Chapter 29. The Real Deal

All the times he said he was not nervous when asked were a big, fat lie, and when Dahlia offered him the opportunity to back out, even now on the day of the heist—hours after the painting had been mounted, the most perfect time to steal it—he’d been offended.

Why was she so certain he couldn’t do this? Why did they all think he was weak? Hadn’t he gone through enough to prove himself to them these past few months? According to tradition, they should have given him the task of executing one or two people who had wronged the consortium during his training.

He had gone through multiple thought processes about it. He wasn’t sure how he felt about looking someone in the eye and taking their life, and back then, the thought of finding out how he felt made him queasy. But he never got the opportunity.

As the months went by and no one mentioned it, he’d felt an urge to challenge Dahlia about it. Even after everything he had been through in those months, they felt he was n