Page 23 of It Takes a Thief (Ring of Thieves #2)

I ’m sitting in an armchair, ankle crossed over my opposite knee, waiting in the darkness for Jeffrey Dumbass to return home.

Breaking into his house was child’s play, laughably easy, and I’m not leaving this country until I hear the truth from his mouth.

Then I’m going to kick his ass and let Merritt and her parents know what kind of SOB Dumas really is.

When a key finally turns in the front door, I clench my fists and watch as Dumas walks in, slams the door shut behind him and turns on the lights. He jumps when he sees me.

Yeah, he should be scared.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he demands, angrily stomping forward until he’s directly in front of me.

“I have some questions for you.”

“Fuck your questions,” he snaps.

Standing up to my full height so we’re toe to toe, I challenge him. “What?” I grate out.

He shrinks away from me, suddenly not so tough anymore. I look down at him and growl, “Careful what you say. I hear it’s hard to pick your teeth up off the floor with two broken hands.”

I crack my knuckles, and he stumbles back, eyes widening. Yeah, that’s right, asshole. He knows about my fighting history, so he’s quite aware I’m fully capable of destroying him with one well-placed punch.

Suddenly, his shoulders slump and defeat lines his face. “I was so close. Then you came along and messed up all of my plans.”

“You’re the one behind all the threats against Merritt.” It’s not a question.

“What was I supposed to do? She was dragging her feet and trying to extend her stay in New York again . I couldn’t let that happen, so I decided to scare her. Make her leave the big, bad city and come running home. I needed her back here so we could get married.”

“So you could settle your debts, you mean,” I crisply correct him.

He shrugs a shoulder. “I owe some people money—”

“Quite a lot of people,” I add dryly.

“—and I could’ve taken care of it, if you hadn’t screwed everything up.”

“You had someone break into her apartment and stick a knife in her pillow!” I bark, trying to contain my fury. “And then you hired some thug to run her down with an SUV. You’re lucky I haven’t killed you already.”

“I wasn’t going to really hurt her,” he whines.

God, this prick isn’t even worth my time.

“She never would’ve married you, anyway,” I tell him, completely dismissive. “She doesn’t love you.”

For a moment, he looks distraught. But then, he studies me, a new gleam in his eyes. “You care for her, don’t you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I answer vaguely.

“Like hell, it doesn’t.” I can see the gears turning in his head, and I don’t like it. “You’re going to help me.”

“The fuck I am. You’re lucky I haven’t beat you to a bloody pulp.”

“Your arrival ruined my plans, but I can still fix this. Flip the script.”

“I have no idea what—”

“I did my research the second you showed up. I know her parents hired your team to tighten their security. A-Squared Enterprises, right?” He scoffs. “Is that even legit or just a shady cover for something else?”

An icy trickle of dread creeps down my spine. He has no idea about any of the heists we’ve done , I tell myself. He’s merely bluffing to get a reaction.

I keep my face steely.

“You know it better than anyone,” he continues, “and that means you can defeat it. If I can’t have the princess, I’ll have her diamond crown. That’s all I want, anyway. A way out of my debt.”

I decide to try my own bluff. “I don’t know anything about the system. Our tech guy set it all up.”

He continues as though he didn’t hear me, “You’re going to sneak in and steal enough shiny stuff to cover my debts. Otherwise, your precious princess is going to die. I have the contacts to make it happen. One phone call and she stops breathing.”

Whether it’s true or not, his threat makes me see red. Curling my fingers into my palms, forcing myself to remain cool, my voice drops to a threatening snarl. “If you touch one hair on Merritt’s head, you will disappear. Understand?”

That last part isn’t a bluff. It’s a goddamn promise.

Jeffrey moves fast, darting to a side table, and quickly pulls a gun out of the top drawer, turning it on me. His hands shake. “You’re going to do what I say or she dies. And I’m desperate enough to do it, so don’t fucking test me.”

