Chereads / Secrets And Stakes / Chapter 5 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Chapter 5

"I hope so. I don't want to hear of you guys getting jailed or see some news report of how your body parts were found at a beach," Olivia responded, a smile playing on her lips, while Rodney pulled Whitney back to the table they had been sitting at and Perry stumbled back to the couch as he laughed. 

"What country are you travelling to after tonight?" Lillian asked and Olivia quirked a brow at her. 

"Why? You wanna visit?" 

Lillian shrugged and cleared her throat. "Maybe," she muttered and the corner of Olivia's mouth turned up before she shoved her shoulder. 

"Hard pass. I don't want the cops knocking on my door if you and Gerald get arrested."

Lillian narrowed her eyes at her as her lips curved into a smile. "You keep on saying someone's gonna get caught. What if you're the one who gets caught?" 

Olivia's eyes went wide as she gasped loudly and clutched the imaginary pearls around her neck. "Moi?" she said as mock surprise washed over her face and Lillian shoved her head to the side with a laugh.

"I'm going to really miss you guys too," she muttered as Rodney resumed explaining what he was doing on the laptop to Gerald while Lillian sat upright again.

"... I guess I could send a postcard or something," Lillian murmured, sitting serenely and staring straight ahead, and Lillian's head snapped to the side to face her with her eyes glinting.

"Really?"

Olivia shrugged as she folded her hands in her lap. "Really. You guys are the only friends I have and its not like I'm good at making friends so I'm going to need someone to talk to after I get to my destination."

"Which country are you going to?" 

"No, you tell me which country you're going to. I'm the one sending the post card," Olivia retorted and Lillian pressed her lips together. Lillian didn't know where she and Gerald were travelling to because he was the one who planned everything and he said he wanted it to be a surprise. Their passports and plane tickets were in his bag which was currently next to her and she rolled her eyes as she pulled the bag to herself. 

"Fine," she muttered and opened the back pack's zipper while keeping her eyes on Gerald who was still talking with Rodney. "I'll tell you."

She didn't actually know if she was going to tell Olivia, she just wanted to find out where Gerald was taking her too. She loved surprises but she didn't want their destination to be a surprise and not knowing has been bugging her6for a while now. 

She began to rummage through the bag, still keeping her eyes on Gerald, and her movements stopped when her hand found a box… a small box that had what felt like a suede body. Her eyes widened slightly, hoping it was what she thought it was as she opened the box and felt for what was inside. 

It was a ring… It. Was. A. Ring… A ring!!! 

She had the sudden urge to jump to her feet and start dancing while squealing but she didn't because he might get upset that she found the ring before he proposed. So she stayed as still as she could with her eyes fixed on him, barely able to contain her excitement. 

"What's with that look on your face? Your lips are going to split from all that grinning," Olivia said and Lillian gritted her teeth to keep herself from bursting into laughter.

"It's nothing," shereplied as calmly as she could and withdrew her hand from the back pack. She had completely forgotten about the passports and plane tickets, the reason she had opened the backpack in the first place. 

Olivia's forehead knitted when Lillian quickly closed the backpack, a huge grim still on her face, and Olivia leaned close to her to whisper, "Is there a bomb in there?" 

"Huh?" Lillian furrowed her brows just as the door to the room opened and everyone fell silent when Baxter Hayward walked in. 

Baxter was a man in his forties and he was their client's middle man. The client that was paying them to steal an object what trillions from the Mortenson Manor. 

Baxter's eyes swept over everyone in the room and Gerald stood upright while Whitney leaned close to Rodney to stare at the screen of the laptop in front of him, now interested in whatever he was doing. 

"Gerald," Baxter said as he pocketed his hands and Gerald did the same thing. 

"Baxter."

Baxter's left eye twitched and he clenched his jaw. "It's Mr. Hayward to you."

The man always behaved like he was bigger than them… well actually he was but they hated it when he always came up to them, looking like he wanted to prove a point. It was obvious that he didn't like them and they didn't like him too. The only reason they were the ones pulling this heist was because the client had employed them through another middle man.

Baxter considered everyone in the team as peasants and he saw himself as a Lord and they had all wished they were doing the deal with the client himself or herself. 

Speaking of the client, they had never met he or she before or even spoken to them over the phone. The person wanted to remain anonymous and they were fine with that but most of them still had a lingering curiosity. 

"Baxter," Gerald repeated and Perry snorted on the couch while Rodney and Whitney talked about the different places on the blueprint of the Mortenson Manor, choosing to behave like Baxter wasn't there. 

"Consider yourselves lucky... not many people get this opportunity," Baxter announced and Lillian scrunched up her face. 

No one responded. The only motion in the room was the dust that danced in the narrow beam of falling light.

Baxter looked surprised that they didn't reply him and he stared at Gerald for a little while longer.