Chapter 6
CHAPTER
SIX
QUIN
“We got the invite. Let’s get back to the hotel so we can debrief.”
I was also going to need to pack. Dasselaar had invited me to join him at his estate for the weekend, which just solidified my gut feeling that he was suspicious and trying to keep an eye on me.
Hadrian pushed off the sleek black car where he’d been leaning, basking in the afternoon sunlight while he waited for me to finish my meeting with Dasselaar. He opened the rear passenger-side door for me, and I slid into the car.
Climbing behind the wheel, my cousin smiled at me through the rearview mirror. “Nice work.”
He put the car in drive and left me to my thoughts as he wound through the narrow streets. My mind should have been on my meeting with Dasselaar or working out what I needed to do to prepare for three nights at his estate. Instead, my thoughts were full of wide green eyes, tousled black hair, plush lips, and skin that looked as smooth as Italian marble, skin I wanted to run my fingers over. Lips I had the unreasonable urge to kiss.
I’d never in my whole life been sucker punched by lust like I had been the minute I’d seen Dimitri. And it wasn’t just the raging desire to hold him in my arms or to feel his naked skin against mine that had me unsettled. I wanted to open the buttons on my shirt to see if my saddle patch had changed, if Dimitri was fated to be mine, but I wasn’t sure I could handle the disappointment if my reaction to him was nothing but lust fueled by the adrenaline of this mission. And what would I do if my saddle patch had changed, if Dimitri was meant for me? I wasn’t sure I could stop myself from begging Hadrian to turn the car around so I could run into the gallery and steal Dimitri away.
A latent protective and possessive streak had ignited in my core, and above all else, I wanted to keep him safe.
I hated the way Dasselaar treated Dimitri, and I wondered why Dimitri continued to work for him when it was clear Dasselaar was just using him. My blood started to boil when I replayed the rough way Dasselaar had handled the younger man. I could have killed the badger shifter for daring to put his hands on what was mine. Remembering the scene had my hands clenching into angry fists. Drawing in a deep breath, I willed myself to relax. Hadrian glanced at me in the mirror again and gave me a reassuring smile, but he said nothing. Before he’d met his mate—a beaver shifter art professor who was only a little obsessed with our grandmother—my cousin had spent a lot of time alone doing legitimate salvage diving work for the police and not-so-legal salvage diving and treasure hunting for fun. He was a man of few words, which suited my mood right now just fine.
The reality was Dimitri wasn’t mine, and I needed to get over whatever the hell had happened in the gallery. I needed to get my head in the game.
But thoughts of Dimitri wouldn’t be willed away.
Desperate to find out what Cal and Jack knew about him, I was out of the car and hitting the button to call the elevator almost before Hadrian put the car in park. My cousin caught up with me as the shiny bronze doors slid open, and he followed me inside.
“What happened in there?” Hadrian’s question pulled me out of my thoughts and I turned to look at him.
I rubbed a hand over my face. “I don’t really know. Dasselaar has a young man working for him, and he just took me by surprise.”
Hadrian raised an eyebrow. “Surprised you how?” My fingers toyed with the collar of my shirt, and his eyes tracked the movement, going wide when he pieced together what I wasn’t saying.
“I don’t know.”
“Let me see.” Hadrian reached for the collar of my shirt so he could slide it aside and look at my saddle patch to see if it had changed, but the elevator stopped and the doors slid open before he made contact.
Cal was pacing in the hallway, and when the doors slid open, his head swung to look at us. “What the fuck happened? I felt something strange through our twin bond. I thought you were hurt.” He looked me over from head to toe, then put his hands on my shoulders and turned me around, looking at me from every angle. “Are you hurt?”
Shrugging out of his touch, I took a step away. “I’m fine. I got the invitation.”
“You did?” His eyes were still scanning me like he didn’t believe I was telling him the truth.
“Why the tone of surprise?”
Cal held his hands up in mock surrender. “No, I’m not surprised. I knew you could do it.” He used his keycard to open the suite door, and Hadrian and I followed him inside. The suite was a hub of activity. Since we’d arrived, the suite had been transformed from a luxury penthouse to a command center. Felix and Julius had commandeered the dining table and had set up their laptops. Jack and Nero were sitting on the couch in the living room area looking over a set of blueprints for Dasselaar’s estate, which they’d somehow managed to acquire, that was spread out on the coffee table. Everyone looked up when we entered the room.
“Are we good to go?” Julius asked, and it felt like everyone was holding their breath as they waited for my answer.
“We are.”
“Excellent.” Nero rubbed his hands together.
“But there is a small change of plans.” Movement around the room stopped, and every eye was on me. “According to the invitation, the gala is Saturday night, but Dasselaar invited me to join him at his estate, with a select group of VIPs, beginning tomorrow night. I’m supposed to arrive in time for dinner and stay through brunch following the gala.”
Jack tapped the blueprints on the table. “Oh, this is good. Very, very good. It’s impossible to know if these plans are accurate since they only show the original building and don’t detail any upgrades or changes that might have been made since Dasselaar acquired the property. A man on the inside is exactly what we need.”
Nero considered what he said and raised his eyebrows. “Jack makes an excellent point. We thought having you as a guest at the gala would give us a visual during the party and auction, but having you there to do recon before the event is honestly even better.”
“This changes the plan.” Jack sat back on the couch, his mind already working through the new details.
My older brother’s focus returned to me. “Did you see the painting today? Cal and Jack said it was at the gallery.”
