Chapter Text
Mercedes looked in the round incredulously while the other women requited her gaze seriously.
“Okay, let’s get this straight”, she clarified with an arched eyebrow “Y’all want me, a black American woman, to infiltrate a royal all-white family in a conservative European town?”
“Yes”, was Rachel’s short answer.
“You guys cannot be serious.” Mercedes narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. She was from Texas, she knew how to handle a herd of mad buffalos and how to ride a horse in western style, but she was so not in the mood for that bullshit. Dealing with a bunch of racist aristocrats was not her area of expertise. Definitely not. “Why can’t Britt go?”
Santana Lopez shook her head immediately and grabbed her girlfriend’s hand protectively. “Forget it. Britt and I will fly to Lesbos next week.”
“Again?”
“Our last con was a success, and we need to celebrate”, the Latina said matter-of-factly. “We deserved that. Flirting with that stone-old sheik took away twenty years of my lifetime, believe me.”
Mind you, that man was thirty-eight, only eleven years older than her. Okay, maybe she didn’t exactly enjoy their affair since San was unable to reciprocate a man’s romantic and sexual attraction to her, but still. Sometimes, Santana was such a crybaby.
“And you, Quinnie?”, Mercedes tried to lure the other blonde. “People normally love your white skinny ass.”
Much to her annoyance, Quinn shook her head. “Sorry, Cedes”, she answered with an apologetic shrug. “My family is already quite well-known in England. People would easily tell I am bluffing.”
Right, she forgot that Judy Fabray, née Davies, was part British. Davies Properties was a property company specializing in producing single and mixed use developments in central London. Plus, the Davies Water Fountains were also quite popular all over Europe. It would be too risky to send Quinn.
“Why don’t you go, Berry?”
“Because I’m already taking care of that other lucrative project of ours, didn’t you forget?” Dammit, Rachel was right. After Brody broke her heart, Rachel was keen on gutting that guy like a Thanksgiving turkey, financially, of course. She would ruin him and his existence until he lost every single penny he owned. Gosh, it was definitely no good idea to mess with the Ladies in Silver.
“Tina?”, Mercedes attempted to win over the last member of their alliance.
The Asian woman looked up from her nail file and fluttered with her fake-eyelashes innocently. “I can’t go because of the same reasons as you. Asians are not that welcome in that narrow-minded excuse of racist a hicktown, as you know. Besides, I have other plans anyway.”
“What other plans?”, Mercedes hissed.
“Remember that guy I was talking about? His name is Colt and he’s a multimillionaire”, Tina narrated with sparkling eyes. “He asked me whether I wanted to spend the weekend with him. At his vacation home in Aspen, the one where he stores all those fancy Avantgarde sculptures he owns. That’s my opportunity to rob him.”
“Jesus Christ!” Looked like Mercedes had no other choice than to go. “But don’t even think about telling me to get rid of my Southern Drawl.”
“Why?” Rachel grinned at her blissfully. “Nowadays, Europeans love the American way. They look up to us Americans, and I’m sure you are going to charm them in no time.”
Yeah, they would see about that...
“Where is that place even?”
“Castleton, Ridgefort.”
Mercedes blinked at her, confused. “And that’s where exactly?” She had never been good at geography.
“Ridgefort is a county in South-East England, right next to Sussex. And Castleton is a picturesque seaside town with great shopping opportunities. It’s not Malibu, but I’m sure you will love it.”
“Of course, I will.” She already knew that she wouldn’t. But hey, every job had its downsides.
Actually, Mercedes just could have stuck to her normal job. Before she joined the Ladies in Silver, she had finished her undergraduate degree in Teaching, but then, her then-boyfriend dumped her after constantly making fun of her weight and also cheating on her repeatedly. At the same time, she learned of her dad's condition. She remembered how she rushed to the next bar, crying, to get hammered – and how she met Santana who invited her to a Martini and gave her the business card of their group.
