Mob Sorcery 4 - Ch17

Kiho’s interrogation flew by. She knew exactly which questions to ask about how Vince fought, what his current worries were, and the sort of opponents he was worried about. Ally alternated being nodding along and trying to hide jealous looks.

Ally might be the one who ran the shop, but he got the feeling Kiho had done her fair share of customer service over the past century.

“Not just the past century,” Kiho said when he brought it up. “Warrior foxes like myself filled whatever roles were necessary, until called upon by Knightsgate. I spent substantial time when I first received my fourth tail protecting an onmyouji pretending to be a merchant as he traveled Hokkaido to oversee the many seals there.”

“Things must appear easy to you compared to back then,” Vince said.

She shrugged. “The elders of my clan said the same thing to me, comparing the peace of the Tokugawa shogunate to the chaos of the Sengoku era. Of course, most of them perished resisting Meiji’s imperial armies and the rest of Knightsgate. Centuries of peace collapsed practically overnight. The Great War proved it could happen again and Japan wiped out most of Knightsgate when it conquered East Asia. Peril never truly vanishes. Only a fool would convince themselves that such a disaster couldn’t strike here and now.”

As they left, Kiho’s gaze flicked between Ally and Vince. She let out a low hum.

She waved a hand at Vince in goodbye. “It was nice meeting you, Vince. Be very careful in your dealings with Knightsgate, whatever they may be.”

Before turning to leave, she winked at her daughter. Then she strode off through the crowd. Nobody paid her any attention. Mystic foxes were a common enough sight downtown, at least during the day.

At night, somebody might mistake her for one of Houou’s enforcers or some sort of honey pot.

Ally sighed and leaned against Vince. Her tails brushed against his back.

“Sorry about how overbearing Mama was,” she said. “If I’d been good enough to make this magic tool myself, then I could have made her stay home.”

“I’m not sure she would have accepted that,” Vince mused. “She knew a lot more than you thought she did.”

Ally winced. “She did. I told Papa not to talk to her about everything, but I guess that didn’t matter. At least she’s not going on the warpath. She’s not an active enforcer anymore, but she trains every day. Even this morning, she was up at dawn doing her rituals.”

Vince got up early this morning, but it sure as hell wasn’t at dawn, and wasn’t so he could practice his spells over and over. Kiho was hardcore.

“This might not be the best time, but I did promise something before you left for New York,” he said, trying to catch Ally’s gaze.

She looked down instead of trying to meet his eyes, her face rapidly reddening. “Can we wait until Mama leaves? She should head back to New York once we make your tool this week, and then I’ll have the whole workshop to myself. Or, um, you can visit me at home.” She pressed her fingertips together nervously.

“That works,” he said. “Just let me know when. Also, we should try to catch up outside of your shop. Maybe have lunch or coffee sometime that isn’t related to any Yakuza blackmail?”

Ally hunched her shoulders, but smiled up at him regardless. “That sounds nice.”

As if worried she might say something she’d regret, the fox dashed away. A few dozen feet away, she stopped and spun. She waved her hand in the air, tails bobbing up and down wildly.

“Bye, Vince,” she called out.

This time, people did look over. Vince ignored the jealous looks he got with practiced ease and waved back.

Training absorbed his life for the coming days. The meeting with Mei hammered home the fact the heist would take place shortly, and he’d be paid an obscene amount for it.

But another conversation haunted him. Duilio’s matter-of-fact acceptance of his likely death, despite being retired and a family man. Vince wasn’t being paid all this money because Alessia and Mei wanted to give him a golden shower, but because he might die before he could receive the cash.

He pushed away all other distractions and began training until late. Casting his fire tornado constantly wasn’t possible, but it gave him time to practice his other spells.

When Fia joined them to train over the weekend, he took the time to learn her explosion spell. In turn, she borrowed his fire cage spell. The focus remained on trying to cast without speaking her incantation. The process of speaking slowed down spellcasting immensely compared to a silent incantation, as it took longer. Vince’s musings about his battles with the demons pushed Fia to train harder.

She took them out to a nearby Chinese place, hidden among the office buildings and Starbucks. A local place, rather than a chain, befitting Fia.

Fia and Nina ordered enough food to feed everyone else in the restaurant, which comprised of office workers and a couple of young sorcerers. Vince guessed the place had good food simply because half the people here were Chinese.

“We’ve nailed down the date,” Fia said. “I’ll send it via text, but it might be sooner than you thought.” She gestured at the ceiling.

