All Cheng's speeches paid off. When Rei followed him into the office within the bank, he looked like Rei's savior instead of her captor. It made her wonder how many victims were returned to their abusers after tearful televised pleas for safe returns.
"I want to get this all sorted out before someone else thinks they can stake a claim on her money," Cheng explained, "before we let the public know she's home again."
Rei played along, bile threatening her as she put on her placating smile.
"I'm an archaeologist, after all. I don't care to control more of Sundial than I already do," she said, made only slightly more comfortable reciting the truth.
What proceeded was more legalese than Rei had been forced to sit through since her 21st birthday when he father sat her down to hand over her share of the company.
However, the boring speeches took time and Rei could use all the time she could get.
Angelo Ferrero's safety deposit box was empty. Rei set the wheels in motion before his death. She took the necklace to be appraised, took the paperwork to be processed regarding its history and validity.
She kept the paperwork regarding Angelo's shares far from the bank to avoid this very problem. Rei had both the key, the permission and good reason to empty the box. It could have been anyone in that office with her, demanding her will bend to them. Angelo's business partners, his ex-wives, any number of people listed among the heirs. Despite Angelo's tidiness, his preparedness for his eventual death, Rei fully expected executing his will to be a nightmare.
She hadn't correctly envisioned the nightmare, but it was one nonetheless.
Gwen produced the death certificate, a document she had gathered at the hospital while they waited for Cheng. Rei stared at the sharp wording of it as if being in the room, as if confirming his wishes herself hadn't been enough.
Cheng did her speaking for her, and when Cheng stayed silent, Gwen spoke up instead, as if Rei were a child instead of the rightful, delegated officiant of the will. In other circumstances, perhaps Rei would've been more insulted, more indignant over this treatment. As the case was, it gave her more time to think. What benefit was it to cooperate now? What good did buying herself more time, mere extra minutes and seconds, do? What did they have against her?
They had Sébastien in the trunk of a car. There was that matter, surely a power play to gain her compliance, an insurance policy of sorts. Yes, Rei bargained to erase what incriminated him, but how did Cheng ensure she didn't go back on her word?
The more Rei muddled through her thoughts, brainstorming her exit strategy, the more she hated her brother. For all his bravado, he was just as cowardly as she was. They hid behind their careers, used magazine articles and quarterly reports to conceal the fact that they were children seeking validation. They let other people do the work, do the speaking. Rei allowed Angelo to do so much of her networking for her, letting him point her in the direction of opportunities and colleagues. Cheng allowed Jasper to call the risky shots, reaping the benefits while pretending he had little to do with the decisions. They rid themselves of responsibility that way.
It had to stop. Like a ticking time bomb, there was a stockpile of stolen artifacts hidden in Cheng's house. Could he talk his way out of that one? Would a lawyer, likely owing the Collingwoods one favor or another, argue Cheng's way out of a guilt?
The thought warded off the worst of Rei's anxieties. Cheng did not know. He surely didn't know. Maybe that was what Rei was stalling for. She only needed an opportunity to call in a tip. The police would swoop in and put an immediate end to the shady business.
Yes. Brilliant. That was all she needed. An opportunity to contact the police.
Rei squirmed in her seat, a restless soul even without the pressing need to execute a plan. She couldn't pull out her phone in the middle of the room. That would be far too transparent and tip everyone off immediately. Some manner of stealth was required.
"Excuse me," she interrupted, feigning a polite and embarrassed smile, "is there a rest room?"
She avoided Cheng's gaze. It was a perfectly fair request, whether Cheng liked it or not. The car ride had been long and arduous. She'd been under Gwen's watchful and resentful eye at the hospital.
"You know, I could use the same," Gwen added.
That didn't surprise Rei in the least, but Gwen's presence did not make Rei's plan impossible. It just demanded more creativity, more improvisation.
"Oh, just like old times," Rei replied, her smile forced. She made no effort to hide that. There was no reason to put on an act for the banker.
"Down the hall, first door on your left," the banker supplied.
Rei rose, Gwen mirroring her, and the two of them left the room. The click of Gwen's heels reverberated off the polished marble floor. They echoed and echoed, as if there were a dozen Gwens, each a ghost of the one previous. Each a little less tangible than the prior.
Rei's phone weighed in her pocket. No one had confiscated it, but then, Rei had also been in perpetual company since the hospital. There had not been a fleeting moment to check it. She didn't dare in case she draw attention to it, inviting someone to take it from her.
Maybe they wouldn't. Cheng and Gwen threatened her with words. They didn't touch her. Taking her phone was a much more concrete act, evidence of ill intent. Something more than just her word against her brother's.
"God, he's boring." Gwen spoke first.
"Lucky you," Rei said, "I have so many more such meetings to look forward to." That was her duty. Gwen simultaneously wanted what Angelo had granted Rei and was bored by it. Bureaucracy did not suit Rei, but it suited Gwen even less.
