And sure enough he was. Without a glance to his brother as Sebastian looked directly over his shoulder, Lucas had everything well in hand. There was a whirring sound, and Lucas opened the safe. His eyes went wide as he glanced around at what was on the shelves. “Jesus Christ, look at what they’ve got.”

  I growled at him. “Focus.”

  He went over to the jewelry, checked the records, and then pulled out the drawer with the Canary Jewel in it. Lucas whistled low. “Jesus fucking Christ, that thing is big enough to cover my wrist.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, it’s so big it looks like costume jewelry.”

  Lucas handed me the bracelet, and I tucked it in the pouch under the vest I wore. He closed the drawer and then closed both the safe and the vault. Lucas cleaned up his tools and put them back in his backpack, zipping it up and hefting it on his back.

  Sebastian stared at us. “That’s it?”

  “Yeah, now we just have to get out.” We weren’t going the way we came in because security would be on a regularly scheduled patrol by then. So we were going to wait them out and then go around to the point where Roone and Bridge had gone inside. On the back stairs, I heard something and paused as the hairs at the back of my neck stood up.

  Lucas turned back, “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, something feels off though.”

  Lucas shook his head. “No, we’re good.”

  We hustled. East spoke into the comms. “We have one minute.”

  There was a dark spot in the main lobby area that no cameras covered. We needed to get there before all the cameras turned back on. It was easy enough to keep most of the security system down, but those cameras were on a second generator. “Cameras coming back on in five, four, three, two…” We all ran into our safety zone. The five of us were fine. We were perfectly okay. I glanced around, making sure Bridge and Roone were all right, and Sebastian just looked at his brother. “I don’t believe it, but you… Wow. You really do know how to do this.”

  He nodded. “I told you I was good.”

  There was another sound, and I turned to Bridge. “What did you do to security?”

  “Right now? They’re still fucked up. They should be out for an hour.”

  “Then what the hell is that sound?”

  In our comms, East spoke up. “Okay, security line going off in five, four, three, two—“

  A clapping sound interrupted him. We all turned to stare. Marcus Van Linsted was coming down the hall, and he did not look at all surprised to see us. “Aw, wish I could say I was surprised, but when the fake jewel was taken from April at the gala, I had the idea the Canary Jewel was probably what the fuckers were after in the first place. So, why don’t you go ahead and remove your masks so we can all speak as friends?”

  None of us did.

  He frowned. “Aw, then we’re going to do this the hard way.”

  Suddenly, there were clicking noises and out of the darkness came his men. One of them was Evan Zolov, the man who had taken Livy and terrified her then tried to run her off the road and kill her.

  I started to lean in that direction, but Sebastian put his hand on my biceps to stop me. Marcus cocked his head. “Oh, you don’t like Evan. Why is that, I wonder? If you gentlemen won’t comply with the simple request to take off your masks, I’m going to have my men take them off for you.”

  This was the worst-case scenario. East’s voice said in our ears, “What the fuck is going on?”

  Roone’s voice was barely an audible whisper. “We have company.”

  East muttered. “Shit, I’m coming.”

  Lucas was the one who gave him the firm command. “No, stick to the plan. You just keep those cameras down a little longer than necessary. Keep the office security off.”

  “I don’t know how long I can hold the alarms.”

  “Just stick to the plan.” Roone muttered.

  Guns pointing at us, we all held up our hands. How the fuck had this gone so terribly wrong?

  Ben

  We all backed up into each other in order to get everyone covered from all angles. Three gunmen plus Evan Zolov and Marcus Van Linsted. No Bram though, and I wondered why.

  But I wanted Evan Zolov even more. He and his men had put their hands on Livy, and I wanted to make him pay.

  As they approached us, Lucas tried to negotiate. “Gentlemen, there’s no need to get your knickers in a twist.” He was doing a British accent, and it wasn’t half bad. “But look, we are going to walk out of here, and you will let us.”

  One of the men jabbed at him. It was a tense standoff, all of us waiting to see who’d make the first move. Waiting to see who would break rank. Waiting to see what commands would be given. And then Lucas started to drag off his mask.

  Sebastian jabbed him hard with an elbow. “Have you lost your bloody mind?”

  Lucas muttered, “What? I can’t breathe.”

  I thought he was mad, completely insane. Then I realized they were distracting one of the gunmen who went to jab Lucas again, but Lucas grabbed the gun, turned it up, and then Sebastian sucker punched him.

  His jaw snapped to the left.

  And then it was on.

  The other men came forward. A pfft, pfft, sound went off, and I realized their guns had silencers. Son of a bitch. I launched into action, sidestepping one of the gunmen for Evan.

  Roone, without hesitating, had already attacked the other gunman. He roared. Was he okay?

  Focus on your target.

  Marcus Van Linsted frowned and backed away. “What the fuck? Kill them all.”

  I ducked a fist, came up with an uppercut, and my guy’s head snapped back with a crack. He was merely stunned and started bringing his head back up. But I knew how to fight. I drew my fist back and hit him in the Adam’s apple, and he went down clutching his throat, gasping, wheezing. I went for Evan.

  Roone was engaged with another gunman, and Sebastian and Lucas had the other one occupied. Sebastian had him in a headlock, and Lucas was delivering body blows. “You thought you could shoot me? That’s rude. I don’t like rude arseholes,” he said.

  The brothers had it under control. Roone was going to get the upper hand over his guy at any moment. My guy was already down and gasping. I grabbed one of the zip ties that had been in our kits and tied his hand and feet. Evan Zolov began to back away and Van Linsted was following him. Bridge shouted. “I’m going for Van Linsted.”

  Marcus Van Linsted paused. “Who are you?”

  Oh, he would know once Bridge got close enough. He had made Bridge’s life hell. During our training, he’d always made it a point to make Bridge bleed.

  Evan blocked my path, still holding a gun. I said, “Aw, I thought we’d handle this mano a mano. Or don’t you know how to fight?”

  I spread my arms, cocksure and grinning, like the asshole I was born to be.

  “I don’t need to fight you.”

  “Well, I need to fight you. You come with your guns, wearing arms, I didn’t know this was the pussy we were getting. Fair enough, I don’t hit women.” I put my hands up.

  He scowled and then tossed the gun aside. “It’s your funeral, either way. I don’t care.” He had a slight Eastern European accent, but it was mostly British. He’d spent years here. He had done some of our training when we were young. He was the fixer of fixers. The guy Elite members called when their son had a DUI and needed his blood tests stolen from the nick so he wouldn’t be processed. He was the guy they called when their idiot son had assaulted some girl and needed to make any evidence of that disappear. He was that guy. And he’d been on the Van Linsted payroll for years. Van Linsted had chosen not to do anything about him taking his wife. Why?

  Zolov smirked as he danced around me. He was quick on his feet, light. I remembered that. I had a longer reach than him, so he was going to stay out of range as much as possible. My only option was to wear him down. Make him work for it.

  He came in quick with a jab. I deflected with one arm, wrist to wrist, turning him slightly, making a fist of my left hand and punching him straight in the temple. He staggered, whirled around, and scowled.

  “You hit like a bitch.”

  “Well, you don’t hit at all. It’s a bit sad, really.” And then it was on. He roared and came after me. Punches, kicks. I blocked most of them but took a couple. Interestingly, though, the impact was lessened. He frowned when he punched. He had expected me to go down and I didn’t. We were matched evenly enough. He was maybe an inch shorter than I was. He was built stockier, but I was faster. Leaner. And in this case, just as mean. He’d hurt Livy, and he needed to die.

  I heard a popping sound to my right, and just as my eyes skittered to make sure that none of my guys were down, I caught a hit straight to my nose. Searing pain. Jesus fucking Christ. And then he was on me. I was on the retreat. I had to block the moves, covering my head as he was raining hell on me. When he came up for an uppercut, I rolled on the ball of one foot, adjusting my weight slightly, and he missed. That was my shot. I came in, both hands up under his arms and around his neck, yanked him down, and delivered knees. One. Two. Three.

