EMERALD GONZALES.
heist.
"so i'm gonna start," niall says out loud, food still in his mouth. he swallows the pasta first before reaching out to his own wine glass, eventually drinking the full glass of wine in one swift motion.
open takeout boxes littered the living room floor as everyone finished the food on their own plates. minutes ago, everyone decided to cut the conversation to where i decided a gemstone codename for zayn, and dive into eating all the food they have brought in my house. the air in the room is a comforting one, just like the old times where we would hang out and feast on food all day and talk about the most random things in our lives.
i fucking missed this.
"well i went back to new york after we split in dunkirk three years ago," niall starts.
i perked up and interrupted him. "new york? why would you choose to go back there?"
"well i was hoping you'd go there as well to where we met," niall shrugs.
"anyways, i went there. i did nothing for the next months, which is completely odd because we were always on the run or we're always planning a heist after heist and then after that shitshow with perry, i found myself re-evaluating my life," niall further explains.
several murmurs of agreement ring in the room. i found myself nodding along with what niall just said because that is exactly what happened to me in the first months of me being here in corsica.
"extremely weird not seeing your stupid faces," zemira comments, earning a slap from davina.
"so i lived normally for a year. being a completely normal person, i wake up early, do my routine exercise, then prepare food for myself, then watch telly, then sleep,then do it all over again the next day. sometimes i'd go out to play golf, a new hobby of mine. a whole new routine which i've never had before, given our completely different kind of job. i even got a part time job at the convenience store, you know that specific store i'm talking about, emerald. then i just did that for a whole year because that was our plan, to disconnect from everyone for a year to erase the traces of being linked with one another in case one of us got caught."
niall pours a drink on his glass before continuing his story. "then i got bored and craved the thrill and action. new year's eve, i went out and discovered this underground street drag racing, and there's where i met zayn," he smiles towards the end of his sentence and motions at zayn.
"did you at least join?" i ask in amusement.
"i beat him," zayn proudly answers from my side.
"oi, as if i was driving my best that night," niall protests making me snort a laugh at him. "from then on, we became friends. i learnt that zayn travels all over america to compete and he is the best, the king of drag racing in america actually."
i turn to my side and look at zayn who has his head facing his lap, shying away from niall's compliment.
"that's interesting for sure," i say in awe.
"one night we all tried to race with one another and god everyone was only halfway in the race track and zayn's already at the finish line," atticus commends.
"because you guys can't drive properly. how come you're all surprised zayn's gonna win and that you have a chance to beat him," dav rolls her eyes, making the rest except me and zayn whine while we laugh together.
"moving on," niall emphasises with an eye roll and fake annoyed expression, making our attention be on him again. "i offer to travel with zayn while he's on his american tour for racing. each race in each location in each state in america, he wins without a doubt."
"that must be a lot of money," i wonder.
"i give it all to my family. this is the only way i could earn a big amount of money, that's why i'm here and i do what i do," zayn explains.
"do they know what you do for a living?" i ask a question.
zayn shakes his head, a strand of bleached green hair falls beautifully on his face. "all they know is i work as an encoder."
"and that's where i come in all of this," atti butts in with a big smile on his face. i continue staring at niall, hoping he would further explain it all.
"so i told zayn about my life, our team, that i'm on a mission looking for all of you. not only zayn is good at racing, he is a part time hacker too, and guess what," niall trails off.
"atti and zayn are friends or course?" i guess. zayn and atti looking at each other, laughing and nodding at my guess.
"kind of, let's put it that way. they actually came in the same school, zayn being an information technology student and atti being a nurse. atti has always wanted to work in the world of computers but given his situation before, he opted for nursing. there they met, in new york institute of technology where zayn teaches atti about his course program and atti teaches zayn about medical stuffs," niall ends his explanation.
"that's mutually beneficial," i nod my head.
"niall also forgets that we occasionally share a blunt or two with one another," atti adds.
"then when i told zayn about everyone on the team, he immediately told me he knew atticus. when we got back in new york, me and atti met. then zayn has another tour but this time in europe, to compete for a much larger amount of money."
"woah, sounds like you're doing concerts all over the world huh," i blurt out in amusement.
"if i could sing i'd rather do that than do this illegal shit," zayn chuckles, playing with the metal lighter on his hand and i know what that means.
"go ahead, you can smoke in here," i say, giving him permission to smoke.
zayn raises his eyebrow at me. "are you sure?"
i push a takeout box at him. "sorry i don't have an ashtray. i usually just go outside when i smoke."
"oh, you smoke?" zayn asks in surprise the same time another voice spoke as well.
