Under the Flowers

Chapter 2 | Detrimental Park Date

"Eat, dear. You're looking a little thin." Chantal Sallows prodded a gilded fork at Cordelia's arm.

She gave her mother a polite smile. "Thank you, but I am not hungry."

Her mother tilted her adorned head, a twisted smile on her beautiful face. "It was not a suggestion, Cordelia."

She held her mother's look, trying to decide if she was up for a fight. No, she was too tired. She shoved the slimy eggs into her mouth.

She could not sleep last night. Haunted by blue diamonds and drips of blood. How did he do that? How did he get inside her head? She didn't even get what she was after. And now he knew her face. What a disaster.

"Where were you last night?" Her father, Thomas, asked from the other side of the table, eyes skimming over the morning paper.

She winced. "I was... scouting houses for our next job."

"And what did you find?"

Don't say it. Don't say it. "Well, the De Fonté mansion looked promising." Blast my loose tongue!

"The De Fonté's... Yes, they could work. Very wealthy."

She released a breath. She was an excellent liar, raised to lie even, but she never had mastered lying to her parents. Besides, half-lies always worked better than full ones.

"What do you know about the family?" She asked while picking at her uneaten roll.

Her mother piped up, eager to share any gossip she had gathered. "Well, I believe the father's name was Montgomery but he died four years ago. And then Lynette, that's the mother, was left to take care of the two kids. I believe she was heavily pregnant at the time. Though she is a little old to bear a child if you ask me." Her mother chuckles and Cordelia has to hold down a grimace. "Anyways, the family has not been seen for years, I am surprised they bothered to come for the social season. They must have gone crazy, cooped up in that house so long."

"It is a very large house," Cordelia muttered.

Her mother ignored the remarks and prattled on about the supposed state of the family.

So the father was dead... that means the son would be running the estate.

"Do you know the names of the children?" She asked, putting on an air of nonchalance.

"No, but it wouldn't matter once we rob them blind." Chantal answered with a cruel smile and a wicked glint in her eye.

Cordelia tried to smile, but could not find the strength. A knock saved her from the questioning look in her mother's eye.

"That's Marsi. May I go with her to the Découvrir?" It was a park where the Beau Monde, the fashionable socialites, would go to meet eligible bachelors and flaunt their wealth. Marsi would drag Cordelia along if only to make fun of the others. Anything was better than a day with her parents.

Her mother flicked an absent hand, already bored of the conversation. "Yes, do what you like."

She pushed away from the breakfast table. "Thank you!"

Making her way to the parlor, she found the lace gloves she had left there and slipped them on. She stood in front of the large mirror framed in the center of the room. Her maid, Inez, had dressed her in a deep blue gown with dark lace trim and a small bustle. Her dark brown waves were done up in a loose braided crown. She grinned at the mirror. Yes, she was beautiful, there was no denying that. It was her greatest asset when it came to thieving. That, and her knack for the finer things in life. She was practically an expert when it came to the finest jewels and most expensive brands.