  He finally got his hands up and blocked me on the knee, trying to hold it. Which was fine by me, because as he tried to use leverage to pick me up, I swung the other leg, more than prepared to fall on my ass if I had to. I grabbed him then and cracked our heads together.

  He cursed and staggered backward, releasing me. With both feet on the ground, I whipped out a good front kick and snapped his head back. I was on him. I jammed my thumbs in his eye sockets. He howled and exposed his neck, and I punched again. Another throat punch.

  As he coughed and sputtered, he tried to wave his arms about to protect himself. Then he reached into his jacket, and out came a knife. Curved. Deadly looking. That was one hell of a widow-maker kind of knife. I hadn’t done enough knife-fight training, so I eased out of the way as he coughed and staggered toward me.

  He swung wildly and caught a slice in my arm. I cursed under my breath and glimpsed to my right and saw that Sebastian and Lucas had their guy down.

  Lucas came to help, and I shook my head. “No, stick to the plan. Get out.”

  Bridge was fighting Van Linsted. Roone had his guy down, and he was zip tying him. Then he came for me. I shook my head. “You know what you have to do. Go.”

  With them gone, it was Bridge and I against Van Linsted and Evan Zolov. We were either going to both walk out alive or both die there.

  I felt another slice of heat across my arm, but it was the slice across my belly that was too close for comfort. I could feel the heat against my gut, but the heat wasn’t immediately chased by pain. No. It felt like fire, but it didn’t hurt. I didn’t dare glance down. I planted an open palm to his nose, and he cursed as we danced around each other, going blow for blow.

  I heard Bridge grunting. He had Van Linsted by the throat, but Van Linsted bucked his hips and rolled him over, which was not an easy feat. Bridge was a big motherfucker.

  I had to end this. I had to help him.

  In our ears, East shouted, “Someone tell me what the fuck is going on. The alarms were tripped. You might have another guard in there soon. You have to get out. We do not have time for this.”

  Zolov came at me again with the knife, but this time as he went to swipe, I blocked it with a high stance guard. And then with my thumb placed on his wrist and my middle finger on his thumb, I twisted. He howled, dropped the knife, and then I let go.

  I unleashed the control that I’d held onto for most of my life. The thing that told me the right thing to do. The thing that told me to be good instead of bad and not to bring violence down on the people that were just pure assholes. I let it go. I twisted until I heard a crack, and then I went for his face, releasing the anger and the fury of what he’d done to Livy, how he’d sent Todd after her, how he’d tried to kill her. He’d terrorized her. He’d made her unsafe. He’d tried to take her from me.

  I kept punching, occasionally throwing in kicks. Letting the rage take over, and God, I felt so fucking good. But then something was hooking on my arm.

  Bridge. What the fuck?

  “Stop, Ben.”

  I fought his hold.

  “You can fight me if you want but stop. He’s done. Tie him up.”

  My eyes came into focus. He wasn’t just another demon to fight. This was Bridge, my mate.

  Marcus Van Linsted was on his side, barely bloodied. I looked at Bridge and said, “I thought you were going to kill him.”

  “I would like to. But it’s going to be far more satisfying watching him tumble down from his high tower.”

  Evan was bloody and limp and trying to slip away by crawling. “Uh-uh-uh, where do you think you’re going? I am sure Interpol will be so interested in speaking to you.”

  I knelt behind him, setting my knee on his back as I wrenched both of his arms behind him. I then used the zip ties and tied them securely. Then I tied his feet as well before dragging him to the side and propping him up. “Just so you know, it was me that did this to you.” Then I pulled off my mask so he could see.

  The one eye he still had partially open widened, and he gritted his teeth. “You’re a dead man.”

  “You’re welcome to come for me. But if you go after the woman I love one more time, no one will stop me from finishing you.”

  And then Bridge tugged me out. We took the hallway to the left, not giving a fuck that we were on the cameras now. The police were already on their way. We still had three minutes to get to our egress site. In our comms, East’s voice was clipped. “I’ve got the king. Lucas is next. Roone is already at his exit site. Tell me you two idiots are going to make it.”

  I winced. “Yeah, we’re going to cut it close though. Cops are already on their way. Someone triggered an alarm.”

  “Yeah, Van Linsted did it on his fucking phone.”

  “How did he know we were going to be in there?”

  “I don’t know. I wish I fucking did,” East said. “He might have known, but he might have just been putting his own security on the jewel. It’s the kind of thing he would do. That jewel was his future. Get out of there. You’re both in one piece?”

  I winced as both my arms throbbed, but I said nothing. “Yeah, more or less.”

  Bridge seemed perfectly whole, but he was more taciturn than usual. Quiet.

  “Are you all right, mate?”

  His gaze shifted to me as we took a left in the hallway and then a right toward another entrance to the tunnels. His voice was low when he asked, “Were you going to kill him?”

  That was a good question. And I had no real answer other than, “I don’t know.”

  Bridge nodded. “It’s a good thing I was here then. We don’t want that punishing your conscience.”

  That was just the thing though. For Livy, I could have done it without even hesitating. “Yeah, thank God for that.”

  He moved aside the grate and shoved me through it as if I might change my mind and go back upstairs to finish the job. I went through the tunnel and he followed, moving the grate, pulling the chain through the bars and wrapping it back up as if it had been like that all along. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. That jewel is more trouble than it’s worth, and I can’t wait to give it back to Downs.”

  “Amen to that.”

  23

  Ben

  “Are you sure he didn’t recognize you?” Roone asked.

  It could potentially be a problem, but I was done fucking about. “I’ve left that on my I don’t give a shit list. I’m done worrying about Marcus Van Linsted. As soon as this is done, I’m going to tie this all into a neat little bow and give it to Interpol. He’s going to jail for a very long time, and no one is going to believe him if he says that I robbed the Grimwald Authenticators vault.”

  Roone just shook his head. “It was a risk, but I’ll trust you.”

  I lifted a brow. “Now you trust me?”

  He applied antiseptic to my wounds and started to sew. It might not be staples but that shit still hurt. And I got the impression my cousin was making it hurt on purpose.

  Sebastian sat back against the seat in the van as East drove like his last name was Hamilton instead of Hale. “So this is it? We’re done?”

  I reached under my vest to my pocket and pulled out the bracelet.

  Sebastian whistled. “Jesus Christ, that thing is enormous.”

  “Yup, and absolutely worth the risk.”

  Once we got rid of the van, we we’re going straight to Downs.

  Bridge shook his head. “I can’t fucking believe we pulled this off.”

  Lucas grinned then. “What’s not to believe? I am the master.”

  Sebastian didn’t say much, he just watched his brother. “Yeah, you are very, very good at this. You miss it, don’t you?”

  From my position, I lifted my head so I could see him answer, even though I could hear him. My ears were still ringing from that hit.

  Lucas’s voice was hoarse. “Yeah, I do. I guess third time is the charm, but I’ve been after this thing for weeks.” He reached out and took it from me and held it between his fingers. “And like a woman, she was worth every trial and tribulation. Jesus, are you sure you’re not going to keep it?”

  “We’re not keeping it. You’re not keeping it.”

  Roone plucked it out of Lucas’s hands. “You know what? Let’s just go ahead and leave this van so that someone here doesn’t attempt to rob it.”

  Lucas rolled his eyes. “You steal a couple of things, and people start to think that you’ll always be a thief.”

  Sebastian watched his brother. “You would rather be a thief than a prince. Am I right?”

  Lucas shook his head. “No. You can’t compare the two. It’s like trying to compare pussy and oral. Both are outstanding. One is just more of a challenge and requires more of my brain. I like the challenge, but I don’t actually want the things. It’s not like I need them now. I just like pitting myself against the impossible. Or sometimes, like now, against someone who needs to be taught a lesson.”