"you still smoke?" niall asks in all seriousness.
"a stick or two?" i smile at them, getting the stick of a cigarette in zayn's hand. zayn raises the lighter to light it up for me, me nodding at him as a thank you.
"anyways, now go back with your story," i tell niall, exhaling a big puff of smoke.
"we went to europe. starting from germany then ended in spain. while we move from city to city, atti starts to track down you, davina, and zemira. well, it's very easy to track zemira," niall motions at zemira who is casually eating the last slice of pizza left.
"where were you?" i inquire.
she swallows down the last piece as she gives me a shrug. "in asia."
"hopping from one country to another," dav adds.
"well why does that seem like such a bad thing?" mira protests.
"you leave traces wherever you go," atti furrows his brows with a disapproving look on his face.
niall rolls his eyes at the three of them. "it's easy to track her because she spends a lot. we tracked her because she uses her name in every transaction and on her credit cards."
"it's not like we are wanted and the police are looking for us" mira shrugs once again, still not being bothered.
"well yeah but what if there are other people who are tracking us down as well?" i point out.
with that, mira smiles sheepishly, lowering her body in hopes to hide from all of us.
"well i'm alive so i'm sure no one dared to track us down," she smiles widely, being overly cheerful.
"anyways, it's my turn. i was in asia. i explored all over asia and didn't stay in one city for more than a month. that kinda gave me the rush and feeling of being on the run, always finding another location where i could stay. you know me, i couldn't stay in one place without doing anything crazy or plan a whole arse mission," mira starts, pouring wine on her own glass.
"for a whole year, i just travelled. it's weird really, i wasn't used to not doing something. i miss the action and i miss your stupid faces. so one day when i got a mysterious phone call from an unknown number, oh boy i know it's dear atticus coming to save me and bring me back to what we all were doing before."
mira throws her arm around atti's shoulders and pulls him closer to her, making atti crash on mira with a whine.
oh how much i have missed this craziness.
"so we called her and the next day, she flew all the way from japan to where we were at that time, norway. then the only thing that we need to find is you and davina," atti continues the story.
"the two people in the group who leave no traces at all you would question if they are even existing on earth," mira remarks.
"well that makes us the cleverest people in the group," dav bites back.
a chorus of "hey" in protests soon can be heard in the room.
"well i could clearly see the harmony in the group," zayn states in amusement.
"you haven't seen us in action, so you can't comment yet," i playfully hit his arm, making him emit a chuckle.
"they found me in amsterdam," dav shortly says.
"she gave a sign, actually. morse code of her gemstone code name in all major newspaper outlets. just a simple "topaz" written in morse code," niall reveals, seemingly in awe of her way of letting know where she is.
"how did you know she's in amsterdam?"
"you best bet when i joined zayn in his race in amsterdam, one of the competitors there is…" ni then opened his hand and motions to dav.
"you race?" i lift an eyebrow at her and dav nods her head in answer.
"i did my own research to find all of you and it's easy to track everyone down except you, em. then i discovered zayn and niall's connection, then i found out atti and mira are already with them so it's easy to get everyone back, all we need is the boss. so when i found out zayn will soon be in amsterdam, i did the morse code in newspapers so they will at least know i'm alive, then decided to surprise them in the race match," she answers, a proud smile on her face.
"you're the cleverest indeed in the group," i chuckle.
"the first year, i actually travelled asia as well. however, not once crossing paths with mira. then in the second year, i decided to stay in amsterdam and start searching for all of you."
"the jewel is complete, except for the boss."
i puff the last smoke from the cigarette, and pour a small amount of water in the cigarette butt to put out the fire.
"how did you find me then?"
"one single credit card transaction, where you bought a single bottle of wine from a supermarket," atti reveals.
i stop for one second to rack my brain on where i used my credit card with my real name on a transaction. in the last few years i have been here in corsica, i actually have been using my offshore accounts in my transactions, so i cannot clearly remember where i might use it because i do not want to leave a trace of my…
oh, i remember now.
"oh yes. i was drunk that one night and i walked all the way to the supermarket to get another bottle of wine because i ran out and i must have used another card which i don't normally use," i mumbled in realisation.
"that lead us to track you down finally, here in corsica, but we realised as to how you have been quiet and not give us any signs at all that if you even want us to find you.so we decided as we said earlier to observe you for weeks, and now we finally decided it's time to get the team back together."
"well i would appreciate it if one of you except for zayn who was the one who would knock on the door first," i glare at all of them, but that only made them fall into fits of laughter.