I raise my hands, debating whether or not to pull the Glock in the holster at my back. Dumas reeks of desperation, and the last thing I want is a shootout. For the time being, I decide it’s best to play it safe.

“You’re putting a lot of faith in me,” I say.

“Don’t worry. I have a plan B, Lights Out .”

The way he says that last part makes the hairs on my arms raise. No matter what he’s planning, though, I can’t let him hurt Mer. No fucking way. Even if that means I have to steal from her.

∞∞∞

Jeffrey gives me zero time to plan properly, so I’m flying by the seat of my pants. He doesn’t allow me to call my team, even though I try to convince him I need their technical guidance.

So, here I am, with the most minimal equipment, on the verge of breaking into the royal estate to steal Princess Merritt Fontaine’s diamond and pearl encrusted crown. Two words best describe this situation: Fuck. Me.

Since I’m very familiar with everything from the royal guard schedule to the security system to the floor plan, I’m pretty sure I can get in and out without incident. Of course, if I get caught that opens up a whole new can of worms.

Hell, I’d love to go straight to the King and Queen and blow this whole plan up in Jeffrey’s smug face.

But that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.

The man reeks of desperation and swears to me he has a mercenary with eyes on Mer.

All it would take is one call—one text—and the most beautiful light I’ve ever had the privilege of basking in would be snuffed out forever.

Absolutely not fucking letting that happen.

Relying on my stealth and expertise, I decide to go in—or rather up—the back way. There’s a small beach at the base of the cliff and Jeffrey drops me off there.

“Hurry up,” he says.

“You can’t hurry through a burglary.” The man is an idiot. His name really should be Dumbass instead of Dumas. “It requires care, precision, planning—”

“We don’t have time for all that,” he interrupts. “Get me that crown and get back down here.”

Rolling my eyes, I hoist my backpack on and walk over to the base of the cliff. There’s a small, rocky pathway—and I use the term lightly—that curves up to the edge of the Fontaine’s estate.

The climb is steep and treacherous because the rock is loose. Merritt told me no one uses it because it’s too dangerous. I also know there aren’t any cams here, so no one will see me. After what feels like forever, I reach the top and hunker down behind a huge boulder.

It’s very dark tonight, the moon barely a sliver, and that works to my advantage, helping me blend into the shadows. For a moment, I run through the sketchy plan in my head. Is it great? No. Do I have an option here? Also no.

I glance down at my watch and see it’s nearly three AM. Perfect . That means a skeleton crew of guards will be monitoring the perimeter. I’ve watched them work and know once they pass my position, I can easily race across the back lawn, sneak through the gardens and be on the veranda.

It’s not long before a lone guard walks by. I silently count to thirty, waiting for him to reach the other side of the property and turn the corner. Then I pull my neck gaiter into position and yank my hood up. Keeping my head low, I run through the dew-covered grass to the garden ahead.

My boots crunch over the garden’s gravel pathway, and I slip into some hedges and pause. I know exactly where every single camera perches because I helped Ryder install them. I won’t need to bother looping or scrambling them. All I need to do is stay in the blind spots.

Granted, we fixed every blind spot we could, but a camera’s range can be limited due to structure, trees and other external factors.

And fortunately for me, I happen to know exactly where those spots are.

So, the couple of blind spots remaining will provide adequate coverage.

The rest of the time, I’ll keep my head down and stick to the shadows.

Even if they do watch the footage back and see me slinking along a corridor, they won’t see my face. Just a masked man.

The real challenge is cracking the safe. But they don’t call me The Safecracker for nothing.

Avoiding the back sliding glass doors, I make my way over to the window.

No need to worry about motion detectors in the main house because the king and queen didn’t want them—too many people constantly walking around the estate day and night.

However, there is a new alarm and a motion detector in the vault room that I’ll need to deactivate. Same goes for this window.

When you hire A-Squared to tighten your security, we don’t miss a thing. At the same time…nothing is ever truly secure from a thief. Especially when that thief knows the system intimately.

Yanking my backpack around, I quickly unzip it and pull out my phone.