Since Rachel was the one who founded the Ladies in Silver, she was also the leader -more or less. Mercedes made her way up to the second in command quite fast (Sometimes, she even took over the leader’s role since the girls respected her more than Rachel - but never tell her so) even though she was the last member that joined them. Tina was their voice of reason while mastermind Santana was the one who plotted all their coups and cons. Quinn financed them with her parts of Davies Properties. Lighthearted Brittany kept them grounded and reminded them that their victims were still humans whenever their schemes and plans turned out too ruthless. They all had their more or less fixed roles. And they all had the same two things in common: They all wore silvery accessories – and they all got hurt by men.
From Quinn whose dad backstabbed and disowned his own daughter due to her teen pregnancy to Rachel who found out that her ex worked as a gigolo, Tina who escaped her mentally abusive ex after years of sheer torment, or Santana who just joined them for fun because she was a lesbian and hated men by default – men were their enemies and main targets that didn’t deserve any better.
All men were pigs – that was their motto.
Rachel handed her a folder with all the relevant information for her mission. “Here, read that. You are going to apply as the tutoress of Duke Samuel Evans’ little sister, Lady Emiliana Stacey of Ridgefort. She seems to have troubles in French.”
“French?” Mercedes groaned loudly. Her French skills were kind of rusty, to be honest. Back in highschool, she picked Spanish. “That sucks. And who says they are going to pick me?”
“Don’t worry”, Quinn answered for Rachel, a smug smile on her face. “I have connections. My British relatives are going to pull some strings. You are going to be in Duke Samuel’s castle faster than you can blink, so you can as well start packing now.”
Mercedes blinked at the other five women confusedly. “What?”
“Well, as the leader of this group, I decided to send your application to Castleton. And guess what, you are already on the shortlist.”
“What the fuck, Berry?!” Mercedes glared at the petite brunette angrily. “You sent that application without talking to me first? Are you out of your goddamn mind?!”
Unimpressed by her fit of rage, Rachel took a sip of her cup of tea. “Did you already see the jewels you are going to steal?”
“J…jewels?”
“Brittany, show her the photos.”
A beaming Brittany retrieved her iPhone, unlocked her display, and scrolled over to the photos of said jewels. Mercedes’ breath caught. “Sweet niblets.”
“Yup. Those jewels are worth 2.4 million each”, Rachel explained while Mercedes kept staring at the glittering ruby gems on the blonde’s phone’s display. Those pieces were the most beautiful gems she had ever seen. “They are as big as one penny coin and incredibly valuable. The Grand Duchess Eloise, Duke Samuel’s great-great-great-grandmother, got them on her eighteenth birthday in 1835. Since then, they belonged to the royal family of Ridgefort.”
“Interesting”, Mercedes breathed. “And where can I steal them?”
“Oh, you will have to wait until the ball of Ridgefort’s 200th anniversary takes place where they will be showcased. Until then, the jewels will be safely preserved in Castleton Palace’s vault.”
“And how long do I have to wait?”
“Oh, two months.”
“Two months?!” There was no way Mercedes could survive two months in that shithole.
“Sorry, Mercedes.” Rachel just shrugged mercilessly. “But that’s our by far most lucrative coup. Just think about the tons money we will make if you are successful. One piece is worth 2.4 million on the black market. There are at least a dozen jewels inside the jar, which are at least 28.8 million divided by six.”
They all would get at least 4.8 million dollars? Holy moly…
“And remember that those privileged royal douchebags don’t deserve any better.”
Rachel had a point, though. While they were working their asses off to make a living, those condescending snobs in their pretentious homes didn’t even have to move a finger – they merely got paid for sitting in their fairytale - like castles and for looking pretty. Life was damn unfair.
“Okay, I will go”, Mercedes relented with a sigh. After all, that was going to be her last coup. After that, she was going to leave the Ladies in Silver for good. As much as she liked the adrenaline kick when scamming douchey males – she hated herself a little more for every con she was doing. If she had had a choice, she would have quit long ago. Only thanks to all the cons, she was able to supplement her pathetic income as a substitute teacher.
“Mercedes?” Quinn looked at her worriedly. “Are you still with us?”