"well while we were waiting for you, we were actually formulating a plan," mira sparks up the conversation for the mission, a familiar smirk resting on her red paint coated lips.
"are you sure we want to do another plan seeing we just failed the last mission?"
"we didn't really fail, someone just snitched on us. we got the painting, but that bitched betrayed us," mira angrily mumbles.
"go on then, i'm listening and interested."
niall suddenly sits up straighter, a look of seriousness washed over his face yet he scrunches up his nose as if he is grimacing over something he just remembered.
"before we go further on the mission, have you heard any news from perry?" niall cautiously starts, his eyes trained on mine.
"i have actually watched that news documentary on tv the first few months i settled in here. after that, i never opened the television again," i nod at him, crossing my arms on my chest while moving my head from side to side to softly crack my shoulders.
"you know what," i quickly added, holding a hand up. "i found her very suspicious, especially when she described our features to the police which looked like none of us at all. also, everything just seems sketchy and skeptical. i don't buy any bullshit she said and that news documentary said."
i see everyone nod in agreement when i said how she is suspicious and sketchy.
"have you tracked her down? is she even alive?" zayn questions from my side.
"i don't think so," i quickly answer, making all eyes fall on me.
"how'd you know that?" dav questions.
"well before i fall off the cliff, i shot her," i explained, making everyone raise their eyebrows at me.
"you killed her?" niall asks.
i nod solemnly, still not accepting the fact i might have killed a person for the first time in my life.
"i shot her right through her chest."
with that answer, they all exhaled in what seemed to be a disappointed sigh.
"what?" i ask in defence.
"you should have shot her directly in the head," mira shakes her head in disappointment once again.
"i shot her in her chest, that could have instantly killed her."
"have you forgotten about it?" atti asks.
"what?" i once again whined in defence.
"that day she insisted on wearing a bulletproof vest," niall finally reveals.
i freeze at the realisation that indeed she insisted that day we all wear a bulletproof vest which is a standard protocol in our missions, but i rarely wear my own vest.
"so i did not kill her?" i ask, more likely to myself.
"that wouldn't kill her. however, i couldn't track her down. there were no traces of perry davis from everywhere after that night," atti says out loud.
"they said in the news that she was missing after the explosion," i state.
"that's something fishy as well. that just doesn't make sense, because if she suddenly went missing, then the police should have suspected her with the explosion in the house," dav speaks.
"yes, also the response from the police seems weak. i don't believe they won't be around anton mason's house the whole day just to spy and observe us, before arresting us on the spot. everything just seems sketchy and skeptical, i wonder what's perry's true motive," i add in confusion.
"and also we are kind of pointed as the suspects from killing the ex king of greece and denmark carolos from that airplane crash," niall mutters as well.
"who's apparently perry's uncle or like not biological uncle like what the fuck right?" i connected.
"what if it was perry who organised that plane crash?"
"what if perry is one of that prince's mistress?" i wonder. all of them making a face of understanding at my speculation.
"anyways, we could further talk about that some other time but that's not important at this moment. the new mission, i believe the last mission was 132, so this would be our mission 133. it is kind of, connected with that prince carolos," niall trails off, a sheepish smile on his face.
i immediately raised my eyebrows at him and protested. "you mean it involves some royal family again?"
"royal families actually,", dav mumbles, making mira slap her arm to quiet down.
"well hear us out," zayn was the one who finally spoke out.
"so we know how we can't keep doing this for the rest of our lives, so we thought of a mission that will pay us all very well, pay us for the rest of our lives that we don't need to even work anymore because we have enough money to do whatever shit we want without worrying where to get money next."
"we have enough money i'm sure from all the previous missions we did," i raised.
"well one last heist won't hurt, right?" mira exaggeratedly smiled.
"so you know the british royal family? the house of styles?" zayn once again brings back to the topic of the heist.
"i'm really not updated with that kind of information, zayn."
"prince harry of england and northern ireland is set to marry the crowned princess of greece and denmark, her royal highness, princess samantha."
"princess samantha whose father is king carlisle who is the brother of prince carolos, whose house we've robbed for the painting "the young prince" three years ago, and now that painting is actually the british prince and heir to the throne, prince harry, and now the heir and the heiress of the throne are marrying each other, uniting these countries together as one," atti further connects and explains.
i did not even notice he gets a briefcase and pulls out several papers from the case. soom, he hands me two papers with photos of two different people whom i barely recognised at all at first, but then i look closely to examine the photos.
