Do I love him any less?
No. The answer is no.
And now I’m questioning if there is anything Becker Hunt can do that will be one step too far. I’ve requested space, a moment to think, but I’m under no illusion that I’ll be going anywhere after I’ve thought. I’m simply trying to wrap my mind around another smack to my ethics from left field.
If I have any ethics left. I’m as depraved as Becker is. He’s corrupted me in the worst way . . . and in the best way, too.
I turn blindly and walk towards one of the couches, settling on the edge. I stare across the room to the glass wall. I’m truly frightened by how much I love him and what I would do for him. I’ve known all along that I’m in deep. But right now, deep seems to be bottomless. Becker’s world is my world now. I should disregard the peace that engulfs me. I should try to find my conscience and my integrity. Yet I can’t.
A slight movement catches my attention, and I glance up, finding Becker at the doorway. ‘Just checking you hadn’t split.’ He looks sheepish as he backs away. ‘I’ll leave you now.’
‘No, you won’t,’ I reply surely, getting to my feet. ‘You’re going to give me answers.’
‘Okay,’ he agrees on a mild nod. ‘Anything.’
‘Does anyone know what you do?’ I ask, raising my chin in a show of strength.
‘Depends what you’re referring to.’
I give him an impatient look, and he smiles nervously. ‘I’m referring to you stealing things, Becker. Priceless things.’
‘No.’
‘Well, that’s not true, is it? Lady Winchester knows.’
‘No, she doesn’t.’
‘You stole the gem for her, and she doesn’t know who she’s dealing with?’
He shakes his head. ‘I’m elusive, princess.’
‘Then how do people get hold of you? How do they know who to ask to steal the priceless object of their desire?’
‘They don’t. I get hold of them.’
I frown, not understanding him. ‘So you’re psychic, too, are you? Is that how you know they want something?’
He smiles at my sarcasm. ‘There’s not a lot I don’t know in this world, princess. You know that. I know what people want and I know how to get it for them.’
I laugh nervously, every one of my fingertips meeting my forehead. That headache I was missing has arrived. I was giving myself too much credit. This is suddenly way beyond my ability to wrap my mind around. ‘What about your granddad? How have you kept this from him?’
‘Oh,’ he chuckles, and then he shrugs. ‘When you asked if anyone else knows what I do, I thought you meant in general. I didn’t think you meant family.’
I gawp at him. ‘Gramps knows?’
‘Of course he knows. Where do you think I get my talents from?’
My head recoils on my neck, remembering that file on Becker’s desk. His granddad tried to conceal it from me. ‘Gramps?’ This gets crazier. So the old man throws a wobbly when he finds out that his grandson has conned a man, but it’s perfectly cool for him to perform a heist of epic proportions?
‘And my dad,’ he adds quietly.
‘Shit.’ He comes from a long line of gentleman thieves? ‘What about Mrs Potts?’
He gives me an adorable smile. ‘Can you see her lock and loading a zip wire or abseiling down the Empire State Building?’
His sarcastic question goes way over my head. ‘You really did skydive off the Burj Khalifa, didn’t you?’ I laughed when he joked about it, just after he performed an expert roll across the bonnet of Gloria. Now it seems frighteningly possible.
‘Who exhibits a Fabergé egg at the top of the Burj Khalifa?’ he asks, completely exasperated.
‘God, I literally have no fucks left to fire.’ My eyes drop, and I stare at the floor. I’ve gone into shock. ‘Mrs Potts?’ I ask again.
‘That sweet old lady is the original Miss Moneypenny, princess.’
My legs lose some stability, and my arse drops to his couch on a gasp. ‘I thought the Hunt Corporation was a legit company.’ My voice is getting higher, and I look up at him, revealing my confusion, my shock, my disbelief. Then my hands go into my hair and hold my head, expecting it to explode at any moment.
‘It is.’ He inches closer to me, and I give no sign of it being a problem. No sign that I’m going to rebuff him. In fact, I could do with some help rubbing away this headache. ‘We cater for both, princess. Always have.’ He reaches me and crouches before me, taking my hands from my head, holding them as he scans my stunned face. ‘Not that anyone knows except us, of course. There are people who buy legit, there are people who do not. If it’s not for sale and someone wants it, I get it for them.’