Vince and Nina nodded while pulling out their phones. The possibility they were being scryed meant the date of the heist couldn’t be discussed publicly.

24th to 26th January, Fia’s message read.

“A date range, really?” Nina asked.

“It gives us some allowance for weather and something going wrong with logistics,” Fia said. “More importantly, the 27th is the drop-dead date.”

They all grimaced at each other, and Vince took the opportunity to grab some more shrimp wontons.

He washed the food down with his soda. “That means Kiyoko knows when they’re moving.”

Fia nodded, mouth full of orange chicken. She gulped it down and said, “We think their defenses will be weakest right before they move it. They’ll bring in a clan guardian and a bunch of elites, then lock the place down in preparation to teleport it.”

“Yeah, even if they bring the wards down for the teleportation ritual, taking on Houou’s best is a suicide mission,” Nina said. “Especially as they’d be ready to teleport in reinforcements. But you think they’ll have fewer enforcers in the days before the move?”

“Kiyoko says they’ll stop extraction and transit of magic. So they’ll have guards and the wards will be airtight, but nobody will be coming and going.”

“Meaning any communication blackout won’t be noticed, and the enforcers will probably be staying on site instead of switching out constantly,” Vince said.

“It’s the only weak point we can identify,” Fia said. “I should have all the tools I want by then, and our newest ‘friend’ will be good as new, according to Kiyoko. She’ll be dropping by tomorrow morning.”

Nina raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure if I should be impressed or upset that it took over a week to heal her. But if I start doubting the tengu, I’ll have nobody I trust in the Yakuza.”

“Nobody?” Vince asked. “What about Kigenai?”

“She’s Mei’s right hand. If the fox is up to something, there’s zero chance she doesn’t know. Especially as she’s low-ranking in Knightsgate.”

The difference between Knightsgate and the Yakuza came up repeatedly. Kiyoko stood high in Knightsgate’s hierarchy, while Kigenai was low. But their positions switched in the Yakuza. Presumably as Kiyoko had only joined the Yakuza in order to come to Aulfair.

“Ally’s mom mentioned Mei used to be unimportant. I wonder how she became such an important figure in Knightsgate so quickly,” Vince mused.

“If what the rat said is true, by lying on her back,” Fia said. She picked at some very saucy slices of fish. “I don’t buy it, though. Maybe she could buy influence with the human government of Japan by sucking a lot of cock, but Knightsgate values achievements. I’ve also never gotten the sense that she slept her way to the top. She’s too sharp. Too good with words, even if she’s used to getting her way.”

“She’d have waved her tits at Vince when they first met if sex was her best weapon,” Nina said. “Instead, she went for money. If she’d done more investigating, she’d have known Vince is a stubborn idiot and tried something else. It was doomed to fail.”

Fia frowned and leaned back. She twirled her chopsticks idly. “You say that, but did it?”

“Uh, what?” Nina raised an eyebrow. “Of course it did. Mei wanted Vince to convince Alessia to meet with her, and all he did was tell her how much of an overbearing bitch Mei was. The only reason we’re allied is because Houou is a far greater threat. Between multiple failed assassination attempts on Vince’s life and the Golden Path banging on your doors.”

“One of those is truer than the others,” Fia said cryptically. “Anyway, you know the date. I’ll make some time to train with you, even if I’m the handler. Never know what might happen. Also, come by Lionetti Tower for drinks a few nights this week.”

Both Vince and Nina raised an eyebrow at the odd request, but nodded. Their conversation shifted to general natter as they polished off the equivalent of the Manchu-Han Imperial Feast. He limited himself to drinks while the girls devoured everything put in front of him and ignored their attempts to feed him with their chopsticks.

Fia kept her end of the bargain and visited them twice that week. Vince began to feel his gains with his fire tornado rapidly diminishing.

He’d gotten the spell down to twenty seconds, even if it took more effort than he expected. Part of him wondered if he was missing something when it came to training. His dragon had been easier to master than this and he lacked Daji’s help back then.

“Every spell is different, particularly the circumstances you learn it under,” Daji told him while he watched Fia and Nina “spar” with spells.

Magical sparring tended to be no-contact, and this was no exception. Fia and Nina used barriers, but also intentionally missed with their spells. The purpose was to exercise their abilities and get a measure of their relative skills. If Fia’s barrier broke when Nina hit her with an earth spike, they’d need one of Ally’s infusions, stat.

“I think I’m learning the fire tornado under the best possible circumstances,” he said.

