The Paris Caper Read Online Free PDF

What he’d done at
the club with her did not exactly put him in the best light. Would he have
stopped if she’d told him no in that storage closet? Maybe. But maybe not.
    “Okay, you’re right,” she
reluctantly said to Hugo. “We take care of this ourselves.” To the others she
said, “We need a plan to make Beck leave Sophie alone. Everyone think about
what we can do. In the meantime there’s little option. We must pay him off.”
    “But how?” Sofie
whispered. “It’s so much money.”
    “Same way I always do.
Speaking of which...” She pulled the diamond bracelet from its hidden pouch at
her waist. “This must be worth several thousand. That’s a start.”
    “Oh, Ciara!” CoCo
exclaimed, taking it from her. “It’s gorgeous! Did you slip it right off the
princess’s wrist?”
    She made a face. “Yep.
While I was dancing with my cop, too.”
    All five jaws dropped.
Even Hugo’s eyes widened before narrowing. “ That’s how you met the flic ?
While you were robbing the princess? Didn’t he get suspicious?”
    She shook her head. “No.
I’m good at what I do.” She sighed. “And luckily for us, there are plenty more
rich people out there with jewels and paintings and silver that other people
want. I’ve been doing this for almost ten years. Another few robberies isn’t
going to make much of a difference.”
    She knew her lifestyle
was wrong. She’d known it from the start. But she’d been so young when her
mother had kicked her out...she hadn’t seen any option—other than selling
herself on the streets, which she refused to do. She’d seen what a few years of
that had done to her mother.
    Then when Etienne had
found her and swept her off her feet...well, Etienne was a thief. It wouldn’t
have done to question how he made a living. Besides, back then the seamier side
of life was all she knew.
    But that had been
fourteen long years ago, and with Etienne she’d discovered there was more to
life than simply fighting for survival any way you could. Etienne was dead now
but she was still stealing. Each month she told herself, just a little while
longer... But months had turned to years. And now...it was too late.
    She sighed and shoved
aside her fruitless thoughts. “Sofie, I’ll get Beck’s money, never you worry. We’re
not letting you go anywhere.”
    “Or letting that
blackmailing pig touch you, either,” CoCo added firmly, her eyes blazing.
    “That’s right.” Davie and
Ricardo both gave her hugs, and Davie turned to Ciara. “I just heard something
that might come in handy. The Countess Michaud is having a big end-of-summer
soiree next week. Everyone who’s anyone will be there.”
    Ciara smiled. Outcast
aristocrat Davie was her pipeline to the pampered and privileged upper-class
world where she currently made her living. Although his father had kicked him
out at thirteen, to society, monsieur le Comte de Figeac pretended all
was well in the family. Without Davie’s tips, her life would be much more
complicated and difficult. Ciara had the skills, but Davie had the info and the
entrée to the jobs that paid well. Even his coursework in portrait photography
had brought in useful contacts.
    “There, you see?
Everything will be fine,” she said, smiling reassuringly at all five of them.
    These kids were all the
family she had, all she would ever have. She’d do anything for her Orphans. To
see they got the chances she had been denied.
    And if that meant she had
to steal more to pay off that bastard Beck, so be it.
    ♥♥♥
     
    “Ah! The most famous
bracelet in France,” monsieur Victor Valois said with a grin as he took
the diamonds from Ciara.
    It was the next morning,
and she was visiting her friend and mentor in his fashionably shabby antique
store, Valois Vieilli .
    Standing behind a glass
and gilt Louis XV jewelry display case, he winked. “And the most famous thief,
as well. Congratulations! I saw the papers this morning. I was expecting you.”
    “Are you sure