Page 37

Chapter 37

Emmett

I’d told Jenn I needed to speak with Martine, but unfortunately, that was code—a lie—for I need to go into the men’s room to sneak my earpiece in without you knowing . Everything would have been easier if Scarlett weren’t so uptight about her friends uncovering the truth about her job.

On my way out of the men’s room, I said, “Everyone in place?”

Rav’s gruff response came over my comms first. “In position on the water. No movement at the museum’s water door.”

Brie chimed in next. “HQ is up and running. Scar and I are ready for the drone feed. We have everyone’s GPS signals and Jenn’s.”

Drew caught my eye from where he stood at a craps table. He must have arrived minutes after Jenn and me. Had he seen us together? “Good roll,” he said, clapping at the player beside him, donning his cover perfectly.

“Drew’s comms are solid inside,” I told the team, since none of them would be able to hear him yet.

Will finished the check-ins. “Jayce and I are in the caverns. Drones are prepped and ready for deployment.”

“Copy that.” I nodded, despite Drew being the only one who could see me, then started my circuit around the room. “Proceeding to check the tunnel and storage area.”

I strolled through the Casino, my steps measured but outwardly casual. The path to the ladies’ room had no line and an unimpeded flow of women in and out. Perfect cover for Jayce. “Nothing out of the ordinary at the tunnel to the secret entrance. Checking the storage area next.”

The team continued to chatter over the earpieces. I tuned it out, focusing on my surroundings—none of their words were for me. My gaze swept over the crowd, cataloging faces and potential threats. That’s when I spotted the Grecian former model, fluttering her chips.

Our eyes met, and she shot me a flirtatious wink. I returned a smile, briefly entertaining the thought of joining her for a hand after the auction. Not because she was beautiful—I had a far more perfect woman waiting for me in the auction room—but because she’d be a challenge at the table.

A jolt of anxiety crashed through me, and my throat constricted.

Calm. Deep breaths.

Jenn may have helped chase some of my demons away, but clearly not all of them. I still wasn’t ready for poker. Shaking off the moment, I continued my sweep, confirming there was no additional security guarding the storage room.

Satisfied, I reported my progress and made my way to the room where the auction was being held.

The room was packed—easily over two hundred people in attendance. Unable to spot Jenn in the crowd, I moved to the side of the room, using my height advantage to look over the seated guests.

As I searched, I noted familiar faces. Dante and Massimo, deep in conversation in the second row. A Russian oligarch, who I was sure had one of the missing Fabergé eggs. A Nigerian businessman who’d once tried to hire Reynolds to recover some of the Benin Bronzes from the British Museum.

Finally, my eyes landed on Jenn, and my breath caught in my throat. She was talking to a woman in front of a painting. Absolutely fucking stunning. She’d pinned her blond hair up, highlighting her long neck, the gold dress she’d bought earlier skimming her curves like I intended to do tonight. Underneath, the special lingerie she’d hinted at with a mischievous glint in her eye.

She fit in seamlessly, exuding confidence as they discussed the artwork. A pang of doubt hit me. Should I have sent her home like Rav and Scarlett suggested? Was I risking her safety for my own pride? For my refusal to run from Fenix?

Will’s voice over the earpiece pulled me out of my thoughts. “Are you seeing this?”

Brie chuckled. “There’s got to be a hundred of those urban explorers!”

Good news for us. More of the explorers meant more chaos in the tunnels. More chance Jayce could slip in unseen if I didn’t win the auction.

I was about to head over to Jenn when the auctioneer stepped to the front, greeting the crowd. People began moving to their seats as the large screens behind him finally stopped their scroll. On the left screen, images of the scarab appeared, along with notes on its provenance and bidding information. The right screen displayed a list of the items to follow: a Velatti Aereus roadster, then the golden Chinese disc.

The disc. Was it one of Fenix’s targets? What did they want with it? Hell, what did they want with any of their acquisitions?

My gaze drifted back to Jenn, alone now that the staff was removing the auction items. Face pinched, she flicked her eyes from me to the front of the room. What was she?—

Noah. He was taking a seat behind Dante and Massimo. He looked up at me. Smiled.

Fucking asshole.

He started in my direction, and my chest constricted. Pain streaked up my throat when I tried to swallow.

He’s not Enzo. Calm the fuck down.

I dug a hand into my pocket, gripping my poker chip and tensing to hide any shudder. With my other hand, I gestured for Jenn to stay put. She couldn’t get caught in whatever game Noah was playing.

“She looks different than I remember,” Noah said as he reached me, inclining his head toward Jenn. “Don’t tell me you two finally hooked up?”

The auctioneer started bidding for the scarab at two million, and I raised a hand, partly to bid and partly to keep Noah at arm’s length.

“As if you don’t know why she’s here,” I said.

Noah cocked his head, settling in beside me as I split my attention between the auction and him. “Initially, I assumed it was because she was working with you, but obviously not.”

Scarlett hissed over the earpiece, her voice full of venom. “Tell that jackass?—”

“Scarlett, please,” I muttered, cutting her off. The last thing I needed was her distracting me, too.

The Nigerian businessman raised his hand, outbidding me. Probably just to be a pain in my ass.

“Is Scarlett in town with you?” Noah asked, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. “Tell her and her new little boy toy I say hello.”

At least Scarlett didn’t respond to that. And neither did Malcolm, the ‘boy toy’ in question.

I ran my fingernail around the edge of the chip. “What do you want?”

Noah raised his glass to his mouth, hiding his words. “What I wanted two months ago was for your team to grab the scarab. You’re so late it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Why?”

“My team’s getting too cocky.” Noah sipped the champagne, his eyes glued to the front of the room—but I knew him well enough. He was watching everything. “They need to be reined in.”