“And perhaps that is the issue. Adversity breeds desperation. Your dragon made you the man you are, capable of impressing the Lionettis and claiming three women at once—and more.” Daji wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips to his ear. Her tails curled around him, their red tips pressing into his sides. “Nations fall because the people responsible for protecting it, both physically and morally, forget how to fight against invaders and usurpers. Until you met that snake-like fox recently, your training lacked spirit.”

He frowned. Daji clearly meant Mei.

“I don’t believe you know any other foxes who could be described as snakes,” she said, reading his thoughts.

After he pointedly stared at her, she huffed, kissed his nose, then took several steps back.

“I made my intentions clear,” Daji said. “I’ve told no lies.”

“Forgive me for being suspicious of the Daji,” he drawled. “But one could say the same of Mei.”

She gave him a look of disbelief. “You can tell when Mei Suwa is lying because her lips are moving, Vince.”

“People say that about politicians, you know.”

“Fantastic, then you should believe me. Because you already know Mei is a politician.” Daji smiled. “But I will give one final warning about her. The average peon despises lying and hypocrisy, particularly by politicians. Yet they repeatedly vote for liars, cheats, and frauds. In a country such as this one, they speak words they never act upon.”

“I… don’t get it,” Vince admitted. “I’m not voting for Mei. There’s no election where I need to decide between Mei Suwa and Saito Fujiwara, then realize afterward that the woman everyone called a snake and that hates Aulfair immediately started destroying it.”

“Oh, aren’t you? You humans are so foolish.” Daji giggled. “Your masters place a ballot box in front of you, and you convince yourselves that the only way you can make a mark on the world is by using it.” She glared at him. “No, Vince. Your actions make the decision. And more importantly, there’s always more than two choices. More than three, even. Houou, Knightsgate, even the Lionettis—they are tools you should use for your own ascent.”

“Ah.” He nodded sagely. “So that was a long spiel to tell me to pave my own way.”

Her tails hit him. When he merely smiled in response, she hit him again. Only this time, her tails turned into sharp bristles. He winced.

Fia noticed his strange movement and looked over. He waved back.

“Remember my words,” Daji whispered as her body vanished. “I guarantee somebody will try to box you in. Offer you a false dichotomy and reduce you to a meaningless grain of sand like so many people in this world should you bind yourself to their will.”

Vince stared at the space where she’d stood for nearly a minute. He nearly fell over when Nina slapped him on his back.

“Deep thoughts?” Nina asked, guzzling down a bottle of water. She rested her tits on his head and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You looked lost.”

“Just wondering how you know when you’ve been corrupted,” he said.

“I imagine that’s the job of others,” she said. “If your old allies and partners are all screaming that you’ve gone mad, you’ve probably gone mad. Unfortunately, you’re probably long gone by that point.”

“Thanks,” he said drily.

Ronin messaged him, asking him out for drinks for the first time in a long while. Vince tried to redirect him to Lionetti Tower.

Instead, his friend suggested they meet at a certainclub downtown. One Vince had been to for jobs before. You could rent out private booths with wards. Unlike most places, he knew the wards worked—Quintus even used the club for briefings in the past.

“Nina, can you join me and Ronin for drinks tonight?” he asked her while showing her the messages.

She grimaced, then nodded. They cleaned up the atelier, called Nicki, and went for a flight downtown. The lights of the city glittered. Life returned following the post-new year lull, and he saw far more Wings fliers than usual out and about.

A small batgirl bouncer tapped away at her phone outside the club, which kept a low profile. Only a small sign with no lighting gave away the underground stairwell that led to it.

The bouncer took one look at the three of them, then nodded.

“Been a long while since I’ve seen you, V. Heard you changed employers,” the batgirl said. She looked up at Nina, who nearly doubled her height. “And I’ve never met you. I think I still thought boys had cooties when you were hot shit.” She jabbed a thumb inside. “Booth 3A. Wards are already active.”

Nicki shot him a look when they stepped into the neon-lit club, which had a bunch of doors leading to private booths along a wall opposite the bar. Each booth had a window that let serving staff deliver drinks and food without entering.

“You really do know everyone, don’t you?” Nicki said.

Ronin waited for them in the booth with a pint of beer. A familiar face sat next to him. Both were out of uniform.

“Livia,” Vince said, then narrowed his eyes. “Ronin…”

“We ran into each other,” Ronin said, shooting Livia an annoyed glance.

“Something like that.” The serval catgirl grinned. She had a rocks glass with a dark red liquid in it, which she sipped. “If you’re doing a secret meeting, then this is the best chance to pipe up.”