I open an app, override the current alarm code chosen by Alain, choose a new password and reset it.

Once I enter it, I turn the system off, jimmy the window open with a crowbar—because sometimes old school is the best way in—and slide over the windowsill.

Since the cameras run on a different circuit because it provides an extra layer of security, I still have to avoid them as much as possible.

After lowering the window, I hurry through the music room and pause at the closed door to the hallway. Very quietly, I turn the handle, open it a crack and peer out. The palace is dead silent, so I need to be, too.

My goal is the upstairs vault. Stepping out, I close the door behind me, move down the hall and climb up the back staircase.

The vault is at the far end of the hallway and around the corner.

It means I’m going to have to pass Merritt’s room, and the temptation to sneak inside is nearly overwhelming.

Even though I shouldn’t, I pause outside her door. She’s like a magnet to my soul, drawing me dangerously close. Keep going , a voice whispers. You’re doing this for her.

I force myself to start walking again, but I swear, I smell her alluring scent. It’s probably just the island itself. I noticed she smells like her home—sea-salted jasmine. Even when she was in New York, she still smelled like Arcadia. It’s a scent I’ve grown to love.

Memories flash. Moving up behind Mer while she prepared a meal and wrapping my arms around her. Curling her hair before the fight. Burying my nose in those long, brown tresses as we came together in her bed.

Get your head in the game and out of the clouds, Decker , I chastise myself.

The vault is located in a windowless room, and a sense of déjà vu crashes over me. I did this all before when we tested the original system to determine what upgrades were needed. I easily beat it, but then Merritt ended the game early by intercepting me and taking her crown back.

This time around, it’s not going to happen like that.

Since I already turned the system off, that also includes the motion detectors in this room.

I just need to avoid the cameras as best as I can.

Keeping my head down, I open the door and boldly walk over to the huge, floor-to-ceiling oil painting of the island.

Slipping my fingers beneath the frame’s edge, I slide it sideways to reveal a large steel door.

It looks a lot like a bank vault, and I know it’s nearly as thick as one, too.

I also know the original combination to open it won’t do me any good. After testing and defeating the old system, we had Alain change it. We also suggested he make it longer and more complicated. Now, I get to figure that out.

Luckily, it shouldn’t be too hard because I have a top-of-the-line codebreaker with me. It’s one Ryder developed, and it’s practically foolproof. It also happens to be one of my favorite toys and I never leave home without it.

Making sure I’m facing away from the cam, I unzip my bag and pull out the palm-sized device that will zip through hundreds of thousands of potential number combos.

One by one, a number will lock into place until the entire ten-digit code is visible, thereby opening the lock.

All I need to do is plug into the panel and wait.

Holding the codebreaker, I watch numbers begin flashing on the screen.

It could take anywhere from five to ten minutes, and as I watch the steady flicker, I think about how Knox is a whiz with numbers.

No clue how his brain works the way it does, but we teasingly call him the Human Calculator.

Not a gift I have, so I rely on my tech to get the job done.

Exactly eight minutes later, there’s a soft click and the door opens.

I unplug my device, stuff it into the backpack and step into the vault.

She’s just as sexy as I remember, filled with gem-laden trinkets, family heirlooms and all sorts of shimmering baubles.

My gaze moves over to the very tempting ruby necklace and matching ring I wanted to snatch last time.

However, this time around, I realize that I want them because Merritt wore them. I touch the sparkling stones, remembering how they looked against her porcelain skin. Giving my head a shake, I turn to the reason I’m in here.

The diamond and pearl encrusted crown sits on a black velvet bed. Earlier at Merritt’s birthday party, it adorned her head. That’s when it hit me how out of my league Merritt truly is, and how I have no business in her world.

Momentarily squeezing my eyes closed, I shut thoughts of Merritt down and pluck the crown up. After tucking it in my pack, I walk out of the vault.

And come face-to-face with Merritt.

“You left without saying goodbye,” she says coolly, eyes dropping to my backpack.

Fucking shit.