Conning For Keeps (An Agents of TRAIT Novella) (Entangled Flaunt) by Seleste deLaney

put me into play when I was under hypnosis, but I lived with my parents for fourteen years. I learned a few things along the way. Time to be the girl you always thought I was and put my Valjean to the test.”
    A con? She had an actual back-up plan. Somehow thanking God for small miracles didn’t seem the appropriate course of action. He wanted to trust Marissa but couldn’t shake the feeling she was up to something. “What the hell’s a Valjean, and how do I help?”
    “You don’t. For someone who’s never run the game or seen it, it’ll take too long to explain. Plus, it’s kind of a one-man con. The less you know, the better since it means you’re playing the same part you have since we arrived.” She blew out a breath and nodded rapidly like she was convincing herself.
    He didn’t like that part. At all. Too many things had gone pear-shaped already. This was supposed to be a simple snatch and grab. A huge set-up for one, but that’s all it was. Get the painting and get out.
    Now this mess and her playing solo? Every single fear he’d had regarding Marissa roared back to life. This wouldn’t fly, not if he had anything to say about it. “We’re supposed to be a team, remember? Have each other’s backs?”
    When she stood, the wicked, cocksure smile he knew too well was in place. This wasn’t Marissa in love or lust or whatever she felt for him. This was the Marissa who’d clawed her way up the ranks at TRAIT when everyone, him included, said she couldn’t.
    “This goes right, and neither of us will be in any danger. Government agents won’t enter Canalis’s mind. I promise. So…I’ve got your back, handsome.” She ran her hands through her hair again, fluffing it out, taking on a level of confidence he’d never seen in her—which was saying something. “See you for dinner.”
    She was out the door before he’d moved from his knees. The instant it clicked shut, he rushed to the computer, determined to mine the depths of the Internet for any information on a confidence game called a Valjean. He was going to be involved whether she liked it or not.

Chapter Seven
    Valjean’s Confession
    Marissa stood outside the Queen’s Suite, nerves giving her pause. Hiding this from Trevor wasn’t right, but it was necessary. As much as she’d rather bury herself in him for the rest of the week and nick the painting on their way out, as soon as he’d mentioned Leo Canalis questioning her identity, she’d known what she had to do.
    In a certain way, she’d known from the moment she woke up to find the mission barely begun that it would come to this. Time to be the con artist and betray the fragile trust they’d started building. Time to be the person everyone knew she was deep down.
    Everyone but her.
    Fate had brought Certain Laughter within her reach, and it wasn’t going to let her get away without facing her past. Before she changed her mind and used the sedatives on Trevor to get him out of here so they wouldn’t get caught, she raised a fist and rapped twice on the door. Maybe Canalis wasn’t here. Maybe when he arrived, he’d switched suites with Frankie and Evangeline. The pause between her knock and the door opening was just long enough for her to re-think the plan and take a single step back down the hall.
    Then Leo Canalis stood before her, top two buttons of his shirt undone, sleeves rolled up, and she was stuck. As he stared at her, his lips quirked to the side in what was almost, but not quite, a smirk. She straightened under his scrutiny. No way she was letting him enjoy this more than necessary.
    “Mari, this is a…surprise.”
    She grinned and batted her eyelashes, letting her gaze rove over him languidly. “No it isn’t.”
    “No. It isn’t. But it is a pleasure.” He stood back, holding the door with one hand and waving her into his room with the other. “Come in.”
    Giving him a saucy smile, she slithered past and tried not to jump when the heavy wood shut behind her,