Livia was a serval catfolk who worked in REAT, Aulfair’s anti-enforcer division in the police. She was a sergeant in charge of the anti-cartel unit. Her dark skin, blonde hair, and satellite dishes disguised as cat ears made her hard to forget.

Vince looked at Nina, but she merely gestured at the seats in the booth. They sat down and ordered some drinks using the QR code on the table.

“What’s that?” Nicki asked, eyeing Livia’s drink.

“A special order,” Livia admitted. “The bartenders will make pretty much anything so long as it’s not too busy or absolutely crazy. This is just a boulevardier with some coffee added to it, and that’s basically a bourbon negroni to begin with. Much more comfy to me. Type it into the requests section and they’ll know what you want.”

Nicki did exactly that. Vince found it impressive they could custom order cocktails using an app here. When he came with Quintus, he usually just drank whatever the demons bought them, if they offered anything more than water.

Both he and Nina ordered beers, although he favored one that didn’t look like the bartender pissed in a glass.

“I’ll to keep this quick,” Ronin said. “You’ve got a big job, and I think a lot of people know that.”

“It’s been added to your enforcer files in the department,” Livia added. “As has your association with everyone’s favorite cartel princess.”

Vince raised an eyebrow at Livia’s description of Gabriela, but remained silent.

“Houou’s also preparing something big,” Ronin continued. “We’re dialing down patrols in expectation of something big breaking out, and there are more REAT teams on standby than usual.”

“Dialing down patrols?” Nicki asked in confusion.

“The bosses are reducing hours now because they think everyone will work more in the future,” Livia said. “Pushing people to take leave, or use accrued time off from all the overtime a lot of us worked during the conference and aftermath. It doesn’t even look suspicious, because the city’s quiet.”

“I’m surprised you’re not ready to step in before it gets bad,” Nina said.

“They might,” Ronin said. “Frost is grumpy. But everyone’s between a rock and a hard place. Come down early, and it pisses off the conglomerates. Do nothing, and whatever war you start might attract the feds.”

Their drinks arrived, and it provided the opportunity for Vince to think. He sipped his beer, while Nicki hummed about her cocktail and chatted to Livia about it.

“I can’t say what it is, but it hopefully won’t start a war,” Vince said. “But these days, anything could.”

“Tensions are high,” Livia admitted. “Houou’s under a lot of pressure, the Yakuza are making headway, and if the Lionettis claim enough of Albion they’ll become a major player again. Can I at least ask if you’re involving the cartel in this?”

“We’re not,” he said, ignoring Nina’s glare.

Livia sighed in relief and leaned against her seat. “Well, that makes my life easier. I don’t have any informants in the Horn Striders, but I’ve heard Princess Gaby is fixated on you. Made me worry she’d recruited you and I’d be tangoing with your dragon. If that’s the case…” She leaned forward again. “If things get bad—as in, really bad—give me a call. My REAT team will be the closest.” Her expression darkened.

Ronin had little of interest to add, but he did catch Vince in person by the bar when he went to the restroom.

“Whatever you’re up to, be really careful,” Ronin said. “The Yakuza have been moving serious quantities lately, and have shipped in a small army of enforcers.”

“What?” Vince stared at his friend. “That’s the opposite of what I’ve heard.”

Mei had made it clear she lacked the forces to conduct the heist, and Kiyoko had expressed her doubts because Knightsgate hadn’t provided any mystic foxes to handle the soul egg. Had that changed in the past week and a half?

“They’re trying to keep them secret, but the info somehow reached us,” Ronin said. “I’m guessing one of the conglomerates slipped us the intel. Probably Houou. Whatever you’re doing, it feels like it’s going to be the spark for something big.”

Vince hoped Ronin was wrong.

If Houou started a gang war in response to losing the soul egg, they’d find themselves on brittle footing. Too much leeway had been given to them in the past, and Vince couldn’t see how the foxes survived causing their third major incident in the city since arriving in the eighties.

During his final week before the heist window started, Vince wanted to pay a visit to Salome to ask about mental magic defenses.

Her reply was blunt and to the point. Keep your distance from me for a while. Fallout from the Sanchez incident means Quintus has ordered us to stop private dealings with you until he says otherwise, and I’m not willing to risk a confrontation.

Huh. That was unexpected. What about Ashley? he asked.

She got reamed by the execs for acting without authorization, but they wanted Sanchez taken down a peg. They didn’t like the timing, I think.