They turned into the washroom, the stalls all in a neat row, but Gwen didn't enter one. As Rei suspected, Gwen merely wanted to play watch guard. Though, most guards did not turn to the mirror to fix their mascara.
It did need fixing. It tugged at a single thread in Rei's chest. Like so many tragedies before, there they were, together, just as Rei had been there when Gwen learned her parents were divorcing.
Always, Gwen tried to maintain composure. She was an expert at pretending nothing in the world bothered her, though the thinnest bleed of mascara gave her away.
Still, Rei couldn't forgive her. She ducked into a stall.
There wasn't a great deal of time, nor was it reasonable to make a phone call.
Rei slipped her phone out of her pocket, ignored most of the notifications blinking away.
A message popped up from an unknown number and Rei's heart threatened to stop.
You broke your promise. This one is on you. How are you going to fix this, princess?
Then, less threatening...
I can't get ahold of Baz. What's happening?
Diego. Bloody hell, Diego.
Rei's thumbs stumbled over letters, trying to type faster than she was capable.
Shitstorm. Call in the tip. Stolen goods at Cheng's
She couldn't think clearly, not enough to explain fully. It was wiser to leave out the bit where Jasper shoved Sébastien into a trunk. Rei was already skating on thin ice. Admitting to that little tidbit would do her no favors.
He could call. He could call while Rei could not. His response came immediately.
Where are you?
Rei's heart hammered. Gwen's stilettos clacked against the tiled washroom floor, pacing. Time was running out. Rei stashed the phone and finished her business. Gwen wouldn't accuse her of lying, at least not 100%.
Gwen was waiting when Rei let the door swing open, eyes watchful. She leaned against the counter, her arms crossed. Rei felt eyes on her as she washed her hands under the motion-sensor faucet and paper towel dispenser. Cool. Collected. Nothing was amiss. Rei just needed to buy a little more time.
Silently, Gwen escorted Rei back to the crowded office, back into the grasp of legal terms and jargon.
"We've sorted out a great deal. I've expressed your intent," Cheng announced. Oh, how he must have enjoyed that. Not only did he get to do what he did best, talk about money, he got to speak for Rei. Always a favorite treat.
"Oh, excellent," Rei said.
"I know how you hate sitting through these meetings," Cheng replied.
Rei flashed her teeth, more grimace than smile. "How kind."
She sat down. If Cheng went down, Sundial went down with him. That was the inevitable future. Even if he could buy his way out of consequence, there would be scandal. There would be a loss of faith. There would be repercussions.
"Now, I expect there is paperwork to sign if I am to pass on Angelo's shares to Gwen," Rei said, "where they rightfully belong." She took a pen from the holder upon the desk, poised to sign. Let Gwen have it. Rei could wash her hands of the whole business. Rei and Sundial, separate. The museum could not be used against her. She could not be bribed with corporate donation plans. The only leverage they had left against her was an art thief.
Let him be resourceful. Let him not panic in closed spaces. Sébastien could walk up walls and find his way onto top story balconies. If he could do those things without fear, surely a trunk was a small thing. An inconvenience.
Unless Rei fucked up. Unless she misplayed her cards. Time would tell. Cheng couldn't hurt him. He wouldn't.
Rei signed over the line indicated on paper, giving up the last shreds of Sundial promised to her.
"And the safety deposit box?" Gwen asked. "I assume that's where the proof of ownership is, yes?"
Rei stiffened, staring at her own name.
"You would like to see the safety deposit box?" the banker asked.
Rei nodded slowly, while no echoed in her head. Rei was on the list, Gwen was on the list, but Cheng and Jasper would not be permitted to view the contents. It would be Rei and Gwen, alone again.
The baker confirmed what Rei already knew. The men would stay behind while the women would be escorted. Rei reached into her purse, finding the key in the zippered change pouch of her wallet, a place she assumed no one would look, should there ever be an opportunity for them to. The key.
Time was running out.
Let the police be swift. Let them put out a warrant, call for backup. Let Cheng be in handcuffs when Rei returned from the empty safety deposit box.
They entered a familiar room. The banker disappeared to retrieve Angelo's box. Rei's heart pulsed like a drum, something menacing and foreboding. For not the first time in her life, she wished to be more like Gwen, to keep her emotions from flooding her face. It was something Gwen had always been good at, and something Rei never had. Rei sat. Let the banker take his time. There was no hurry. None at all. There was nothing to see.
Literally.
Nothing Gwen wanted was in the box.
It came out, Gwen's gaze upon it like a hawk watching a mouse darting through the field grass. Waiting. Wanting.
