beautiful thieves | ✓

nineteen

I'm asked to see Danielle in her office first thing in the morning, and I know I've landed myself into deep shit. Colby could have been killed because of my cowardice last night, and even though I cleared the air with him in the water spa, I know there's still some fog I need to get rid of.

My hair is still wet from the quick shower I had this morning, where I scrubbed at my skin to get rid of the stench of chlorine clinging to my body, and the nearest clothes I could grab was a long-sleeved white top and a pair of grey joggers. I should've probably at least tried to look more presentable before meeting with the scary boss, but my exhausted body simply couldn't. Seriously, I'm worried I might all asleep in her office.

I knock timidly on the huge door to Danielle's office. I hear voices from inside before Adam opens the door. He doesn't say anything, just brushes a hand against my shoulder as he walks past, and Danielle calls out a 'come in'.

I obey, walking through and closing the door behind me, braced to face Danielle's wrath. But when I turn around to see her leaning against her desk, wearing a loose, floral dress with a small smile on her face, I'm confused.

She angles her head towards the glass doors leading to the huge balcony and I follow after her as she floats over to it. It's a sunny day, as if summer has already arrived, and I take a seat in the comfortable chair beside the one Danielle neatly sits in. 

It's quiet. The birds are tweeting in the distant trees but there's no other sound, and the land goes on forever. Pretty much all of the rooms have a balcony but this has the best view by far.

"So," I start awkwardly, leaning back in the chair with my arms splayed over the armrests. "I guess you're not mad at me?"

Danielle chuckles, the sound as ethereal as always, keeping her eyes on the horizon. "I'm not," she says. "Concerned about you? Yes. But not mad. Everyone made it out that house alive, we now have a shit tonne of money, some of which has gone to as many girls I could find whose lives were affected by that bastard, and we won't be getting into trouble. There's nothing to be mad about."

I sigh, chewing on my bottom lip. From the way she talks about it, she makes it sounds like it was the most successful raid she's organised.

"But I didn't shoot," I mumble. "I didn't shoot once."

"Neither did I."

I glance over at her, eyebrows drawn together while she looks entirely at peace with the world. The sun is beaming on her face, no shadows or blemishes to be seen, while she has money and love and everything anyone would ever want in life. The perfect vision of prosperity. "What do you mean?"

"I've never told you about my mother, have I? The real Mrs Vasquez-Jones," she smiles at the last bit, shaking her head.

I'd never even thought that Danielle would have parents. Most of the time I imagine that she was built on another planet and one day was magically placed on Earth to kill some evil men and take their money for good causes. It seems more likely than being birthed and growing up like every other human being.

"You haven't," I say.

"Well, she was leader of the Thieves before I was, my Grandmother before that. It's tradition to pass the leadership to the first born child, and both my Grandmother and mother only had one daughter each. They were very glamorous and very powerful, and my mother was my biggest inspiration. She still is."

I notice that she's speaking of her mother in past tense.

"I've been trained to become a thief all my life," Danielle continues. "Any child of the leader is basically born into this world, so mother started me off early. By the time I could walk she was building my strength, and I held my first gun when I turned ten. She was an incredible woman, very loving to everyone who worked for her and I knew that she loved me, even if she sometimes had an odd way of showing it. I just remember thinking that I wanted to be just like her, even when she was working me to the point that I would collapse or yelling at me so loudly that I would have a splitting headache.