to get them out of here.
“We need exit music,” Harley said to the dead-silent crowd. She pointed toward the band standing motionless on the stage against the far wall. “Can I make a song request?”
The bandleader was pale as death as he nodded. Selina chuckled, holding her duffel in front of an aging woman she’d chatted with merely thirty minutes ago. So good to see more old money here, the woman had trilled.
It had been nearly impossible to keep from throwing her drink in the woman’s face.
It didn’t stop Selina from now being rougher than necessary as she plucked the woman’s ruby tiara off her head and shoved it into the duffel.
No sign of Luke Fox. Perhaps he’d already left. He’d seemed bored to tears when they’d danced earlier. But perhaps that was Holly’s effect on him.
“ ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen,” Harley ordered the bandleader as the couple in front of her shed their jewelry like a snake with a second skin.
Ivy clicked her tongue, her toxins continuing to leak out and ensnare those before her. They handed over their jewelry without a blink of fear. “Good choice.”
Selina was inclined to agree. And hid her laugh as the band struck up the song immediately, the piano player missing the first few notes as his hands shook, but then settling into it. The singer was no Freddie Mercury, but what he lacked in range, he made up for with sheer bravado.
The audio receptors on her helmet gave Selina an update: two minutes until those cop cars got here. SWAT team, likely.
Harley was dancing to the music, braids swinging as she bounced through the crowd. Ivy was swaying along, too, that vine of hers slithering whenever someone seemed to notice her lack of gun and contemplate attacking.
“Playtime’s over,” Selina said to them, zipping up her bag. Two echoing zips sounded.
“Gimme a drumbeat,” Harley ordered the band.
And holy hell, the drummer gave it to her. Right as the band paused, the singer putting enough attitude into the lyrics that Selina finally laughed as she faced the enormous windows overlooking the street below and park beyond. She motioned the crowd back against the far wall.
Harley hurled one of those colored balls right at the window. A blink, flash, and then—
Glass slid to the floor, shattering into countless shards. Someone screamed.
The singer didn’t miss a single beat.
The band was enjoying it, Selina realized as Harley whistled and chucked one of those orbs to her. Catching it in one hand, Selina grinned and lobbed it at the chandelier in the center of the room. Perhaps the band was as sick of these rich pricks as Selina was. There was no way of faking that shredding guitar solo, not faltering as the chandelier came crashing down. Blocking access to the open window as Selina broke into a run, Harley and Ivy already a few steps ahead.
The two launched out the window, people screeching over the music and crashing glass.
As Selina reached the window, the main doors blew open again.
Batwing appeared between them, glowing like he’d been freshly forged, arm raised to fire some weapon from his suit.
Selina leapt out the open window, twisting as she fell. Turning back midair to meet Batwing’s gaze from across the room.
And give him the finger with both hands.
Free fall sang to her for two heartbeats before she hit the awning below, bouncing up to catch the hotel flag jutting out a few feet away. She wrapped her legs around it, slithering down. Right into the convertible where Harley and Ivy were already waiting, duffels overflowing with jewels. Right into the driver’s seat.
Batwing reached the window as Selina punched the ignition, popped the clutch, and floored the gas pedal. His roared curse was sure to make some well-bred ladies behind him faint as Selina, Harley, and Ivy sped off in Luke Fox’s Porsche.
They’d gone too far.
He didn’t care about his car, top down and parked out front all night, keys left in it by the valet. No, that was the least of his concerns when people had been outright robbed and terrified. It didn’t matter what level of society these people existed in, or whether or not they could afford to replace their valuables. This sort of thing could not, would not happen on his watch.
Luke glanced behind him to the panicked, stunned people still in the ballroom, the band that was now making a quick, guilty exit.
He said to the room, to anyone listening, “I’m on this.”
“She