Page 108 of Heart of Thieves

“I saw her in round two,” I say. “How long have they been there?”

“I noticed them as soon as I woke up an hour ago.”

“What have they been doing?”

“Just . . . waiting,” he says, leaning against the window frame. “It seemed off to me. Wouldn’t players be looking for clues or something?”

I know exactly who they’re waiting for. Now that my father knows I’m in the game, he’ll want me snatched up as soon as I arrive for round three.

“Wait.” He straightens. “They’re moving.”

As though they’ve spotted something up the road, they creep toward the corner. Something glimmers in Ostena’s hand. A blade, perhaps?

“What are they looking at?” I ask.

“I can’t tell.” Enzo unlatches the window and drags the pane up so he can get a better look.

I lean over the edge, too, squinting at what appears to be a man hobbling toward the casino, hunched over so far he’s nearly bent in half.

“Who’s that?” I whisper.

“Not sure,” Enzo replies.

A motorcar turns onto the road, flashing its headlights across the figure, and Enzo and I both freeze.

“It’s Nic,” I gasp, registering his bloodstained face. “What happened to him?”

Ostena and Forsyth dive from the shadows, tackling Nic to the sidewalk. I tense to leap out of the window as Ostena rams that silver flash of metal I noticed before into his upper arm. Nic struggles, then slumps forward and does not move again.

It must have been some sort of syringe like the one she tried to attack me with during the tournament.

I tear back toward my bed, scrabbling for my voratium.

But by the time I’ve returned to the window, Nic, Forsyth, and Ostena are gone.

My heart leaps into my throat. “Where did they go?” I cry, leaning so far out the window I nearly topple six stories to the pavement below.

“I don’t know,” Enzo replies.

“Which direction were they headed?”

“Left, I think.”

“You think?” I round on him. “What were you doing, picking lint out of your belly button? Did they take him on foot? Flag a taxi?”

“Carried him up the street. They had a vehicle waiting.” He leans back in his chair as though bored.

I gape at him. “What the depths is wrong with you? Your brother is kidnapped right in front of you, and you don’t even have the decency to act worried?”

He sighs. “He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.”

“I don’t think anybody is capable of taking care of anything when they’re unconscious. Why are you so unbothered by this?”

“He cursed me. Why should I give a flying damn what happens to him?”

I let out a half-mad laugh. “I’ve told you a thousand times, he did not curse you!” I gesture at his jewelry, frantic. “He was protecting you!”

Enzo scowls. “According to him.”