That matched Kigenai’s words. Sanchez applied pressure to Houou, and damaging his position as overlord limited their ability to act against Houou on the street. That would force Quintus to act openly to capitalize on any weaknesses the foxes showed.

Over the next week, he made the occasional visit to Lionetti Tower. Mostly for drinks of a night, although he also visited in the mornings to check up on Fia. Nina nudged him at one point to spend time with his other girlfriends at night, something he’d been bad about due to his late nights training with Nina.

Pola happily dragged him off to her penthouse at every opportunity she received, but Fia preferred to visit him at his place.

“She’s a busy girl,” Nina told him. “Just give her a push and go to her place.”

“Maybe,” he said.

They were grabbing coffee from the hole-in-the-wall café near Lionetti Tower. It was the Sunday before the heist, and almost everything was in place. Ally had let him know to stop by and collect his magic tool whenever he had the chance.

Suddenly, the barista chirped from behind the counter. “Sorry, but there’s been a mix-up back here. I’ll need a few minutes to remake one of your coffees. I do have two ready, though.”

She held up Nina’s coffee, easily recognizable due to its size.

Vince shrugged at her look. “Head up and give Fia her caffeine fix. You’ve said before that she’s more open about her woes when I’m not around.”

“Don’t say it like that,” Nina growled. “She wants to appear reliable and strong, kind of like you do when fighting with me.”

He glowered at her, and she ruffled his hair.

“See you in a few minutes,” the lioness said before leaving.

The bell above the door rang as she left. Vince leaned against a wooden bench opposite counter. Silence dominated the café.

Not a single other soul joined him inside. It was damn early. The café opened only minutes ago and the sun hadn’t peeked its head above the horizon yet. Streetlights illuminated Aulfair, while the hazy twilight loomed above them.

Vince frowned suddenly. The café remained dead silent. Shouldn’t the barista be making some noise with the coffee machine, or grinding beans or something?

“If somebody wanted to kill you, this would be a great way to do it,” a very familiar female voice said from behind the counter.

He scowled and nearly reached for his magic. But there would be no point.

The barista stepped out from behind the counter. Her body transformed from a small human woman into a clone of Kiho, only wearing what looked like the armor and war dress of a samurai. Unlike Kiho’s soft, playful features, Agent wore her face as a mask of stoicism and contempt.

“I take it you’re telling me that you eavesdropped on my conversation with Kiho,” he said.

“I hear a lot more than you might be willing to admit,” Agent said.

“Do you need something? I assumed I wouldn’t see you for a while.”

“Oh?” She laughed and leaned against the counter opposite him, then sneered. “You’re in the middle of a grand scheme—schemes, even—and think my clients will decide to ignore you? You’ve increased your wariness lately, too. But you’ve forgotten who placed the wards over your apartment.”

His blood ran cold. Damn. That had been one hell of an oversight.

“Don’t worry,” Agent purred. “I’m only paid to say so much, and you would have only made things much more difficult for me if you’d limited where you discussed matters. But…” She drummed her fingers on her armored thigh. “Well, perhaps someone may discuss methods to keep secrets in the future. Those wards on your apartment did their job. Enough people are in the dark.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

“It’s of no business to me if you succeed or not this week,” Agent said. “You’ve no doubt heard of the saying that it’s possible to lose even if you make all the right moves, no?” A smile split her face in half, and looked positively evil on Kiho’s features. “Well, what about winning no matter what moves your opponent makes? I don’t think much of you, but maybe you’ll impress me and succeed. And then…”

Silence. He waited and waited.

He knew what she wanted him to say. To give her the gratification of playing her game.

“When’s my coffee going to be ready?” he asked.

She sighed. “I want to say you’re frustrating, but if you only reacted how I wished, you’d be little more than… What do the young ones say now?” She snapped her fingers a few times. “Oh, right. An NPC.”

Agent returned to the other side of the counter and made him his coffee. She stepped out and handed it to him, now in the appearance of a young catgirl wearing a suit while holding her own coffee.

“Remember, Vincent. You only get one ‘get-out-of-scheme-free’ card,” Agent said.

She left, leaving him behind in the café. Would the real worker step out any minute now?

He didn’t want to hang around and find out. Agent had probably distracted or waylaid whoever had the opening shift, simply to catch him for this conversation.

Upstairs, he gave Fia her coffee and kept Agent’s appearance a secret. Not for any particular reason. He simply grew tired of her cryptic nonsense.

