Page 31 of Wicked Games

“Do you want it to be true or do you know it’s true.”

“Neither Deverish nor Percy worked for Banks when I met you in Paris. Besides, I trust them, which is why they know about you.”

I wanted to hit on that and find out exactly what he’d told them about me, but there would be time for me to ask later. “This Banks guy doesn’t seem the type to relinquish his hold and let his men go easily, so who on the team has been around long enough to cause you trouble then and now?”

“There are several,” Lucien admitted. “I need to discuss this with Dev. He will have a clearer picture than I since I’m too close to the situation.”

“I’m a situation now, huh?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“You’re the best part about this situation, and as far as I know, Banks isn’t aware you’re in Cincinnati. You’re not listed as a director on their website, or else he wouldn’t have sent me. He’d expected me to be over my infatuation with you by the time he sent me to Cairo. It didn’t take him long to realize his mistake.” Lucien looked away suddenly to pull up two photos side by side on the screen. “I want to show you how we knew the provenance for the fanyi ritual wine vessel was fake.” We were back to the job once more.

I watched as Lucien highlighted several sections on the two documents. There were too many glaring discrepancies for me to doubt his claim. For additional proof, he pulled up a copy of the true owner’s driver’s license issued by the state of California and compared his signature there to the one on the supposed selling agreement. It was a close forgery, but there was no denying someone stole the fanyi vessel from Dennis Wong and forged his name on the selling agreement.

“The new owners loan the pieces to the museums without realizing they’re fake. The original owners hire your company to steal them back?”

“I assume so, but I don’t ask a lot of questions. I validate the provenance was falsified, and the item was indeed stolen, then I recover the artifact, hand it over to my transportation guy, and I get out.”

“Where do the insurers come in? Is it possible the insurers hire Banks to recover the property? The recovered items would become theirs once they pay the claim, right? I would think the insurer retains the item unless their client returns their money.”

“That’s very logical,” Lucien said. “Insurers would have the kind of money to hire Banks.”

“Anyone who can pay a quarter of a million dollars for a painting should be able to afford Banks too,” I countered.

“True.”

“Have we scratched the surface on the deception, or do we now have more questions?” I asked.

“We?”

“You’re not investigating this without me. My name in on the line here too.” I was going to say more, but my cell phone rang. I looked at the display and saw it was Ezra. “Oh damn. I should’ve called him already.” I recalled a horrifying memory from the night before and groaned.

“What?”

“I screwed up and used your real name in front of Ezra, didn’t I?”

“Yes,” Lucien said.

“Oh no. What do we do now?”

“You answer the phone so he’ll stop worrying, then I’ll have to kill him and make it look like an accident.” Lucien laughed when my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. “I don’t kill people, love. Answer the phone.”

“Hey, Ezra,” I said into the phone. “I’m sorry I haven’t called yet. I slept late.”

Ezra laughed. “I imagine so. You sound great. How do you feel?”

“Good as new.” It wasn’t exactly true, but I wasn’t going to whine about my headache. I’d brought it on myself. “Um, listen, about last night…”

“Hey, shouldn’t you be using that speech on the guy who picked you up from the club?” Ezra asked.

“I might have posted some silly photos on my social media account that could make our mothers believe we’re a couple. I deleted them as soon as I woke up, but I’m worried the damage is already done.”

“Yep, it is,” Ezra confirmed. “We’ll weather it out together. Don’t worry.”

“They’ve sent out save-the-date announcements, haven’t they? Oh man, I think it would be safer to marry you than—” A rumbling growl from my left cut me off. I turned to look at Lucien and was immediately absorbed by dark eyes gleaming with possessiveness.

“Ry, are you there?” I heard Ezra ask. “It sounds like you’re about to be devoured by a wolf.”

“Uh huh. Devoured.” I couldn’t fucking wait.