Deadly Secrets

Chapter 1: The Beginning

[Revised]

"The princess has arrived, folks!"

Zara pulled the sleeves of her sweater over her hands, ignoring her friend's sarcasm. Her teeth chattered from the cold, which seeped through her clothes, dark skin, and settled into her bones. It may have taken her twenty minutes to find a crowbar—the little bugger had been hiding in a pile of dirty laundry—but Orion didn't have to be so vocal about his impatience.

He glared at her from his spot beside a street light and it was hard to be oblivious to it; Orion's Northern Chinese complexion and dark clothing made him look like a troubled phantom. He soon was going to be one if he continued smoking as much as he did—it wasn't unlikely that he went through a pack of cigarettes per day.

"Next time, I swear we're leaving without you," he continued, thin brows furrowing over his almond eyes. As Zara pranced down the front steps of her apartment building, he brought what remained of the cancer stick up to his lips then tossed it on the sidewalk.

"You don't have the balls," Zara said, a knowing glint in her eye. She was the best thief in the group; they would never leave without her and Orion knew this. Unfortunately for him, he always made the same mistake of trying to say otherwise. Silenced yet again, he resorted to grimacing and flipping the bird.

Zara rolled her eyes as he trudged up to a battered Chevrolet, opened the passenger door, and slipped inside without a single comeback; she revelled in moments like these, where she could put Orion back in his place for running his mouth. With a final snicker, Zara trudged up to the car and threw the door to the backseat open.

Her smile immediately melted away when the musty smell of sweaty feet and old fast-food travelled up her nostrils.

"Sorry guys, I couldn't find this—" Zara said, trying not to gag as she lifted the crowbar and climbed into the car. She sucked in a breath and attempted to hold it long enough to close the door behind her and roll down a window.

The floor was littered with everything from empty soda bottles to dirty clothing. Despite being a neat-freak both at home and at school, the car owner, Saffron, treated his car like a garbage disposal. It was disgusting, but it warded off the nosy onlookers in Zara's shady neighbourhood. She looked briefly out the window and, sure enough, not one passerby gave the vehicle a second glance.

"Took you forever," Saffron muttered from the driver's seat, unscrewing the cap from a bottle of Coke. He twisted the key in the ignition and when the engine began to purr, he shifted the gear in reverse.

"Yeah, I know, man. I said I'm sorry."

As Saffron pulled out of the parking spot, drink in hand, Zara took off her backpack and placed it on her lap. She wrapped her arms around it and looked over at Aurora, who was pulling faces at her compact mirror.

"I'm super excited for this," Aurora squealed, her hazel eyes glued to the tiny reflection. She reached into her Guess jacket—the one she always wore to heists for good luck—and took out a stick of lip gloss.

Zara raised an eyebrow, amused at the girl's vanity. "Is this really the time to be putting on lipstick? One bump and that thing will go up your nose."

Saffron choked on a mouthful of soda while Orion snorted with laughter.

"It's lip gloss not lipstick," Aurora clarified through gritted teeth, pulverising all three of her friends with a look, "and I've done this, like, a million times. I know what I'm doing." She pointedly flipped her ebony hair over a shoulder.

"Don't you get it, Zara? She wants to look good for her mugshot," Orion said after a brief recovery, his voice still hoarse. He reached out the window with a new cigarette, tapping the end with a finger so that the ashes fluttered off. Saffron side-eyed him—Orion knew how much his friend hated people smoking in the car, but he did it anyway. No amount of cussing and threatening would make him stop.