The Thief and the Globetrotter

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Fortune

But what if she didn't? What if Cheng could not extort her?

Rei thought of Sébastien's warehouse apartment, full of books and art and not much else. She thought of him paying off Diego's student loans, of paying rent in advance. What he chose to do with his money and what he didn't. Investing only in the people and the things he valued.

There were things Rei surely valued. There were so many things she couldn't dare lose, and so much that she could. Had what she owned ever truly reflected what she cared about? Did she cling to things because she was expected to?

She had an opportunity to realign.

Rei reluctantly slithered out from Sébastien's hold, careful not to wake him prematurely as she found her shirt and made herself decent. Her fingers raked through her hair, combing out the tangles of tossing around the bed, and pulled it away from her face and into a ponytail. Sébastien stirred behind her, still asleep but presumably subconsciously aware that the space next to him had been vacated. It was hard to believe anyone who looked that innocent could possibly be planning a break-in later in the day. If Rei hadn't found him on her balcony, if she hadn't seen him run up a wall to sneak into his own apartment, she wouldn't believe it either.

Innocent as Sébastien might have been, Rei liked him better awake. She liked the passion hidden under the casual, cavalier attitude. She liked that he seemed unbroken by the pressure Rei cracked under. And if not unbroken by life, at least he had recovered from it. It swelled the bravery in her chest, this human proof that it was possible to hit rock bottom, start from scratch and rise again.

Before she could succumb to the urge to slip back into his arms, Rei padded quietly into the kitchen, brewing a pot of coffee in the coffee maker to keep her hands busy until Diego's door creaked open.

He stepped out of his room in sweats, peering curiously out of the hall at her. Perhaps it was too early to remember that he didn't trust her, like the only thing that really mattered at that moment was that Rei was making coffee and all other misgivings could be temporarily forgiven.

"How do you like your eggs?" Rei asked.

"Would've thought you had people to do that for you," Diego replied wryly, but his jabs weren't quite as antagonistic as they could be.

"They don't let me bring my people on archaeological digs. Budgets and whatnot. Had to learn fast," Rei replied.

Diego almost smiled. He could be won over yet. "Over easy."

He disappeared into the bathroom and Rei fried eggs and bacon while the shower ran.

Sébastien still didn't rise, even when Diego, shower-damp, slid onto the stool across from Rei.

"Over easy," she said, presenting him a plate, "do you take anything in your coffee?"

If he planned to withhold his approval, Diego ought to know that Rei had held out much longer and tried much harder to win her parents' affection. She could stand a few suspicious glances. If he wanted to remain intimidating, he would have to try much harder to mask his surprise at her hospitality—in his suite.

"Black, thanks," he answered and Rei obliged with a cup.

She added a little sugar into her own, though her mind was already whirring too fast to be considered groggy. It was easy to forget the plan was to leave Temperance. When she'd been a little girl in England, it was so commonplace to take spontaneous trips out of the country. It wasn't even that she was rich, it was just so easy to decide on a whim to go shopping in Paris over a holiday weekend, or ski in Switzerland another. Alright, wealth might have had something to do with it.