“What?” Mercedes blinked at her twice. Until now, she hadn’t told the others about her plans to leave them after that coup. And she definitely wouldn’t do it today. The girls loved her; it would break their hearts if they learned that her engagement within the Ladies in Silver was only a temporary solution for her financial problems. Besides, they slowly grew sick of Rachel as the leader. Mercedes was the one who kept the group – namely Quinn and Santana - from murdering Berry in her sleep.
But she was going to worry about that another time. “Uh…sure. So…when’s my flight?”
…
Castleton sucked.
Mercedes got out of the cab and looked around with a scowl. Of freaking course, it was raining now. Other than in L.A., the beach of Castleton was not sandy at all. It was all wet and muddy and freaking disgusting. Hopefully, the rainwater was not going to destroy her new weave. Frustrated, she clutched her umbrella’s stick tighter so that she didn’t get wet. She had decided on her most favorite trenchcoat to her jeans and a white blouse, her high-heeled Gucci ankle boots were already wet.
She just arrived here in Castleton and already hated it. With a frustrated groan, she entered Castleton Palace in her Google Maps and started following its directions. Other than in L.A., people didn’t drive fancy SUVs but small Cadillacs or BMWs, occasionally Oldtimers à la Mister Bean. The houses around her were brickstone buildings in red and white, seagulls were gathering on the streets as if they belonged to them. The wind was somewhat icy and smelled of salt, but not the nice salty odor she was used to from Malibu.
She so couldn’t wait to return to L.A.
As expected, a bunch of guards were standing in front of the Palace, making sure nobody entered the property illicitly. And to no one's surprise, they were wearing ridiculous uniforms in red, puffy hats were on their heads.
“Excuse me.” Mercedes tapped one of the guy’s shoulder. “I have an appointment now. Can you let me in?”
“No.”
How rude. And she always thought Englishpeople had manners.
“Look”, she hissed, trying to sound calm even though she grew impatient the more time passed “I’m supposed to be in the Palace in ten minutes. It’s important.”
The guard had the freaking audacity to just ignore her. Intolerable!
“Oh, is it because I’m black?” Okay, that sounded a little farfetched, but it has been a long flight and she was still jet-lagged as hell. That the airplane food sucked wasn’t helpful, either. “Just go on, ignore that angry black woman, asshole”, she started ranting with hot cheeks. “I should have known you're all an ignorant bunch of racist pigs. Why did I even agree to this bullshit?”
The quiet reasonable voice in the back of her head told her to shut the hell up now before she got arrested, but as she just said – it has been a long day for her, and she wasn’t really herself right now.
One of the guards slowly retrieved his walkie Talkie, probably to snitch on her. Great, looked like she was going to get incarcerated because she harassed the guards. That day couldn’t get any worse, could it?
“It’s okay, Ronnie, let her in”, a new voice suddenly said, and Mercedes spotted a young blond man that approached them from the other side of the gate.
The guard nodded to said man and opened the gate for her.
“Thanks for nothing”, Mercedes hissed to the guard with narrowed eyes before she entered the spacious estate of the Castleton Palace. She needed to fasten her pace to keep up with the young man that was now walking towards the entrance of the building in front of them.
“Thanks for helping me out”, she decided to speak up. “Are you their boss? The Chief officer or something?”
Mr Handsome looked at her, his green eyes were sparkling amusedly. “If you want to call it like that – yes. And you are here to tutor Lady Emiliana?”
“That’s right. Will there be a job interview? I mean, I guess so because there are thousands of people that would be willing to tutor a royal, but…”
She was surprised when the blond guy started laughing. “You would be surprised how many people already quit their jobs before you. The other candidates on the shortlist decided to bail out spontaneously." Something told her that Quinn's British relatives might have something to do with that...
"As far as I know, you already got the job, but I have to warn you, it’s nothing for the faint hearted.”
“Believe me, I’m quite tough.”
“I like your attitude, Miss…?”
“Jones. Mercedes Jones. And you are?”
The attractive stranger furrowed his eyebrows amusedly. “Oh, I won’t tell you. But I’m sure you will find out my name soon enough.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean?