My jaw unhinged. Telly burst out into a fit of giggles. "Oh my God, your face. You should see it right now."

  I just gaped at her. "Telly!"

  "What? Everybody’s doing it.” She waggled her eyebrows at me. “So, not anal then?"

  "You're ridiculous."

  "Hey, a girl’s gotta keep it fresh. So you're in love?"

  I couldn’t help the smile. "It certainly appears that way."

  She ran her hands through her hair again. "Sweetheart." I leaned forward and gripped her knee. "You don't need to keep running your hands through your hair like that. I saw the massive rock on your hand the moment I opened the door. So are you going to hurry up and tell me how she proposed, or are you going to keep me in suspense?"

  Now it was her turn for her jaw to unhinge. "You kneeling Queen! You knew the whole time. You didn't say anything."

  "Well, I saw it when I opened the door. I was going to say something, but then you barged in."

  "I did not barge. I forcefully walked."

  "Come on, let me talk about something happy. Please tell me about this engagement."

  "Oh, it's going to be spectacular. I have been waiting for my wedding day since I was a little girl."

  By the time I met her in college, Telly had been out since she was fourteen, but that didn't mean that she didn't plan on having the wedding of the century. And that was Telly. Flashy and always over the top. That was why I loved her. "Oh my God, these bridesmaid's dresses are going to be insane."

  "Yes, they will in fact be insane. Ugly as hell too. There are a lot of bitches I need to repay."

  It felt so good to sit there and laugh with her and talk about things that were completely normal and hopeful. It made me want the future to come. Because in that moment, planning for the future was exactly what I needed.

  7

  Ben

  The whole team had assembled inside the great room. Once I'd put out the call about the fake diamond, it had taken Bridge thirty minutes to make it to the house. He was followed soon after by East. The rest of the team was in the house within the hour. None of my mates were at all happy about it.

  Bridge just paced back and forth. "Is there any fucking thing we can do?"

  Lucas laughed. "Well, I had suggested that you lot buy a diamond and we craft a fake. But you vetoed that plan. So we have no other options. Now, we have a fake in our hands, and we don't have access to the real one. So I'll bring it up again. You can pool your resources, buy something worthy."

  East shook his head. "When you suggested it the first time, I did my research. There isn't even a diamond in the market that's remotely close to this one. And you think Rowan Downs won't know his family’s work? He’s obsessed with the Canary Jewel."

  Bridge scrubbed a hand over his stubble. "It's an option. He has never seen it. It's been gone for two generations. How would he know?"

  I shook my head. "They're fucking diamond merchants. Do you think they won't know?"

  East agreed with me. "No. Besides, the Canary Jewel is well documented. We're going to need a diamond of the same age. Between that and crafting the rest of that fucking bracelet to perfection, we don't have time."

  Lucas rolled his shoulders. "I know some excellent forgers who could do it with a good enough image. We can get a really good fake on the rest of the piece. It's just a diamond. You all are rich enough to get it."

  East shook his head. "No. That doesn't work. Because at the end of the day, the Van Linsteds are still going to parade it around. The whole point of this was revenge. There's no revenge if they're still in power. That rock is at the root of everything for them. And you think Rowan Downs won't know? Sure, maybe he anticipates that we're going to replace theirs with a fake, and he'll have the real one, but it has to be the real one. We have no room for questions on this."

  Roone was on Lucas and Bridge’s side. "No, no, no. There's leverage enough. They can get a damn good reasonable facsimile together, and the boys only need Downs to fall for it long enough to get the Van Linsteds out of power."

  I shook my head. "No. We know how far they’re willing to go. If we're going to do this, we need the real deal. We need Downs to have unwavering faith. We also have a small problem. There is supposedly an etching on the back of the bracelet. None of us have ever seen it, and it's not recorded anywhere. So unless we can get in and actually see the goddamn stone, it's impossible. And if we're that close, we need to fucking steal it."

  Lucas stood up and started pacing again. "Fucking hell. I don't know what else to say. Sounds like our only option is to break into fucking Fort Knox."

  Roone just laughed. "You're mad, mate. You know I love you like a brother. Hell, I love you more than my own brother. But that's fucking mad."

  Lucas laughed. "Oh, I know."

  Bryna tried to calm him by rubbing his back, but he shook her off. "No, love. As good as your massages are, they're not going to fix this. We're backed into a corner."

  There was shuffling on the stairs, and I was surprised to see Telly coming down with Liv. "I thought I told you to keep her upstairs."

  Telly rolled her eyes. "Oh, look, a roomful of handsome rich men, and beautiful rich women. My kind of place. Discussing another heist?"

  East lifted a brow. "Who's this, Ben?"

  I’d forgotten they hadn’t met. "East, this is Telly. Liv's best friend and original cracker of the drive."

  East rolled his eyes. "Oh, so you're Telly Brinx?"

  She grinned at him. "The one and only. My God, are all of you this good looking? This makes me almost regret that I have given up dick."

  Lucas coughed a laugh then. "Oh my God, I think I love her."

  Bryna whacked him, and he laughed even harder. "Oh come on, she's funny. Not as funny as you, of course." He leaned over and kissed his fiancée.

  Introductions were made all around, and Liv sidled up to me. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "You should be in bed."

  "I'm not going to lie around in bed. Clearly, we have a problem if the whole team is here."

  She lifted her chin in greeting to everyone. "What's up, guys? Did you steal anything good lately?"

  Lucas chuckled. His good mood seemed restored for some reason. "Not like we didn't have the most impossible of all tasks in front of us. I'm glad to see you up and around. Ben was going a little nuts without you."

  "Yeah well, can't keep a good woman down. Besides, you should see the other guy."

  Roone gave her a nod that said he appreciated her feistiness. I'd have to clock my cousin later. I kissed her on the forehead. "You should be lying down. You had a hell of an ordeal."

  "I'm well aware of the ordeal. But obviously, we've got trouble. It wasn’t the Van Linsteds or the Elite that took me. I was taken because of the research into my mother’s book, and I’ve put you all at risk."

  Shit. She didn’t know the two things were likely connected. We hadn’t had much time to talk about the picture or Evan Zolov and his involvement with the Van Linsteds.

  More like you’ve been putting that conversation off.

  I brushed her curls back over her shoulder. "Let’s talk about that later. You should—"

  "Christ, Ben, I'm not some Jane Austen heroine that needs to lie down at the faintest whiff of trouble. Besides, you didn’t seem to think I needed to rest last night when you were busy dicking me down, right?"

  There was a stunned silence from the room, and then East, Bridge, and Drew, traitors that they were, laughed their asses off, quickly followed by my cousin and then Lucas. Jessa and Bryna just gave her nods of appreciation. "If you all are done now?"

  She went to the fridge and pulled out the orange juice and poured herself a glass. "Okay, if you are all here, that means we have other problems." She finished the glass and landed her gaze on Lucas. "What's wrong with the jewel?"

  "It's a fake, love." Lucas said

  Livy swore under her breath. "That bitch. I knew it. I knew it when I was locked up with her."

  All gazes landed on Liv. "What do you mean?"

  "She said it when I was locked up with her. I was just coming to, so I wasn’t certain I’d heard it right until now. She said, 'Oh thank God, I decided not to show it.’ And I didn't know what she meant then. I thought she was just babbling because she was annoyed with me. But she wore a fake. The goddamn jewel must be in the vault. She never intended to wear it at all."

  "Okay, so the Van Linsteds weren’t at all worried about the jewel because she wore the fake replica?" Jessa asked.

  Liv nodded. "Yeah, they probably do it all the time. It only appears as if she's rocking it when she goes to these big-name events. But she's not. It probably never leaves the vault."

  Lucas plopped back in his seat and leaned back. "Well, that answers one question. So, the real one is exactly where we thought it was. Which means we're going to have to go to plan F."

  I glanced over at him. "What the fuck is plan F?"

  "Plan F is fuck it all. Go big or go broke time. Who wants to break into Fort Knox?"

  Bryna asked, “Liv, why do you think the kidnapping is about your mother’s book?”

  "As I told the police when they interviewed me, we were taken by Eastern Europeans. And there was something they kept saying to each other. Libret. I wasn’t sure what language they were speaking, but apparently it was Albanian. Telly checked it out for me."

  Telly nodded. "It's Albanian for book. Liv said that they kept asking her, saying the word when they were trying to get information about where she'd stored all her files."

  "One of them spoke English. I don't remember much, but they said my mother's name and that word, libret. I think this has to do with me. This isn't a London Lords thing."

  Everyone was silent for a minute, and then Drew let out a low curse. "So what the fuck does that mean? We've gone to great lengths to keep her safe. If she got herself in danger, why are we about to rob the fucking Van Linsteds?"

  I didn’t know when he'd started to turn into such a little bitch, but East was quick to remind him. "Even if this is true, and that's why they took Livy, it doesn't matter. The point is, the Van Linsteds still fucking covered up for Bram and all the other people responsible for Toby's death. I still say we rob them blind."

  Bridge nodded. "Yeah. The plan still stands."

  Drew cracked his neck. "Listen to yourselves. We're too fucking divided. As if Ben’s going to let it slide that some goddamn eastern Europeans snatched his woman from under his nose."

  Liv put up her hands. "Okay look, stop. I'll just put the book on hold. Lay low. Keep my hands clean. No reason for anyone to stop on account of me."

  Jessa shook her head. "It's too late for that. Besides, you already have an editor and a publisher waiting for you. And this is about your Mom’s legacy too. You can't just put this away."

  Bryna agreed with her. "Besides, they're trying to shut you up, and we can't let that happen."

  Drew threw up his hands. "Like I said, the fucking team is divided."

  Telly raised her hand. "Okay look, I know I'm new to the team."

  East lifted a brow. "You're not on the team."

  She grinned and then winked at him. "Of course, I am. Liv says I am, so obviously, I am. Bestie rules. Sorry, handsome." She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to me. "Look, handsome number four over there, Blondie, he has a point. We are a team divided. But we have some badasses in the house from what I'm told by Liv here. And a full-blown princess. How about the girls work on the book angle and get as much information as we can about who snatched her. I've got some resources that I can exploit, and you fellas get the fucking diamond back. Or steal it to begin with, whatever you need to do."

  I rolled my eyes. "Liv, you've been busy."

  She shrugged. "Best friend rules. I needed someone else to balance against all of yours."

  I turned my attention back to Telly. "She has a point."

  Drew eased himself onto one of the stools. "It was my idea to begin with."

  I chuckled then. "Oh, don't sulk, mate. It’s still a good idea. Okay, Liv, Telly, Jessa, and Bryna, you guys focus on the book. The rest of us will figure out some kind of plan to get the goddamn diamond away from the Van Linsteds."

  Roone nodded. "We'll need more Royal Guards."

  Jessa groaned. "Oh my God, I do not need a shit ton of Royal Guards. Why don't you just call Ariel? Have her come."

  Lucas shook his head. "No. Abso-fucking-lutely not. If Ariel turns up, Tristan will be here. If Tristan comes, Sebastian is going to start to worry why everyone is in London and has abandoned him in the Winston Isles. Besides, if Ariel comes, then Penny comes, and Sebastian will soon follow. We're keeping my brother out of this."

  Roone clapped him on the back. "Mate, right now, we need all hands on deck. You think you have enough of a team to raid something with the security of Fort Knox?"

  Lucas rubbed his temples. "We are not involving my brother."

  Jessa shrugged. "I know you don't want Sebastian here. I get it. You think I want the look? The I'm disappointed in you expression? But we don't have a choice. We need a whole team. Plus, Ben is right. It wouldn't be bad to have more security on board. Do you know anybody who's better than Ariel?"

  Lucas groaned. "We are so fucked."

  I glanced at Liv. "How do you feel?"

  She met my gaze and gave me a small smile. "Looks like we are in a pile of trouble, and we need all the help we can get. I'm not going to say no."

  "All right then, looks like we need to call the rest of team Winston Isles."

  Livy

  I didn't want to tell Ben that he was right.

  Matter of fact, I would rather cut off my damn arm. But I had no choice. Because the truth was, I was exhausted.

  I felt like I'd been run over by a truck, twice, but I sauntered out of the living room with a saucy smile. Saucy was the best I could manage with my lip throbbing like I needed to tear it off my face and start with a new one.

  "All right, if we're going to do this whole two teams-one goal thing, let's get to it."

  East clapped his hands together and grabbed his laptop off of the island. Telly lifted a brow. "Oh, is he tech support? Because I'm pretty sure I'm tech support."

  I could have sworn I heard Lucas chuckle, "Oh, nerd drama. How cute."

  I crossed my legs on the couch, pretending I was perfectly fine. Yup, that's right. Nothing to see here. Not like I really wanted to lie down. Not like the whole left side of my face felt like I'd been kicked in the face by an elephant. Nope. All good.

  I shifted my gaze to Ben, who stood behind me, arms crossed and standing like a statue. He lifted his brow as if to say, 'I told you so.' I just glowered back at him. So what if he'd told me so? Why should he get to have all the fun?

  East plopped in the chair just a little left of me and started tapping away. "Right, first we'll get the best description you've got of whoever you saw clearly. And then—"

  Telly laughed as she opened her laptop. "Oh, you're cute. While you're busy dicking around, I'm just going to crack the backdoor to the NSA, and I’ll get facial recognition in less time."

  East glanced up at Bridge. "She's not on the team. Tell her she's not on the team."

  Ben just chuckled. "Mate, if Liv says she's on the team, she's on the team. Chill."

  East muttered something under his breath, but I couldn't hear it, and Telly just laughed. "Liv, why don't you describe who you saw?"

  East shook his head. "You and I both know I'll get there faster."

  She shrugged. "We'll see.”

  Both of them looked at me expectantly. My gaze ping-ponged between the two of them. "Oh my God. I don't care who does this. It just needs to be fast."

  East nodded. "Don't worry, it will be." As I spat out information that I remembered, Ben eased a hand on my shoulder and gently massaged the knot of tension with his thumb. I almost moaned. His hands were strong but gentle. He was well aware of where my bruises were, what to touch and not to touch. He had magic hands. The thing was, the more he rubbed, the more pliant I became, the more aware of him. I was in a roomful of people with his hands on me, and I still got those zings of electricity. My core throbbed as if answering an invitation.

  I tried to ignore it. I described his eyes as not too far apart. Round, not slanted. His nose was straight. Roman, but it looked like it may have been broken several times. His skin was sort of olive, but ruddy, with lots of pink tones as well.

  Feature by feature we went, and I did my best to describe him, the man pulling in when I had been pulling out. I hoped that I was getting this right because my life depended on it. When I was done, East pressed a button. "Okay, I think we’ve got enough to go on." But then he frowned at the screen and said, "Ben, mate, doesn't that look like—"

  I glanced up at Ben, who was looking at East's computer. "Like who?" I asked.

  "It's fine. East, just see what you can get. We need confirmation."

  Telly laughed. "You know I want to be faster, right?"

  While she and East bickered, I continued to stare at Ben. "Who does he look like?"

  "It looks like someone we might know. But before I start going down that road, let's get our confirmation."

  Why did I get the feeling he was hiding something from me?

  Maybe because you still don't trust him?

  No, I did trust him. We loved each other, and it was not the time for keeping secrets. Besides, after everything we'd been through, no way would he be keeping secrets from me.

  As it turned out, Telly was right. She was faster. "I'm into the NSA. I've uploaded the photo. They'll come back with matches until we have one."

  East scowled. "You might be into the NSA, but I'm into Interpol and FSB’s database."

  "Okay. May the best man win."

  Lucas laughed. "Okay, while the nerd brigade works on that, then maybe we figure out how the hell we're going to get into the Van Linsted’s version of Fort Knox."

  Jessa spoke up. "You might not like this... Actually, none of you are going to like this, but why don't we walk through the front door?"