The Art of Being a Con: A Guide by the Lion and the Fox | COMPLETE

Chapter Nineteen: Pizza

"Thank you so much for letting us stay," Evie said, holding her arms out so as to not bump into anything.

"You were serious about the blindfolds?" Mason asked from where he stood, leaning against the wall.

"Riley felt safer that way," Nate said. Once the door was shut, he removed Evie's blindfold and Riley removed Libby's.

As her vision adjusted to being back in the light, Evie looked around the room. "Nice place," she said. "So you two are settling– Who are they?" She pointed to the group of three men she did not recognise.

"Oh yeah," Nate quickly gestured to each man in turn as he introduced them: "That's Abraham, Vinícius, and Mason."

"Oh... Okay."

"Oh damn, Nate!" Mason exclaimed, getting a good look at the child among them. "Is that your–"

Nate made the "cut it out" gesture over his throat, which immediately shut the man up.

"Hey Libby," Riley said, actually smiling. "Why don't I show you where you'll be staying?"

"Okay!" the child said, and let Riley lead her down a hall.

"Now that she's gone," Mason said, "can we please discuss how she's literally a girl child clone of Nate?"

"She is not." Nate huffed.

"I look at her and all I see is you, Cooper," Evie said.

Nate was silent for a moment, then he groaned. "Fuck, you're right."

"I hate all of you," he said after a beat.

"Love you too," Riley sighed as she reentered the room. "Nate, I need to talk to you."

"What's wrong?" he asked, furrowing his brows.

"Just... come with me," the woman said, and started up the stairs to their room. Nate looked at the others with wide eyes, then hurried after her.

"What's wrong, Riley?" the man asked once they were in the bedroom and the door was closed.

"I got to thinking, while showing the kid around," the woman started, crossing her arms over her chest. "We need to be careful while they're here."

"It's just one night, babe."

"I know." She looked up at him, a glint in her eye. "But you know how we can get. We can barely hold ourselves together around the guys. And neither of us have any experience with children."

"Well, Libby's staying downstairs, we're up here." He bobbed his head a few times, as though telling her to put two and two together.

She let out a breathy laugh and shook her head. "The way you think is amazing."

"Is that a compliment?" the man asked, the corner of his mouth quirking up despite his confusion. "It sounded like both a compliment and an insult."

"Take it the way you want to take it," the woman said.

***

"Who wants dinner?" Vinícius called out. "I'm ordering more pizza."

There was a grumble of replies and the man beamed and hurried to find a phone.

"How long have you all been working with Nate and Riley?" Evie asked Abraham and Mason.

"Not long," Abraham replied.

"We started just a few weeks before the Winter Industries incident," Mason added.

Evie simply nodded her head and looked away. Libby emerged from the hall and joined her mother on the couch.