose idea was it? Running off to France?"
Rei's face may have betrayed her. What did she do to deserve to be idolized? In the day they had spent together, the shine had almost certainly worn off. While she convinced so many that she was fearless, strong, unaffected, all of the qualities listed in magazines as her incomparable virtues... beneath it all was a shaky foundation.
Rei leaned forward, her hair threatening to fall into her eyes. "Mine," she admitted. "Is this your 'if you hurt him' speech?"
Diego's expression remained unchanged. That's exactly what it was."All I'm saying is you just convinced Baz to break into your brother's house carrying a bag of stolen shit while you do nothing but buy a couple plane tickets out of here. If anything happens to him, that's on you."
Rei wavered a moment. Was there a person on Earth that would talk about her like that? Had she ever done anything to inspire someone to be so concerned for her wellbeing? Rei's heart said no. Rei Collingwood disappeared and bloody Sébastien Barret was the one who came looking for her. Her own brother just fabricated her kidnapping. It seemed like her parents were happy to leave Cheng to solve the issue.
"I won't let anything bad happen," Rei promised. Her certainty crawled under her own skin. It wouldn't. Like Diego said, it would be on her. If Sébastien decided to put his faith in her, Rei decided wholeheartedly that she would deserve it. It was the least she could do. It was perhaps the only chance she had to build for herself what Sébastien already had: the kind of personality that made people want to defend him.
