Chapter 16 #2
Will worked his jaw. “You’re not wrong. But if he’s made nicey-nice with Alders, he’s got a major head start on manipulating him.
Which means I guarantee he’s convinced him he had nothing to do with us being there.
And that’s to say nothing of whatever poison he’s dripped in the guy’s ear about the two of us. ” He gestured at himself and Will.
“And me, honestly,” Desiree said. “Even if I hadn’t been there, he probably would’ve talked shit about me just for spite.”
“You think he hates you more than he hates us?” Will asked. “We’re his exes. And we had the audacity to dump him.”
“Mmhmm. And he would gleefully hire pig farmers to dispose of your bodies. But I got into an art program he was convinced he deserved, and I outed him as not just a counterfeiter but a laughably terrible counterfeiter.” She snickered. “You boys may have broken his heart, but I hurt his ego.”
“Fair point,” Will conceded.
“I think he’d be thrilled to feed all three of us to pigs,” Cole mused.
“As far as convincing Alders he put us up to stealing the Puffin…” He paused as a few pieces clicked into place in his head.
“None of us can prove he sent us because God knows he doesn’t leave paper trails.
” He turned to Will. “But does your buddy still have the footage he accessed from the police station? With the CCTV clip of Marcus in Alders’s vault? ”
Will was instantly ramrod straight. “Oh, shit. I almost forgot about that.” He got up and went around the bed to the opposite nightstand. “It was on the burner phone I destroyed, but my guy never deletes anything. Let me text him.”
“Wait, you guys have video footage of him in the vault?” Desiree asked.
Cole nodded. “Alders submitted everything from his CCTV to the cops, and Will’s buddy hacked in.”
“Huh.” Her eyes lost focus. “Makes you wonder how Alders hasn’t seen the clip.”
That gave Cole pause. “Do you think he watched it himself?”
“Not necessarily. He probably just dumped the cameras and had his goons pass them off to the cops. But if there’s footage of Marcus, you’d think someone would’ve shown it to him by now.”
Will rejoined Cole, turning his phone between his hands as he furrowed his brow. “Unless someone got to it first. Got rid of that clip or told Alders the cameras didn’t show anything useful.”
“He’d probably believe the police,” Cole said, thinking out loud.
“Exactly,” Desiree said. “Which means he might dismiss anything we have as fake.” She scoffed and shook her head. “You can fake damn near anything these days, so he’ll just convince Alders it’s a deepfake.”
Cole groaned. “Ironic, isn’t it? He’ll take Marcus at his slimy, bullshit word that we have the Puffin, but he’ll dismiss actual footage of Marcus in his vault as fake.”
“I mean, it’s possible he’ll buy it,” Desiree said with a half-shrug. “I just wouldn’t bet on it. Especially if losing that bet means taking a journey through a pig’s digestive tract.”
The grossed-out face Will made was a lot cuter than it should’ve been.
Cole chuckled. “I think we can avoid that.”
“God, I hope so,” Will croaked. “So I’ll get the footage from my guy ready to share. Who’s getting the fake Puffin?”
“Not it,” Desiree said.
Cole huffed and flipped her off, earning him a devilish giggle. “Fine. I’ll talk to Lilith. She’s got an incredible fake of the Puffin, so she can tell us where it came from. Assuming she doesn’t sell it to us.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Desiree said. “In the meantime, I’m going to keep my head down.” She grimaced. “I don’t like being on either of their radars, and I especially don’t need anyone connecting me to the two of you right now.”
“Chickenshit,” Cole muttered.
“I’ll take being metaphorical chickenshit over literal pigshit. Byee!”
The call ended.
Cole chuckled and lowered the phone. “Okay, so I guess we’re—”
In a flash, his phone was out of his hand and Cole was flat on his back on the mattress. The phone clattered onto the nightstand, and then Will was over him, kissing him insistently.
Cole’s brain record-scratched, but his body caught on. Arms around Will. Lips apart for that deep, demanding kiss. Dick quickly getting hard.
Will broke the kiss and went for Cole’s neck, and his voice came out as a low, sultry drawl. “You can call Lilith when I’m done with you.”
Rational thought elbowed its way in and made it out of Cole’s mouth. “Have to… People are hunting us down and—”
“And they’re not gonna find us in Bumfuck, Virginia, in the next twenty minutes.” Will pushed himself up and locked eyes with Cole. “This ain’t gonna take long—not with as much as I’ve been wanting you.”