Also, admitting he had potentially leaked the entire heist plan by forgetting the wards around his apartment had been placed by one of Houou’s agents bothered him. Would they be walking into a trap?

But why the hell would Agent have given him a real soul egg if that was the case? Were they telling the truth all along?

Alessia and Fia had suspected Agent might be supporting a coup against Saito Fujiwara, intending to change Houou from within. Maybe the heist would set off that chain of events.

“Vince? You’re not paying attention to a word I’m saying,” Fia said.

He sighed, and his conscience convinced him to reveal his little conversation with Agent. Both Nina and Fia scowled, but Nina also slapped herself.

“I knew the same thing and didn’t realize it,” Nina said. “Fia, has Kiyoko mentioned anything about increased security?”

“Not a thing. No word on them moving the egg early, either,” Fia said.

“Then she might not be with Houou after all.” The lioness glared at a wall. “I hate this. Schemes everywhere. If I was taking this job myself, I’d pull out. But…”

“The Family’s in too deep,” Fia said. “I checked with Alessia before I met you last week. With Houou building Golden Path hit squads, reneging on our deal with Mei would ensure we have two enemies. Not only would we need to survive an attack by Houou potentially as strong as those that crushed us in the past, but the Yakuza would be out for blood.”

The wolfgirl capo levelled her gaze at both of them, and they met it.

“All we can do is move ahead and take every precaution,” she continued. “If we see any signs of a trap, or higher security than expected, we bail. I’ll tell Duilio the same. Kiyoko can press ahead, but we’re not dying to a trap set for the Yakuza.”

This hadn’t been how Vince saw the morning starting, especially so close to the heist. Especially when he’d wanted to ask Fia for some private time.

They ended up taking a break almost immediately to process what they’d discussed. Fia wandered off, and he decided to find her.

No sign of her near the elevators near the bodyguards. Lucia wasn’t here today, which meant Alessia wasn’t here yet. Probably because of how early it was.

But her office doors were open.

Vince stepped in and saw Fia leaning on Alessia’s desk, her back facing him. He frowned and closed the doors behind him.

She jumped and swore at him. “Fuck, Vince. I thought you were an assassin.”

“Not Alessia?” he asked.

“She’d have just said something.”

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She stared out the windows. “Everything.”

“That was a big change.”

Fia snorted and rubbed his fingers with her hands. “I just… This is my first big job, and it’s absolutely crazy. A heist that may determine the future of the Family, involving two huge entities in Aulfair, and overlapping schemes we haven’t unraveled. We still have no clue who tried to kill you or why. Hell, why haven’t they tried again? I’ve been thinking about that.”

“I noticed. You brought it up the other night,” he said,

“If Houou wanted you dead, they should have tried again. You’ve only become more dangerous,” she said. “Instead, they backed off almost immediately. Whoever ordered that hit, they got what they wanted. That’s what I think. Same goes for tricking the cartel. Who would corrupt one of Therox’s brokers just to make a half-assed attempt on your life and protect Arnulfo?”

“Once the heist is over—”

“What if it’s too late after the heist,” Fia snapped.

They both froze. Fia gulped, then turned and pressed her lips against his.

“You’re going into that facility, ready to die,” she whispered, eyes shimmering. “I don’t know if I’m ready for that. All this time I’ve spent fucking around preparing this heist. Maybe I should have been focusing on what everyone else is up to. Trying to stop Alessia before we got in so deep.”

He took her face in his hands. “I’m not going to die. And when we pull off the heist, we can deal with whoever is causing this nonsense. Together. Okay?”

She bit her lip. He kissed her, forcing his tongue into her mouth. A gasp escaped her.

Fia tried to turn, only to lose her balance. He pushed her onto Alessia’s desk. Things were knocked everywhere, but he made no effort to pick them up. He leaned over Fia’s body, crotch pressed against hers. Her warmth bled into his body.

One particular part of his body reacted swifter than the rest. Fia giggled as she ran a hand over his erection, pawing it up through his pants.

“Alessia will be pissed if we fuck in here,” she said.

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” he said.

[Fia sex scene in book]

- - - - -

Commentary: The heist starts next chapter, although it will have the expected "set-up chapter". I've recovered normally from my wisdom teeth operation so I'm already back writing (if slowly, as I'm still sleeping a lot during the day) and expect updates to be back to normal.

I had originally intended this sex scene to be a Fia/Pola threesome, but the opportunity never really came about and Fia deserved some time to herself. There'll probably still only be two sex scenes in this book despite its length.