"on the left is princess samantha, and on the right is the young prince."
i put down the paper on my left hand on the table and focused on a single paper resting on my hands at the moment. my breath got choked up on my throat and i blink multiple times to see if i am just hallucinating or am i really seeing a photo of a person whom i have slept with three years ago back in london.
"you must be kidding me," i shake my head slowly.
"huh? what do you mean, emerald?"
"you are fucking kidding me right?" i slowly look up just to see all their confused expressions carefully assessing my own expression.
"what about?" atti drawls out.
"who's this guy?" i raise my voice at him that seemed to startle atticus at the tone of my voice.
"the prince of england and northern ireland? prince harry?"
prince harry.
why does that sound familiar?
prince harry.
prince harry.
harry.
he soon brings his stare back at me and nods his head. "so, what's your name?"
i scrunch my nose at how bad yet cute this boy is at trying to continue a conversation. at least he is not some arrogant son of a bitch who is overly flirty and thinks he can get anyone because of his looks.
"my name is emerald. emerald gonzales," i offer him my hand to shake and he instantly accepts it. his big soft yet calloused hand envelopes my small ones and shakes it lightly.
"you have a lovely name," he comments with a nod.
"you're not gonna tell me your name?" i ask in confusion after i retract my hand from his.
now it is his turn to be confused and he just stared at me for a good couple of seconds, assessing if i am serious or i am just joking.
did i miss anything? should i know him or what? i never keep up with anything except taylor swift's music. is he a celebrity or something?
he suddenly regains composure and gave me back his dimpled smile. "my name's harry. harry styles?"
i chuckle at his tone. "are you telling me your name or asking me if that's your name?"
"no i am harry styles. harry. styles. h-a-r-r-y, harry," he nods multiple times while spelling his name.
"well hello h-a-r-r-y, it's nice to meet you," i mock with a laugh.
harry.
harry styles.
my head soon turns towards the working table, and behind the table there resting on the brick wall, is a huge portrait of a young child that seems to stare directly at my soul.
my feet start to move on their own towards the painting, and soon i am in front of the huge portrait of a young boy.
i am no art connoisseur, but i could definitely say this painting is literally a work of art, a masterpiece truly. the painting looks like a picture, looks so real that it captured the real exact moment of the time this was being painted.
there painted in the canvas, an image of a young boy with blonde bowl cut hair. big blue eyes twinkling as it stares directly at me, or should i say at the painter at that time. cute rosy cheeks accentuating his face, defined jawline. his thin pink lips are curved in an open mouthed smile, showing off a glimpse of perfect set pearly white teeth. a childish tint washes over the painting, a calming sense of relief washing over me at how soft and warm the young boy looks at the painting. the background of the young boy is painted light blue, bringing the bright blue eyes of his something you would notice upon giving the painting a first glance. his body is adorned with a simple blue shirt, and white vest with a single button that has been captured by the painter, william york.
my eyes trails down at the bottom of the frame of the painting, and there carved the words:
The Royal House of Styles
His Royal Highness, Prince Harry of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
His Royal Highness' 7th Birthday
1 February 2001
W. York
harry. harry styles. he is from the royal house of styles.
oh my god. why did i not put the pieces all together sooner?
"oh my fucking god," i curse out and grumble loudly, slamming down the piece of paper back on the table.
"why do you look so distressed, emerald? it's not like he's a guy you've fucked from the past and now you're mortified to even see his face again," mira asks with a chuckle.
i grit my teeth harshly and quickly look up to glare at her.
"what?" mira continues to chuckle.
everyone finally went silent and i continue my glare at zemira.
"oh?" mira mumbles in confusion, looking side to side to gauge the reaction of the other people in the living room.
"oh! so you have fucked the prince?!" mira suddenly exclaims in realisation, making everyone widen their eyes at the new information.
i heavily sigh and lean back on the couch, rubbing my eyes in annoyance.
"i did," i admit tiredly.
"holy fuck when?!" zemira excitedly asks at the new revelation.
"london. after the heist mission 131, before the mission of stealing the painting. we went to the bar, remember? you guys insisted we go to a bar after that heist."
"holy fuck yeah," atti nods in remembrance.
"he's the one who has my necklace," i grumbled in annoyance once again, sighing loudly.
"oh! he's the harry whom you forgot the surname that has your necklace," mira snaps her fingers in realisation.
"well it's nice to finally remember his surname after three long fucking years that it's styles and he's a fucking royal prince," i sarcastically respond.
"well this mission could be a payback for your lost necklace," niall offers, making me perk up at him.
"you know how rare that kind of emerald, niall."
