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CHAPTER FOUR; partners in crime
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KAZ BREKKER WASN'T EASILY SURPRISED. He'd like to consider himself someone keenly aware of his surroundings, in control of everything he could grab a hold on. He was the Bastard of the Barrel and no one got the best of him if he had a choice on the matter. He held the threads of power in his hands, manipulating the city's underbelly to his advantage. No one dared to challenge him and emerge victorious. And so, the word "surprise" held little significance in his world.
It was rare that it happened—him being surprised. But when Ace swung open the door to her townhouse in West Stave, her presence alone became a symphony that disrupted the steady rhythm of Kaz's chaotic world.
He knew Ace, he knew her mind—he'd like to think their messages over the years allowed him to have her figured out. He knew she was competitive, always urging herself to be better, not because of greed—no, Ace wasn't greedy, she was ambitious, a force to be reckoned with in the criminal world. Kaz might've not known where she hid, but he was sure he'd manage if he tried to find her (even with Inej keeping secrets).
The truth was simple really, Kaz hadn't wanted to find her. He enjoyed the game they played, being the only person in Ketterdam to come close to uncovering the mystery of the Outlaw Ace and yet never quite did. He liked the mystery she poised, the one thing in Ketterdam he could still hold in the light of the unknown, and still, he hadn't resisted the urge to reply to her very first message: a simple ace of spades card from a deck in the crow club, left behind in place of a rare chandelier from Shu he was trying to steal from the embassy.
Better luck next time, Dirtyhands, the note said. And from that one single note, those five words, Kaz had gotten addicted to the thrill of the competition, from the feeling hearing from her gave him. Their messages were a game of threats and banter and highly out of the ordinary—joy amid the smog-filled and grim narrow streets of Ketterdam. The messages made their felonies lighter, and dare he say, fun.
His reasons in Ketterdam were multifaceted, woven with threads of revenge, survival, and a deep-rooted desire to prove his worth. In Ketterdam, a city that thrived on the ruthless exploitation of its inhabitants, Kaz Brekker sought to rewrite the rules, to leave an indelible mark upon the world that had both shaped and scarred him. But the link he shared with Ace had nothing to do with any of it, he wasn't trying to prove his worth, get revenge or survive; they were fighting for the place as the best thief, and for the thrill of the game, the joy of seeing letters scrawled upon parchment and cards.
But that link had shattered the moment she'd opened the door and he found himself staring at the barrel of a gun.
His eyes had darted from the polished silver metal to the slender hand grasping it, skin kissed by the sun even through the permanent clouds residing over the city. His eyes had traveled further, his mind reeling with doubts of whether he'd made the right choice to shatter their link by having her on his crew, and his breathing hitched momentarily.
