An amateur's guide to conning a conman

Chapter 32

The entire train ride there, I couldn't stop shaking despite Titus's reassuring words.

" Gods they are so in the lovebirds stage, it makes me gag." Jacy said.

" At least you don't spend every day with them." Dante muttered.

We stepped off the platform and met with Aldan a block from my old home. We traded out street clothes for matching sets of black clothing.

" The security camera?" I asked.

" Disabled for the next two hours, and I've sent the guards home for the day."

As we rounded the corner to the house, my breath hitched. It still was the same, the same off grey house with dark tiles. Even the same plants were placed on the windowsill.

Dante and Jacy wished us luck and broke off from us.

I took a breath as we approached the door. Gods it had been so long.

" Do you want to do the honors or should I?" Adan held the lock opening device in hand.

I shook my head and walked to the plants. If memory served me right, it would be the third pot, taped to the bottom.

I almost laughed when I felt the metal key fall into my hand. It still was here.

Titus let out a chuckle.

I pushed the key into the lock and turned the knob. Gods it even smelled the same. Laundry detergent with a hint of whatever my grandmother was cooking that day, and today it smelled like sticky rice.

Everything was exactly the same. Nothing had changed in the last nine years, not even the broken clock that was always three minutes late above the living room.

I slipped on a pair of gloves and tucked my hair into my hood.

" Sweetheart, come on." Titus nudged me, breaking me out of my trance.

" Yeah, of course." I closed the door between us.

We split and went into different rooms. I went into the kitchen. Everything was the same except for a new model of appliances, the dining table still had four seats. Even though judging by the cushions only two had been in used.

I pushed everything out of my mind except the one goal of finding the necklace. My grandparents had multiple places to hide things and I searched all of them.

The secret space between the shelves, the loose tiles on the floor, even under the fridge but I came up with everything but the necklace.

When I finished, I headed back to the living room and began scanning for anything. I moved a few photographs around until a particular one caught my eye.

It was of me and Adan and my father a few months before everything happened. We looked happy, me on my father's shoulders. Adan standing awkwardly on the side, chocolate stained his mouth and cherry candies stained my tongue.

" Hey."

I jumped and whirled to find Adan standing before me, he noticed the picture frame in my hands.

He smiled gently, "'I remember that day, we crashed so hard after that sugar high. Your dad had to tuck us into bed."

I grimaced, " All I remember is you kicking me in your sleep."

" I was only kicking you because you took all the blankets. I think that was the night, I wished time would stop so I could stay by your side a little longer."

I glanced up to meet his golden eyes, he was staring back at me with reckless emotions. He blinked and glanced away.

" Sorry, um Titus found a safe upstairs, he wanted me to get you."

Of course. I had forgotten about the safe.

We rushed upstairs and into a room. Inside was a display an array of expensive jewelry incased in glass that even made me stop for a little. They had been busy.

Hidden in a corner was the safe, it was at least seven feet tall and five feet wide. There was a fingerprint scan and an eye scan.

" Oh shit." Adan whispered.

" Are you sure it's in here?" I asked.

" Where else would you put a queen's necklace?" Titus said.

I exhaled, " Okay, hand me a bottle of rubbing alcohol."

I stepped forward and pressed my index finger against the reader, there was a click and then an error sound.

" Fingerprint unknown. Two tries until total lockdown." I read the screen. I cleaned my prints off the safe.

Adan cursed, " Okay. I can lift your grandparents' prints from the house but I don't know how we're going to get eye scans."

Titus tilted his head. " This metal is the same one from the prison, remember?"

" Yeah, the one where it could only be electronically opened."

" Electronically. Which means there's a power source somewhere in here." Adan said.
" If we can find it and cut the wires, we can open the safe."

Titus moved the safe to the center of the room so there was space and tilted it over so it was leaning on its side.

" Sweetheart, any chance your grandparents taught you how to break into safes before you ran away?"

" Sorry, I think that was scheduled for the week after."

Titus cracked a grin, " You could just say no."

" Stop flirting, there's no time." Adan muttered, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a pouch of tools.

We all took a crack at it, I managed to find a weak point and carve out enough metal to make a dent before the screwdriver broke on me. Adan scrapped out more metal and Titus broke through to make a small hole. The only issue was that we had broken into the wrong place so we didn't find wires.

" This is taking too long, there has to be another way." Adan said.

Titus dropped his screwdriver and rubbed his red fingers, " I'm listening for suggestions."

I stood back, staring at the safe until I remembered something. I had my father's eyes which my grandmother had.

" I have a plan. But it's a long shot."

" Better than sitting here and scrapping metal." Titus jumped to his feet.

" We need tape and a lot of it." I said.