"and that's our next heist," niall smirks at me, waving his index finger at me.
i give him all of my attention and urge him to further continue and explain the next possible heist.
"as we've mentioned, prince harry and princess samantha will soon marry each other and prince harry's grandmother, the queen mother victoria iv, offered her rarest collection of emerald gemstone to be used as the crowns of the future kind and queen of england and northern ireland, and greece and denmark. the emerald stones will be used to make the crowns and set of jewellery as a gift for princess samantha, which would be an emerald necklace with matching earrings and bracelet. it's already said that the crowns and set of jewellery for the royal couple would be the most expensive jewellery owned by a monarchy from all over the world, even close to being the most expensive jewellery collection owned by anyone from the whole world," niall excitedly explains to me.
"meaning, if we manage to steal just even the two crowns, it could land us all with hundreds of millions, even billions actually of pounds to each one of us in our bank accounts. there are lots of buyers who are already interested in obtaining and buying the crowns in the international underground market. also, we'll steal the necklace set as well and you'll have the necklace from the collection," atti adds up from niall's explanation of the plan.
i scrunch my brows in confusion. "necklace? for me?"
they all smiled at me, a smirk actually.
"only you emerald could wear real and rarest emeralds and seeing that prince has your necklace, we think it's just fair if you'll have something in resemblance of what you've lost and he has," mira nods in further clarification.
i take a deep inhale before speaking up. "you've all thought thoroughly of this plan, huh?"
"the planning only starts when the boss agrees with the proposed overview of the heist," atti shrugs, a big smile curved in his lips.
"we'll be royally fucked if we fucked this all up," i comment.
"well literally, you have already been fucked by a royal," zemira mumbles a comment but everyone catches what she just said. everyone snorts a laugh and tries to stop laughing further. i glare at zemira and she just rewarded me with an innocent smile.
"we need to make a thorough and detailed plan though. how much time do we have if we ever proceed to do this heist?" i continue with the series of questions. i already know my answer to whether pursuing this heist or not, but i just want to make sure i am not deciding hastily and making rash decisions.
"their wedding is set on new year's eve this year, 31st of december 2020."
"new year's eve? who the fuck gets married on new year's eve?" i ask in bemusement.
"well apparently the two royals. however with that wedding date, we have almost a year to plan thoroughly," niall nods in satisfaction.
"we could pull small heists as well while we plan for this one last big mission," dav suggests, making everyone nod in agreement.
"you guys know what to say really to get me convinced huh?" i state in amusement, leaning back further to rest my back on my soft couch.
"you can't deny you miss the thrill of it all, emerald," zemira teases, making me roll my eyes at her and laugh.
"do we need to start planning this early?"
"we could start planning once we get to
london next month?" atti proposes.
"so technically we have almost two weeks before we get into planning and action," i say in estimation.
"ooh, am i sensing a yes from the boss?" zayn from my side butts in making me turn my head at him and smirk at him.
"it's not a no yet it's not a yes."
"you have two weeks to consider it all, boss."
"you know guys, you can do the heist without me," i wave off.
i see some shaking their heads instantly at my statement.
"we work as a team. we're stronger working as one," niall strongly states.
i bite my lip thoughtfully and carefully think about everything. these are my friends and my team whom i can trust with my whole life and work with together. i know we can pull off this heist without a doubt. we have done 130 successful big and small heists before the last failed mission, and i truly believe we can do this one no matter how this all seems hard to achieve. niall is right, we work as a team. we are stronger and the best version of ourselves when we work as one. each one of us is brilliant, yet we would be firmer and stronger if we unite and move as one.
also we have a new addition in the team, yet everyone already trusts zayn so i am sure as well that zayn will be a great asset and addition for the team. there is something about zayn's aura that makes him trustworthy instantly, and i am not getting any bad vibes and ill feelings from him, and it seems like everyone does as well love him greatly already.
the heist is also a good comeback from inadvertently losing my precious necklace from that man.
"how about you guys stay in my house and we all catch up with the two weeks we have left before we all go down straight to business?" i start to say after a moment of silence, startling everyone to where the direction of my statement is going.
"is that a yes or a no?"
"two weeks huh? i think that's enough time for me to come up with an excuse to say to jaspé and perle, and also to resign at my part time job in a small coffee shop," i continue to say, the smile on my face widening with each word i utter.
everyone's face visibly brightens and relaxes, making me chuckle at their faces.
"well we need a solid answer here, boss. so, are you ready for another heist?"
i place an elbow in the arm of the couch and rest my chin on my hand, still looking at them.
"emerald is always born ready for some kind of action. the real question here is, are you ready for me?"