The banker placed the box in front of Rei, the key in her trembling hand. Like she had once before, she slipped the key into the lock and turned. It clicked. This was why Gwen needed Rei. Despite Gwen being on a list of people permitted to see the contents, she didn't have a key. It was Rei's alone. That was something Rei had always been aware of, and part of the reason she had moved the contents. Rightly so, she thought. The key itself was worth stealing, if Rei's trashed room and Sébastien's employment were any indication.
The lid of the box flipped open and Rei waited for the reaction. The box was empty. The will listed the items meant to be contained, but they weren't there. The charade was over. Even as Rei sat there, in front of the box, she could feel Gwen's stare boring into her. The jig was up. Rei was just wasting time.
"Ah, well," Rei said, "I remember now. I've already gone through this process."
Before Rei had emotionally processed Angelo's impending death, she had rationally processed it. His death triggered most of her responsibilities, but there were actions within her power before then. There was proof of intent. Angelo intended to give Rei the shares and the necklace. It was in writing. His letters and documentation stated how he intended for Rei to decide a suitable new home for the jewelry and the shares were for a company Rei already partially owned.
"Thank you, that will be all," Gwen said, permitting the banker to return the box to its home, empty. Something simmered under Gwen's words. Rei stood, sick to her stomach as she accompanied Gwen out of the room, preparing for the words to come in privacy.
"Where is it?" Gwen hissed as they walked down the hall, a snake. Rei kept her posture stiff, refusing to acknowledge her own ploy. Let them guess. She walked faster, daring Gwen to grab her, to sink her manicured nails into her. Let Gwen do it. Let her lose her composure.
Of course, Gwen wouldn't. It went against her careful conditioning. That made it all the sweeter.
They came upon Jasper and Cheng, no longer crowded around the single desk in the small office. Instead, the driver of the car, sweat beading his forehead, stood in the cluster with the insidious men of Sundial. They spoke in hushed tones, whispering secrets or scandal.
"What is it?" Gwen asked, practically a growl.
Cheng waved her off.
In a flash, Gwen grabbed his wrist, clutching his arm beneath her claw-tipped fingers. Rei hardly kept herself from smirking.
"Do not dismiss me," Gwen said, "I asked you a question."
If Gwen were a sheet of glass, the hairline fractures would show under a magnifying glass, the spiderweb of them spreading outward.
"The car's gone," the driver answered nervously.
"What?" Rei couldn't stop herself. The car was gone? It was a limousine. How did a man lose a limousine in the financial district? Sébastien was in that car.
Unless...
Even to her, biased by hope, the idea seemed unfathomable. He had his hands bound. In the trunk. It couldn't be possible. Sébastien couldn't escape the trunk to steal the car. That was ludicrous. That was absolutely brilliant. It was impossible, yet of course he could do it. Rei had watched him escape her own mediocre attempt at restraining him. All he did was shrug his shoulders. Rei had undone that knot, but in time she had no doubt he could've undone it himself. If a man could break into apartments—hers, his own, Cheng's, multiple others—could he not also break out of a car trunk?
She grinned in spite of herself.
"Unbelievable," she said. Cheng only scowled.
"There's a car on the way," Jasper said, "are we done here?"
Failure colored all their features, displeasure and embarrassment forming a lovely carmine cocktail as they had no choice but admit they had been defeated by their own thief.
"Where are the shares, Rei?" Gwen asked, more specifically than before.
If Cheng didn't look so furious and flustered, Rei thought he might've looked proud. She wasn't stupid. In any case, any possible other case, he may even have congratulated her for her forethought.
In another life, perhaps. In an alternate universe, they got along. In another one still, perhaps Cheng even protected her as big brothers did.
"Where do you think?" Rei stalled. They were in too public a place. Gwen practically vibrated, a pressure cooker sitting atop a stove. Somewhere else, a sharp hand may have struck her across the face. As long as opportunity presented itself, Rei aimed to take it.
"I don't like games," Gwen said.
"So what would you call what you've been doing these last few days?" Rei replied, emboldened by the knowledge that they couldn't hurt Sébastien for Rei's indiscretion. What could they do now?
"Jealous?" Gwen mocked.
Rei rolled her eyes. "You can have your father's money, Gwen. It doesn't change the fact he liked me better."
She could push and push and push until she sent Gwen over the edge, but it was at Rei's own expense. It hurt to make the jabs, like punching through glass. Cracks spread through the surface, but Rei was left bloody knuckled in return.
Her heart thrummed. Did Diego call the cops? Where the police storming Cheng's house as they spoke?
Jasper leaned toward Cheng, stage whispering loud enough for Rei to hear. "You know, an injury would just sell the kidnapping story."
Rei bristled as Jasper very intentionally pulled his suit jacket away from the gun at his hip. He wouldn't dare. Or would he?
"I kept everything at the museum," Rei said, "it's there."
"It better be," Gwen said.
Rei couldn't take her eyes off the gun.