“No.” Mavis ground the word out.

“How long?” In the five years I’d known Mavis I never would have guessed she had a kid tucked away somewhere. I guess in my world you never truly knew anyone.

“Eight years.” She sighed and looked up at us. “Do we really have to do this?”

“Yes.” Ava answered the same time I did.

Ava’s voice took on a kind tone. “Obviously, Owen didn’t know about him. We need to be able to trust you.”

“Fine.” She lowered her voice. “My sister died and I got the kid. Et cetera, et cetera. The end. Stop prying.”

“I’m sorry you lost your sister.” Ava was smart enough to not reach out to touch Mavis. I could see all of the muscles tensed along her neck and shoulders. “It must’ve been hard to lose her and find yourself in charge of a ten year old.”

“Eight year old.” Mavis looked up. “He’s only sixteen. His father was the bloody Green Giant. He’s been taller than me since he was nine.”

“How did you manage to take care of a kid?” I tried to keep the disbelief out of my voice. “Our job isn’t exactly something you can list on the contact form for his school.”

She cocked her head to the side, almost like a bird. “Assassinating people isn’t my only business. When things were bad I didn’t need to work. I only took the occasional job when I needed to let off steam. Now that he’s older it’s easier.”

Huh.

“You can tell you two are close.” Ava smiled. “He might be taller than you, but he still looks up to you. And it must have been nice to have someone to come home to.”

Mavis smiled a little. “Sometimes. Other times I’d come home to find out he’d done something stupid, like getting kicked out of a private school.”

“Being a parent would be hard.” Ava shook her head.

“You have no idea.” Mavis cleared her throat. She handed me a stack of papers. “Previous places the casino was held. Illegal gambling never goes out of style.”

“You think this is the best way in?” I glanced over the list. Geneva, Moscow, Hong Kong, Singapore, Morocco, Samoa, Quebec. It didn’t look like they avoided any particular countries.

“It’s invite only. Everything else we would have to infiltrate slowly over a couple of years.” She looked at me. “We don’t have that kind of time.”

“And how do we get an invite? And how do we know Maria will be there?” Ava leaned forward. Her hair fell in her face and she shoved it out of the way. I had flashback to this morning, when all of that hair had been hanging in my face while she moved on top of me.

“Maria is always there. And they seem to send the invites out to prominent businessmen and women. People with connections. Though it looks like those people are allowed to bring guests with them as well.” Mavis slid some photos of people dressed in finery walking out of an abandoned building. “’Hey, come with me to an illegal casino that’s full of sex slaves and expensive drugs.’”

“They’re compiling blackmail.” Ava pursed her lips.

“Exactly.” Mavis’s eyes flicked in my direction. She wasn’t easily impressed.

“Why would they go?” Ava looked from me to Mavis.

“Brains.” Mavis shrugged. “They lack them.”

“Are they really all that stupid?”

“No. Some of them don’t care. Some of them are shady anyway. For a lot of them, it’s pride. Something to boast about.” I spread out the pictures. “A lot of them are bored. They’ve seen it all, done it all. This is exciting. Forbidden.”

“What? They don’t watch reality TV like everyone else?” When she smiled it lit up her face.

Fuck, I had it bad. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt like this. Maybe as a teenager, but no, even then it wasn’t more than overworked hormones. Ava was different. I liked the way her facial expressions changed as she’d read that stupid Christmas book. I enjoyed watching her think, for fuck’s sake. Who sat around and watched someone else think?

“Owen, dear, we’re not in remedial health class. There’s a lot more at stake than your GPA right now.” Mavis slapped a paper down in front of me.

It was a list of flight numbers.

“Zone out on your own time.” She tapped the paper. “Do you notice anything about the numbers?”

“I’m going to guess they correspond with the list of casino locations,” I said. Mavis rolled her eyes. She was brilliant, gorgeous, and clearly missed out on a career as an angry librarian.

“Oh, you’re awake now. I thought I was going to have to ask Ava to step out of your line of sight.”

“Get on with it.” I frowned.

From the corner of my eye I saw Ava look down at the table with a small smile. God, I didn’t deserve to be in the same room as her, but she’d let me love her this morning. I’d fallen asleep with her in my arms and I wasn’t sure I could go back to not waking up next to her.

I looked back down at the paper and cleared my throat.

“They keep track of all the flight records for their guests. Why?” Mavis tapped the table excitedly.

“I haven’t a clue.” It wasn’t that I didn’t do my research like a diligent little assassin, but I didn’t derive the same amount of satisfaction out of it that Mavis did.