Rites of Passage | Damian x OC

2. Secret Weapon

A few months ago

It was supposed to be easy. They said it would take ten minutes at most. The back door would be their smooth way in and out, and there were two windows, one upstairs and one downstairs, that would be the backup exits. The couple would be leaving the house by 9:30 p.m., not returning for at least two hours.

But it was 9:37 and the LED lights of their luxury car were swinging across the large front lawn as the driver pulled in to the long driveway. The lights poured into the house's foyer, nearly blinding the man standing watch in dark clothing with a bandana covering his nose and mouth. Quickly, he hurried down the hall, cursing under his breath, then called to the girl who'd been patrolling the back end of the house.

Jess, dressed similarly to him with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and tucked under a hood, felt her heart leap into her throat at his warning. Immediately, she skipped up the stairs three at a time and ran to the doorway that led into the master bedroom.

A woman was crouched at the small safe hidden inside the bedside table, her movements careful and calculating as she pressed a stethoscope to the metal and twisted the dial, listening intently for the gratifying clicks. Though she wore a ski mask, it was clear all her attention was focused on her one task at hand, so when Jess whisper-shouted, "They're coming back," she started at the girl's voice.

"What?" Beth glanced over, incredulity coloring her tone. In the moonlight that washed in from the window, her blue eyes were wide with panic. "Shit. I almost have it."

"We don't have time." Jess glanced behind her at the stairs, picturing the couple shutting the doors to their car. She had no idea why they were returning home – maybe they'd forgotten something – but it didn't matter. They had to escape. "Jax said we have to go."

"I need less than a minute. I'll be fine."

"But they're in the driveway –"

"We can't leave without it. Go." Beth gave her a glare before turning back to the safe.

Sweating with anxiety, Jess headed back down to the first floor, nearly colliding with Jax at the bottom of the stairs. He was raising his brows at her, then looking back up as if expecting to see Beth following her. She shook her head at him, and he let out a frustrated sigh.

Before he could respond, there was noise from down the hallway. The front door was opening and two voices spilled into the house, loud with annoyance as the couple argued about something. Something about a guy named Rodney attending the party and his flirty behavior.

Jess and Jax were at the back door to the patio within seconds, slipping through the crack just as the man and woman were approaching the staircase. Shutting the door and shrinking into the shadows at the side of the house, Jax whispered, "Let's get to the van. Beth should be coming out the window any second."

The two of them pressed themselves against the north side of the property, keeping to the trimmed bushes in low crouches. Heart thumping in her chest, Jess couldn't help but look back, expecting to see Beth right behind her, having successfully broken into the safe. But she wasn't there, and one glance at her watch told her it had been longer than the minute the woman had said she needed. Jax touched her arm gently and she looked towards him to see that he was motioning for them to continue. He didn't seem to be as worried about Beth, but he did know her better than Jess did. They were siblings and had been living this kind of life for years after all.

If he wasn't panicking, maybe she shouldn't have been either. They were almost at the front of the house anyway, less than a minute from freedom and being thousands of dollars richer. That was assuming Beth was going to make it off the property with the prize.