Anger flared in my chest. It was clear Noah was manipulating the Reynolds team into doing his dirty work, which was precisely what I’d told Scarlett was going on. I clenched my fist, the poker chip digging into my palm.

“I hadn’t expected you to come now, though,” Noah continued, his tone casual. “You really should cut your losses and go.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Afraid we’ll mess with your grand schemes?”

“Afraid?” Noah chuckled—the sound grating on my nerves. “You haven’t stopped us from securing anything we’ve wanted. Sure, you’ve had some of our team members arrested, but none of them were critical to our end goals.” He took another sip as I raised my bid. “You’re little more than an irritating fly. We have loftier goals than you can understand.”

I kept my face neutral—he was feeding me intel, but what exactly? “So, why are you here talking to me?”

Noah shrugged. “Not everyone in our organization realizes this truth. You should be grateful our lines of communication are so poor. Enzo was certain the pretty restorer Dante brought in from Nice was an undercover operative.”

My heart skipped a beat. That explained it. “The break-in at her hotel?”

“He thought she was seducing Dante in order to uncover Massimo’s secrets. If he’d found out she was working with you?—”

“She’s not working with us.” My words had come too quickly, betraying how much his presence got under my skin.

“Let me rephrase.” Noah frowned slightly. “If he’d found her link to Reynolds, she would have been in a lot of trouble. Fortunately for her, he didn’t find any damning information in her bags, and she miraculously switched to another room shortly thereafter. Be happy he got bored pursuing her.”

Happy? If Enzo had found out where she was staying, that would have led him straight to me. A knot tightened in my gut, and I fought to relax my muscles. I couldn’t let Noah see that reaction. I raised the bid again, trying to focus on the auction. We were up to three and a half million euros. I only had half a million left to grab it legally.

Noah continued, “Although if Enzo or Massimo had bothered to tell me her name or that a Stone was poking his nose around, I would have figured it out before five minutes ago.”

“You gave us the tip about the scarab. Don’t tell me you would have scared us off the job?”

“I would have scared you out of Monaco altogether.”

“Why?”

Noah’s eyes finally met mine, cold and calculating. “This is our place right now. We may have more significant concerns than Reynolds Recoveries, but Enzo will kill any of you on sight because he believes his little failures at your hands are important. He wants revenge.”

My stomach churned at each mention of Enzo. Of the memory of what he’d done to me when it hadn’t been revenge.

Jayce said over the earpiece, “The first explorers are nearing the secret door. Are we a go?”

I stared at the auctioneer. The Nigerian had raised his bid to four million euros. That was my upper limit. I glanced at Jenn across the room, apprehension and worry written all over her face.

The auctioneer called for any further bids. Everyone else had dropped out.

I raised my hand, pushing the bid to four-point-one million euros. It was close enough to our target, and I wasn’t losing over a hundred thousand. I’d cover that if Mum balked at it.

Noah used his glass to conceal his words again. “Why bid on it if you’re just going to steal it? Jayce not so sure of her abilities anymore? I hear her leg’s getting worse.”

I froze. Of course, he knew our plan. Of course, he knew about Jayce. He knew everything about our team, and we knew next to nothing about his.

Fuck.

Noah was distracting me even more than Jenn. Did he have some bigger game going on? He always has a bigger game going on . But if Fenix considered Reynolds nothing more than irritants, we had to stop thinking Fenix was after us.

Unless Noah said all of that to manipulate me?

Double fuck.

I looked at Jenn again, and calm settled over me. Her presence grounded me, reminding me of what truly mattered. I was getting too worked up during this job, but in the end, I had the most important thing—her.

The auction, Noah’s mind games, even the scarab itself seemed to fade into the background. Turning back to Noah, I changed tactics. Go on the offensive. “Why come here to buy the disc when you could have just kidnapped its owner?”

Concern flashed behind Noah’s eyes, his composure slipping for just a moment. “If you touch it?—”

“Don’t worry, we’re only here for the scarab.” I watched his reaction carefully, searching for any truth leaking out.

The Nigerian businessman increased his bid to four and a half million.

Noah clucked his tongue. “It would appear Osaze’s still sore about those Bronzes.”

Goddammit . An extra hundred thousand over our limit was one thing, but the next bid would eliminate most of the profit Reynolds would get when we handed the scarab over. The reward was five million. Frustration flooded my body—going that high would be stupid.

Before I could respond to Jayce, Scarlett’s voice came through my earpiece. “Osaze won’t sell us the scarab for less than a million profit. Jayce, you’re up.”

Jayce’s confident reply came through, “You got it, boss.”

Scarlett said, “Be careful.”

“What fun would that be?” Jayce was so reckless at times. But she was ready.

Noah stepped in front of me, blocking my view of the auctioneer. His proximity had me clenching the chip again, and I resisted the urge to step back. “Don’t forget, my team’s here tonight. And I also have a past with Martine.”

He winked and walked off, leaving me with a growing sense of unease.

As Noah wove his way through the crowd, my mind raced. Had we been double-crossed? Did Noah plan on us being here? Was Enzo waiting for Jayce? The possibilities made my brain spin.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. “Be extra careful, Jayce. Keep an eye out for Enzo.”

“I will, too,” said Drew. No one else could hear him, but everyone knew he’d do anything for Jayce. Rav had been right to insist Drew work on the inside. He thought on his feet well, and if he spotted anything going wrong, he’d choose Jayce’s safety. I could trust in that, at least.

Apparently ignoring everyone else, Jayce said, “The guards are distracted. I see my opening.”

I blew out a deep breath. Time for the real game to start.