“The third, actually,” Lila answered as another crash sounded in her ear. “You’re really thinking about it, aren’t you?”
“When a void appears and you have the capital…”
“How much of that capital do you want to waste in security? How much do you want to throw away on art appraisers?”
“There’s always Jewel.”
“Jewel’s far too busy for a second full-time job. And when she doesn’t get a chance to engage in this new experience you’ll inevitably offer someone else, she’ll make our lives miserable.”
“Fair point.”
The crashing in Lila’s earpiece grew louder. Tristan, Fry, and Shirley must have reached the tunnel, collapsed it, and cut off LeBeau’s pursuit.
“There’s Senator Langston. We should say hello
.”
Lila didn’t budge. Tristan and his people might not have gotten away. She fumbled, trying to think of an excuse not to abandon her post.
“Elizabeth, come along. Senator Langston is an important—”
An engine choked in her earpiece.
Her part in the heist had officially ended. Five days and nights spent searching and planning, and Tristan had thrown it all away.
“Langston is a self-important blowhard, just like the rest of them,” Lila muttered, staring at the young senator with long blond hair and a perfectly knotted cravat.
“Elizabeth!”
Lila drained the rest of her champagne and placed it on a waiter’s tray. When her mother turned her back to do the same, she discreetly slipped out her earpieces and dropped them into her clutch.
She wordlessly took the fresh glass her mother handed her, then followed the chairwoman deeper into the room.
It took all her discipline to attend to Senator Langston’s conversation, and even then, she failed to pay attention. Her mother nudged her elbow and made appropriate remarks, continuing the conversation when Lila did not. It wasn’t that he annoyed her. He merely lacked a certain pair of brown eyes—brown eyes she’d grown far too attached to over the last week, brown eyes she kept thinking about even when she left their presence, brown eyes attached to a rangy body she currently wanted to throttle.
And not in the fun way.
Not that she really had the option. Tristan had not touched her since the hospital the week before, despite how closely they’d worked on their plan to free Oskar, despite how many nights she’d spent with him in his bed.
Both clothed.
Once again, her thoughts slipped from annoyance to hunger.
“So would you like to go with me, Chief Randolph?” Senator Langston asked, offering a slight, hopeful smile.
Lila blinked, her mind slowly shifting from a naked Tristan to the clothed Bullstow senator before her. “Excuse me?”
“Would you like to come with me to Senator Dubois’s party next month? It’ll be at the Masson’s winery, a jewel, as you well know.”
Oh great, a pun on her sister’s name. That never got old.
Lila tried not to vomit.
She’d almost forgotten about the stupid party. Senator Dubois tried every year to tie her to one of his kin. It should have been enough that he had a claim to her younger sister, but senators could be just as ambitious as their matrons.
“No,” Lila answered.
The chairwoman eyed her daughter in annoyance. “What my daughter means is that Senator Dubois would rather she remain unescorted to this particular event.”