King Me (Forever Wilde 7)

It was so important to the Hungarian government that the crown was kept under constant surveillance with armed guards standing watch over it at all times. It should have been impossible to steal. And there was only one thief in the world with the skills to pull off such an impossible job.

Le Chaton.

Except we had evidence that Kingston Wilde was in Berlin at the same time.

I clenched my jaw. “What crown are you talking about?” I’d been played by him enough and didn’t intend to let him trick me into giving him information he didn’t have.

King lifted and eyebrow. “Seriously? Is that how you want to play this?” When I said nothing, he let out an exasperated sigh. “The Holy Crown of Hungary, also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, was stolen from the Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest.”

“How the fuck did you know about that?” I asked, my voice rising in frustration despite my best efforts to keep it calm and measured.

He lifted a shoulder. “I have my sources.”

“Or you were involved,” I countered.

“Nope, sorry.”

“And I’m supposed to believe you?” I asked with a laugh.

King shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. There’s not one single molecule of evidence I was even in Budapest. Ever. So try again.”

He was so damned arrogant. “Maybe you had a partner on the ground you were directing from afar.”

King furrowed his brow and tilted his head, sending the floppy hair into his eye. My fingers twitched as he brushed his own through the messy locks and nodded. “I don’t have a partner.”

A shadow fell over his expressive eyes, but I assumed it was more of his acting bullshit. I pushed aside the desire to know what had caused it.

He was the enemy, I reminded myself. Just because I needed his help didn’t change the fact we stood on opposite sides of the law on this. “Look, the reality is that it doesn’t matter if you took it or not. We need it back.”

His eyes changed instantly to curiosity and… intrigue. “Why?”

“How about because I said so?” I snapped, tired of his attempts to swing the power from me to him.

“Then I guess I’m out of here. Good luck,” King said with a shrug, standing up and making his way toward the still-open door of the plane.

Dammit. I moved in front of him, blocking his exit. He pulled up short, but the area at the front of the plane was cramped, forcing us into close proximity. I caught a whiff of something clean and sharp, and I had to keep from leaning in to smell more of it.

“King, wait.” God, I hated to do this, but if by some chance he wasn’t the one who took it, he was sure as hell the only one who might know more than we did about it. And the stakes were way too high to let him walk away.

We needed him.

He glanced toward the open door and then back at at me blocking his path. “What?” he asked wearily.

I needed leverage, something to force him to stay and make a deal. “We found your DNA on one of the Greek coins.”

He stared at me in shock. “No you didn’t.”

I nodded with complete confidence despite the fact I was lying my ass off. “The lab techs said it was from sweat. I guess it was overly warm in the ducts.”

Bluff. Total bluff.

I could tell he was trying hard not to believe it, but there was no way for him to know for sure. I just needed that hint of uncertainty and he would be mine.

“We’re prepared to offer you full immunity if you’ll help us.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Immunity for what?” He leaned against the galley wall, crossing his arms and projecting a calm confidence. “I read in the papers the coins you’re referring to weren’t actually taken but had simply been misplaced.”

I really wanted to wipe the smug, arrogant grin off his face. “The coins, maybe, but half the ingots in the collection were never returned.”

His mask slipped for a split second. I could tell he wanted to argue with me, to tell me he’d left the entire collection intact. But that would be an admission of guilt.

King’s nostrils flared. “Bullshit.”

“The museum estimated the worth of the stolen pieces to total around forty thousand euro. And since your DNA is on the remaining coins…”

His eyes narrowed at me. I could tell he wanted to call my bluff badly, but he couldn’t be sure some museum employee didn’t take the chance to pilfer from the collection when it was found in the ductwork.

King pushed away from the galley and paced deeper into the plane. He stood, staring out one of the windows for a long moment. Then he turned to face me. “I want immunity for everything through this crown operation.”

I barked out a laugh. “Keep dreaming.”