Three Years Later
Seth slips on the grey double-breasted jacket over his buttoned white shirt, checks out his reflection in the mirror. Well, goddamn. Vanessa was right. While nothing compares to a perfectly tailored Zegna, the Tom Ford suit he's wearing right now isn't too shabby either. He turns towards Richie who's sitting at the desk, tinkering away with some gadget Seth is supposed to be using later tonight. "What do you say, bro?" He points to himself. "Do I look like a high baller or what?"
Richie looks him up and down. "Or what."
"Please," Seth retorts. "Like you'd fit in with the bouji folks better?"
Richie cocks his eyebrow. "Without a doubt."
"Well then, Richard, why don't you go to the party instead of me?"
"Because that means taking your moronic ex-wife as my date and I'd rather put a stake through my heart than do that."
Seth shoots him a dirty look. "Don't. Vanessa's doing us a favour-"
"Really? A favour, huh? So she's not expecting a cut or anything in return?"
Flushed with guilt, Seth faces the mirror again and starts fixing his hair.
"Was it necessary to tell her how much the dagger was worth?" Richie prods.
"She needed an incentive to help us steal it," Seth fires back. "So I gave her one."
"Except we're not planning on selling it after, remember? Does she know about that part too?" Richie leans back in his chair, levels Seth with a condescending stare. "I know math isn't your strong suit, Seth, but a third of nothing is still nothing."
"Fuck off, Richard!" Seth says, throwing the shirt he'd been wearing earlier at his brother. "I didn't exactly have a choice, did I? What was I supposed to say 'Hey babe, wanna help me steal a magical dagger that a vampire god is trying to destroy 'cause it's one of the few things that can kill her'? She would have put us both in the loony bin as soon as I said vampire."
Richie tips his head to the right. "Or call the cops and send us back to prison."
"No, just you. She doesn't hate my guts."
"Not yet anyway."
"Besides, she'll be the one keeping filthy fat fucks distracted while I'm sneaking off to steal your goddamn rust-metal."
"It's not just any old metal."
"Yeah, yeah. I know. It's a special magical metal forged from leprechauns and unicorns or some shit like that. We've been over this like a million times."
"Yet you can't remember a single specific detail about the actual thing."
"Who gives a fuck as long as I get my hands on it?"
"True."
"What was that, brother? Did you actually admit I was right about something?"
Richie picks up the tiny gadget he was playing with earlier. "You remember what I told you about this thing, right?"
"Yeah, I do. Now get off my back so I can get ready. I have to pick up Vanessa in an hour."
"Do not let her distract you."
Seth grins, knowing exactly what his brother's implying. "Hey, if she wants to distract me for a few minutes I'm sure as hell not gonna stop her."
Richie gives him a disdainful glance before returning his attention to the laptop on his desk.
A few minutes later Richie inserts the gadget into the fabric of Seth's suit. "Remember, turn it on when you're in front of the vault. Not before. This piece of shit doesn't exactly have a great battery life."
"Got it."
Seth fist bumps his brother before heading for the door.
"Seth?"
"Yeah?" He looks over his shoulder at Richie.
"Don't get dead."
Seth smirks. "I'll try." He exits the hotel room, leaving his brother behind.
With Vanessa by his side, Seth saunters through the mansion where the party's being held, casing the joint. Richie managed to get the blueprint of this place a few days ago and everything's still the same from what Seth can see. So far, so good. If this thing goes off without a hitch, they can be out of here in an hour. Thank the fucking lord for that because he has no idea how much more he can take of these rich, pretentious fuckholes.
"Seth, smile," Vanessa says, casting a polite smile at the couples passing them. "You don't want to arouse these people's suspicions, do you?"
"Not everyone's a natural born grifter like you, babe."
"I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
"Really?" He looks at her. "I could have sworn I told you you're the hottest thing in this room."
"Considering I'm the youngest person here, not exactly a compliment," Vanessa points out.
"Yeah, it is. Youth doesn't necessarily mean beauty. Haven't you figured that out yet?"
Picking up a glass of champagne, she faces him. "Wow, that's deep."
"Not just a pretty face now, am I?"
Smiling, she leans in to give him a quick peck on the lips. "I still can't believe you're here. Or that you're even alive."
"Neither can I."
"Once we take care of this maybe we can finally go away somewhere."
Guilt surges through him. "That sounds good."
"But not with Richie."
Irritated, he tells himself to stay calm. "Fine. Whatever."
"I don't know how it's possible but he's a bigger bastard than before."
"Alright, I get it. You don't like him."
"No shit, Seth. He's an asshole and you know it."
"Fine, he is, but he's family. My family. So can we stop having the same argument every fucking time?"
Despite the angry glint in her eyes, Vanessa nods. "Sure. Sorry."
"Hey, thanks for helping me do this," he says, reminding himself that he has no right to get mad when he'll be the one fucking Vanessa over. "I don't know how you scored an invite to this-"
"I have my ways. And I'm not planning on sharing them with you."
He smirks.
They drift through the rooms until finally stopping in a secluded corner. Thanks to the blueprints, Seth knows there's a back entrance behind the wall which will lead upstairs to where the vault is kept. Now he just has to wait for the right opportunity to slip away.
"Looks like we're not the youngest ones here," Vanessa says.
Seth follows the direction of her gaze and finds himself staring at a familiar face a few feet away.
Kate.
He stands frozen, the wind knocked out of him like someone just delivered a strong punch to his gut. Kate, his Kate, who looks the same yet somehow completely different than the last time he saw her. Her hair is longer, and there's a certain maturity to her face that wasn't there before.
Their eyes meet. She doesn't move, her unwavering gaze locked with his.
His chest squeezes with pain. He can't fucking breathe. That deep ache he's tried to forget the last few years seems to have returned with a vengeance, hell-bent on leaving a mark in his soul.
There was an innocence to Kate that used to drive him nuts. He couldn't figure out how she could still be so sweet, and sometimes even naive, after everything they'd gone through. It was both endearing and frustrating and one of the many things he loved about her. The woman standing in front of him, however, looks the farthest thing from the sweet, shy girl he remembers. Dressed in a blue dress that hugs her body in all the right places, she appears comfortable in her own skin, confident, like she knows with complete certainty that she belongs here.
And holy fuck, she's hot as hell.
