Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(89)

“No, I have to do this.”

“Then let me kiss you and, god, go over to the window and let me see the sun hit your hair again.” Daniel pulled me close. I let my hands feel the warm skin of his chest, and it was all right because Dev was fine with this. Last night had changed something, and it didn’t feel wrong to show Daniel I cared. “I can see the sun, Zoey.”

I kissed him, and he held me for the longest time. After a while I walked to the heavy drapes and pulled them open. Daniel stepped back out of habit, but we were facing the east so there was no direct light this late in the afternoon. I opened the balcony door.

“Come on, baby,” I said, asking him to come outside with me.

His shielded his eyes from even the indirect light but after a moment he was used to it. He stood behind me and rested his chin on my head, his arms going around me. “It’s so beautiful. I never thought I would see this again.”

I squeezed his hands in mine and thought about the fact that this might be the last time I saw this. I was so glad I got to spend this time in the warmth with Daniel. I was grateful for every moment with Danny and Dev and Neil, and if I was successful, Sarah would have a chance at this again. There was a part of me that wished I could walk away from her and just enjoy my men and my friend but I couldn’t. I would feel her loss the rest of my life. I would spend it knowing that she suffered while I sat back.

“Shh, Zoey,” Daniel said, brushing my tears away. “We’ll get her back. It will be all right.”

We stood there together until the sun finally left the sky, and it was time to get ready for the night. Daniel was right. We would get her back or we would die trying.





Chapter Twenty-Two





The thing about having a really good plan is realizing, no matter how carefully you have constructed the design, no matter how you have planned for every contingency, something will always happen to f*ck up your previously perfect plan. It’s even worse when that perfect plan you should have come up with is actually a half-ass plan that requires an enormous amount of improvisation. Improv might work well for a comedy routine, but it sucks when planning a theft.

As I looked at myself in the mirror just hours before the heist, I realized how much I couldn’t control about tonight’s operation. The best heists run something like a play. All the actors know their lines and when to enter and exit. There is only one plot and it follows through. Tonight there were enough plots to confuse even the most avid follower of the theater, and I wasn’t even aware some of them had been written into my play.

As Kelly dressed me and instructed the hair dresser how to fix my hair, I considered all the things that could go wrong. The list was close to endless. The first pitfall I thought about was how I was going to leave the party and enter the Hell plane. I doubted there would be a neon sign blinking “exit” so I was going to have to figure that out on my feet. Once I got onto the actual plane, I had no idea how big it was. What if I had to walk for miles? There were so many variables I couldn’t account for that I had to admit there was a high probability of this plan falling on its over-bloated ass. I was going to have to be prepared to call the whole thing off.

“Or you could just have a little faith,” a soft voice said behind me.

I looked up at the hairdresser who I had previously paid no attention to. Felicity Day’s face smiled down at me. “Hey, don’t move, you’re going to ruin my curls.” She directed my head to face forward. “Demons aren’t the only ones who can sense doubt, Zoey.”

“It’s an insane plan,” I said, looking at her reflection in the mirror.

“Yes, but some of the best plans are born of desperation. You don’t have to save her, you know. Most people would leave her to rot after what she did. You could walk away, and no one would really care except you and Neil. Daniel and Devinshea are only going along with the plan because they know you would do it on your own if they didn’t.”

“I should have found a way to save her before she got dragged to Hell. She was on my crew. She was my responsibility.”

Felicity wrapped another lock around the curling iron. “No, she wasn’t. Her path was set before her birth. It only changed when she met you. She’s not your responsibility. She made her own choices. Have you considered what you are risking to save this one person, Zoey? You risk many more people for the justice of one.”

“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” I sort of needed Heaven on my side here.

“No, I am trying to make you see that this is who you are. This is your nature. Your vampire thinks of the greater good. With a singular exception, he can sacrifice much for what he believes is just. You, on the other hand, tend to think in terms of personal justice. You’re concerned with individuals. When dealing with your husband, know that your concerns are just as well. They provide balance.”

“Am I going to succeed?” I asked, knowing she probably wouldn’t answer.

She smiled. “I believe so, but it will cost you. You will possibly pay for the events of this night for years to come.”

“Want to give me an example?” I really hate the way angels and demons like to talk about all the crap they know is going to happen in the future, but then they never go into the specifics. They always say something like “If you pursue your present course there will be many consequences.” Like I don’t know that. Just once I would like for one of these warning to include something like “Hey, don’t take a left at Brown Street because a car’s going to hit you.”