King Me (Forever Wilde 7)

“You don’t have immunity in Budapest,” he reminded me unnecessarily.

“Yeah, I was thinking about that. I decided I’ll do it anyway.”

Falcon dropped my hand and turned to face me. “Why? No. I don’t think you should.”

Happiness flooded my chest. He was telling me he cared more about me than the mission. I was probably smiling like a fool.

“I want to. I’m good at it. I won’t get caught.”

Falcon shook his head. “Nadine said the same thing, but I’m not so sure.”

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “Gee, thanks? I mean, I only have a history of eluding law enforcement at every turn…”

“No, King. I mean this time it’s different.” His brow furrowed in dismay.

“How?” I asked. “There won’t be guards in the rotunda since the case is empty. It’s the only time I can get in without being caught.”

“The FBI will be watching your every move,” he countered. “What if one of them somehow… tips off the Hungarian police or their National Bureau of Investigation?”

This was a surprise. “You think someone on your team would betray me like that? Seriously?”

I thought I’d won Ziv over during our shared ops, but maybe not.

“No, not someone from my team. I just mean… everything I hear from Nadine about this situation indicates the US will do anything to avoid being associated with the replacement of the crown. They don’t want to take the chance of someone discovering our involvement. So you—a well-known art thief who’s been acting on his own for years—would make the perfect scapegoat. I don’t want to take that chance.”

I thought about my own motivations, the last desire to see Elek pay for what he’d done to me and what he was continuing to do to others.

“I’m willing to take that risk,” I told him. “Tell Nadine and everyone else that I’ll be back at the office in two hours. I want to have lunch with my grandfathers first, okay?” I also needed to make a call, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

Falcon smiled. The worry was still clear in the lines on his handsome face. “Okay.”

“Do you want to come to lunch with us? I’d love to introduce you properly this time. My grandfathers are like a second set of parents to me.”

He surprised me by saying yes. And as soon as he stepped out of the room to call Nadine with an update, I scrambled to lock myself in the bathroom and call Elek. He’d already unblocked my number and tried calling me ten times while we were in flight. I hadn’t mentioned it to Falcon.

“Where the fuck is it?” Elek barked into the phone. “So help me, macska, I will—”

I cut him off, ignoring his use of the endearment while threatening me. That was so like him. “I’ll exchange it for the Delacroix forgery.”

“No. You will return it to me now in exchange for me letting you live.”

“Mm, I don’t think so. The forgery or I put it back under round-the-clock guards and tell them to replace the old ones with unbribable ones this time.” It was a guess, but I was pretty sure that was the only way he could have gotten the crown out in the first place.

“Pick something else,” he growled.

“I don’t want anything else. I want my painting. I didn’t see it in the house, so I took the crown instead. I will be in the parliament building tomorrow night at two in the morning local time. Meet me there to make the exchange or I put it back in the display and phone it in.”

I hung up and powered down my phone with shaking hands.

Dear god, please let this work.

27

Falcon

I had to trust King to do the job without getting caught, and I reminded myself of the many, many jobs he’d managed to complete without getting caught. The only time we’d caught him had been when Elek had deliberately tied the man to a radiator and set off the alarm.

So I set aside my worries at least long enough to enjoy lunch with his family.

It was strange. I’m sure if I felt that way, King felt it even more acutely. There we were, previous sworn enemies and current quasi lovers having a lovely cafe lunch as if we weren’t in the middle of a clandestine operation between two countries.

“Une carafe d’eau, s’il vous plaît,” I said to the server before turning my attention on King’s grandfathers. We’d been introduced in the apartment before King had hustled us down the street to a nearby restaurant. “I apologize again for taking King away from your wedding celebration.”

Doc reached over and squeezed King’s shoulder. The look on his face was soft with affection for his grandson, and it was nice to see King receiving such loving attention.

“We missed him, but we know he’s well respected in his field which must make him very in demand.”