Cole couldn’t breathe. Fuck. He’d been with guys who wanted him before, but not like this.
“Get out of those clothes,” Will ordered. “And let me into that ass.”
Oh. Hell. This demanding—commanding—side of Will was too fucking hot.
What else could Cole do but obey?
“Are you all right, Mr. Dalton?” Lilith raised an eyebrow above her glasses as she watched Cole across her desk.
“I’m fine.” Cole fidgeted gingerly, trying to stop himself from wincing.
Beside him, Will was doing absolutely fuck all to fight that smug grin from taking shape, so Cole kicked him. That did the job.
“Fucker,” Will muttered, rubbing his shin.
Now it was Cole’s turn for a smug grin, which earned him an eyeroll.
Truth was, yes, he was okay, but he was… sore. Will had been accurate when he’d said he wouldn’t last long. That first fuck yesterday morning had been a quickie.
The one last night after they’d driven to New York? That had not been a quickie. And Will had not been gentle.
Still, though Cole was struggling to sit comfortably, he really couldn’t complain.
“So.” He cleared his throat and faced Lilith, who looked both bemused and a little amused.
Some heat rushed into his cheeks, which he tried to ignore.
“Like I said on the phone, we need a fake of the Puffin. Ideally one that’s as convincing as that one.
” He tipped his head toward Lilith’s paperweight.
“I see.”
“Is there any chance we can buy that one from you?” Will gestured at the fake Puffin. “We’re kind of in a bind, you know?”
Lilith nodded and picked up the little bird. “I understand your predicament, and I would certainly offer to let you take this.” She gestured with it. “Unfortunately, Marcus is familiar with this particular fake.”
Will and Cole both sat straighter—ow—and glanced at each other.
“He’s familiar with it?” Will asked. “How?”
Lilith sighed. “Well, the counterfeiter who created it tried to sell it to him before she sold it to me. Marcus nearly bought it, too, but then he noticed something.”
She leaned forward and turned the bird so they could see its front. Tapping the huge flamingo diamond on its chest, she said, “There’s a substantial inclusion in the stone.”
Will and Cole leaned closer. It took Cole a moment to find the inclusion, but once he did, he couldn’t unsee it. Sure enough, at around the five o’clock position between two of the prongs holding it in its setting, was a fleck of black.
Exhaling, he sat back. “He’d definitely remember that.”
“Exactly.” Lilith put down the bird. “So I think this would blow up in your faces, unfortunately.”
Will sat back too, but he was frowning. “Isn’t that a fake stone, though? I thought the black inclusions only showed up in natural diamonds?”
Cole eyed him curiously. “Since when do you know so much about diamonds?”
Will shrugged. “I watch documentaries and shit.”
It annoyed Cole that he didn’t have a snarky response at the ready for that, and instead found it somewhat endearing. Jesus. Had Will fucked him hard enough to concuss him? Because that would explain his scrambled brain.
Or maybe I’m just really into this guy.
“Well,” Lilith said. “Though some jewelers try to insist that lab-created stones are flawless, the truth is, they can be included just like one mined from the ground.”
“But… that’s not a real diamond, is it? Lab-created or otherwise? Because even a lab-created diamond—especially a flamingo diamond—would be crazy expensive at that size.”
“No, no.” She laughed softly. “This is moissanite. Not something you’ll get out of a children’s vending machine, but it’s certainly not expensive as a diamond.
” She paused. “And moissanite is prone to inclusions, same as diamonds. Typically smaller and less visible than in diamonds, but more conspicuous inclusions like this one are possible.”
“Huh,” Will said. “Learn something new every day.”
“So where can we find a counterfeit like this one?” Cole asked. “Just… without the incriminating inclusion?”
Lilith reached into her desk and pulled out a leatherbound book.
“I’ll put you in touch with the person who made this one.
She was working on creating the perfect fake of it, so she’ll likely have others.
” She glanced up at them as she started writing down the counterfeiter’s contact information. “It will cost you, gentlemen.”
“Eh.” Will grinned and elbowed Cole. “Good thing I bagged myself a sugar daddy.”
Cole’s jaw went slack. Will’s grin got even bigger.
And Lilith just laughed.