Page 32 of Phoenix's Last Heist
“Everyone knows about the Triumvirate,” he says. “Three ancient Senterion families who have held onto power through the darker dealings in Minaris. They control the drug trade, run protection rackets, hoard information for blackmail and control, and have their fingers in every dirty deal this side of the galaxy.”
“I hope you don’t know any of them personally,” I say, wincing, knowing he’s already going to be pissed about this half-cocked plan.
“Why?” he asks.
“Well, let’s just say I’m no longer welcome on Mallorus,” I grumble. “So you’ll be going in for me.”
Orion arches a brow. “They banned you from theentire planet? Stars, Lyra, what did you do?”
I see the warning bells pealing in Orion’s head as his expression darkens. He continues to cook, dumping the vegetables into a hot pan and shaking an unholy amount of dried spices over them. The fragrant heat makes my mouth water almost as much as Orion’s lean muscles and dark freckles.
I sigh, knowing he isn’t going to like what I have to say.
“A couple years ago, Brill sent me to Minaris to bargain for some ancient book that was being auctioned off by one of the Triumvirate families. The auction took place in the back room of one of their swanky casinos—the Red Sands, owned by the worst of the lot of them, Fobos. Have you heard of him?”
Orion shakes his head, stirring the food in the pan with slow, rhythmic circles. I’d be willing to bet a considerable sum on him being an infuriatingly patient lover who displays the same kind of deliberate attention to his partner’s body.How annoying these lusty thoughts are becoming.My nipples tighten as I visualize things a far cry from breakfast and jewel heists.
“Well, consider yourself lucky. He’s as mean as he is greedy and destroys everything that isn’t worth selling,” I say bitterly.
“Sounds like you know him personally,” Orion suggests in a displeased tone.
Visions of my night in Fobos’ arms return. It was considerably less enjoyable than my time with Iathos. The unwanted memory creeps in—the sharp smell of his skin, the velvet couch sinking beneath me, the faint din of the casino floor below. He’d talked the whole time, voice slick as oil, calling me “profitable.” It hadn’t been cruel, exactly—just cold. Transactional. I’d left feeling scrubbed raw, like something valuable had been pawned without my permission. Orion catches my shudder from the corner of his eye.
“I was there to get the book for Brill. As soon as the bidding started, I knew Brill had set me up to fail. Even with his resources, the amount of credits in that room made him looklike a lowly dock worker. Bidding escalated way beyond what he’d instructed me to offer, but when I contacted him and told him the situation, he lost his shit. Told me to come back with the book, or I’d face somereallyunpleasant consequences.” He wanted me humiliated, I realize now. Maybe to test my loyalty—or to remind me who owned my debt. Either way, it worked. The higher the bids climbed, the smaller I felt.
Orion cracks a few eggs into the pan of vegetables and grates some cheese on top. My stomach growls audibly, and despite the disapproval in his eyes at my story, he smirks.
“It’s almost done,” he says. “Do continue.”
“You seem pretty comfortable cooking with Earth ingredients considering you haven’t ventured off world in a few decades,” I remark.
He shrugs. “I finished reading your romances and am working my way through the rest of your books. The cookbooks are…odd, but there are some parallels in Xylothian cuisine. And I like cooking.”
Belatedly, I wipe the simpering look from my face and clear my throat.
“Well, I’m sure you can guess what happened next. I created a small distraction and in the confusion, managed to steal the book and high-tail it out of Minaris,” I say. “The Triumvirate followed me, of course, but by the time I got to Ooneryx, I was in Brill’s territory and they weren’t about to launch a full-blown turf war against him for some book. Still, I’m not allowed to set foot in the city, on the planet, or have any business dealings with Triumvirate partners. Fobos still has a price on my head, but so far no one is fool enough to take me from Brill and turn me in.”
“Stars, Lyra, youaretrouble,” Orion mutters, his voice halfway between amused and exasperated.
I grin and throw my arms up in the air. “I never claimed to be otherwise, Your Goodliness.”
“So where do I come in?” Orion asks, dishing food onto a plate and sliding it across the table to me. “You want me to show up at the Red Sands Casino and start another incident so you have some company on the Triumvirate’s list of hunted?”
“Hopefully not,” I say, uncertainly. “But who knows? I told you this whole mission was a big, bad, dangerous mistake.”
I bite into the omelet and nearly swoon—the eggs are tender and fluffy, the sauteed vegetables a perfect balance of savory and spicy. It’s probably the best food I’ve had since…I can’t remember when and it’s already got my hangover headache on the run.Stupid, sexy Ranger.
“Well?” he asks, clearly anxious about my opinion. It’s…cute.
“Damn, Ranger, where did you learn to cook like this? This is amazing,” I say between forkfuls of food.
“My ex taught me,” he says, filling his own plate and coming to sit across from me.
The food turns to lead in my gut.
“Your ex,” I echo, unappealing jealousy raging through me like a tidal wave. I force myself to swallow. “They must’ve been quite a catch.”
Orion smiles, but there’s pain in his eyes. I don’t have the fortitude to push for more, especially since I’m still fighting to tamp down the envy that threatens to set off myvellia. Orion isn’t mine to claim or fight for. In fact, he probably still wants to turn me in to the Feds.