“No. Dasselaar has over a quarter of a billion dollars of stolen art in his private gallery, but none of the pieces on display were The Evolution of Man .” I scoffed. “Don’t you think if I’d seen the painting I would have led with that?”
“Okay, fair.” Nero shifted on the couch. “Did you see anything else?”
For a second, I wanted to tell him about how I’d felt meeting Dimitri, but something made me hold back. Cal’s eyes met mine as I looked away from Nero, and it was almost like he could read my thoughts, even though I’d always been better at reading his through our twin bond. Ignoring the strange sensation, I looked at Nero again. “Not anything that will help. I only caught a brief glimpse of the storage room, and it looked empty from what I could see.”
Jack spoke up again. “That tracks with what we’ve seen. He’s been moving pieces to his estate. The Evolution of Man was the only piece we hadn’t accounted for yet, but it makes sense that he’d move it by itself.”
“I wish I had seen more, but besides Dasselaar’s office and the gallery filled with stolen art, I wasn’t given a behind-the-scenes tour.”
“That’s fine. The estate is the target anyway, and now that you’ll be there for a couple days before the gala, you’ll be able to close the circle on a lot of the things we need to know.” Nero turned back to the blueprints on the table. “We’re going to need you to walk around the house and the grounds as much as you can without making Dasselaar suspicious.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that I thought Dasselaar was already suspicious, but like telling him about Dimitri, I bit the words back. I didn’t want them to call off the op. Not yet. And I thought if they knew I suspected Dasselaar was onto the fact that we were up to something, Nero would pull the plug.
“While you guys strategize, Quinny and I need to talk.” Cal had taken a seat on the other sofa in the living room and had been studying me as Nero conducted his inquisition. He pushed to his feet and grabbed my arm, towing me into the room he was sharing with Jack. He closed the door behind us and flipped the lock. When I gave him a questioning look, he shrugged. “I don’t think you want an audience for this.”
“For what?” I crossed my arms, and my twin mirrored the movement.
“Take off your shirt.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I need to see something.” Cal reached for me, but I dodged him.
“I’m not taking off my shirt.”
“Quintillus, if I have to hold you down and rip it off you, I will.”
“You wouldn’t dare, Caligula . This is Paul Smith.”
Cal’s jaw went tight at my use of his full first name, but he gave me no quarter. “I don’t know who that is, and I don’t care. Strip.”
“No. Stop being weird.”
“I’m not being weird. I just want to see.”
“See what?”
“Your saddle patch.” He blew out an exasperated breath. “If you won’t take off your shirt, at least let me see it.”
“Why?” But I already knew. I’d known since the second Dimitri’s big green eyes had met mine.
“It’s a hunch.”
I wanted to know too, but I was afraid to look. I’d been hoping to find my fated mate for a long, long time, and if this wasn’t it—if Dimitri wasn’t it—I couldn’t explain why I wanted him so badly after a single meeting where we hadn’t spoken a single word to one another and I’d had to pretend I was indifferent to his presence in front of Dasselaar.
“Fine.” My fingers shook as I undid the first few buttons on my shirt. Cal’s patience snapped, and he pushed the fabric away before I could.
He gasped. “I fucking knew it.”
Shoving him out of the way, I made a beeline for the bathroom, ignoring the wet towel and dirty clothes on the floor. Closing my eyes for a second, I took a deep breath, then opened them and pushed my shirt aside so I could see my saddle patch. The solid stretch of black skin had changed, the darker patch now split into a wide, deep vee that looked like a thick brushstroke. My fingers traced over the skin, and I saw Cal leaning in the bathroom doorway, arms crossed over his chest and a smug look on his face.
“You met Dimitri today, didn’t you?” My twin’s expression was fond when he said Dimitri’s name.
Shocked, I nodded. “How did you know?”
Cal shook his head. “I knew something big happened to you today, but I couldn’t tell what. At first, I thought you were hurt or that Dasselaar figured out what we’re planning?—”
Holding up a hand, I cut him off. “I think he’s suspicious. He doesn’t need me to move merchandise for him. Even if he wants to send a few of his clients through me to avoid moving it all himself, he didn’t have to invite me for the weekend. I think he’s trying to keep me close so he can figure out if I’m up to something.”
My twin chewed on his lip for a second. “Does it matter? We now have you on the inside for days before the gala. Even if he’s trying to keep you close just to keep an eye on you, it helps us out.”
“If you say so.”
“I do. And I’m not as stupid as you seem to think I am. I see what you did there with the subject change.”
I turned back to my reflection in the mirror. “How did you know it was Dimitri?”
“When I met him, I felt oddly drawn to him, like I wanted to keep him safe but not for myself. It’s like how I feel about Jack but much less intense. I didn’t know what it meant then, but when I felt the surge of emotion in our bond, I knew.”
“What do we know about him?” My eyes still lingered on my saddle patch as I braced my palms on the counter and leaned forward.
“Unfortunately, not much. Felix has been trying to find him, but we don’t have a last name, and he doesn’t come up on our list of Dasselaar’s known associates.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“About?” Cal looked genuinely concerned.
“About Dimitri. My gut tells me he’s a pawn in all this, but what if I’m wrong?”
Cal gave me a sad smile. “I don’t think you’re wrong. I think Dasselaar has some kind of hold on him, but without a last name, we can’t figure out what.”
“I assume he’s going to be at the gala. Did you know he can change his skin to match an authentic painting? It’s fascinating. His skin just changes to the exact hues on the canvas, but it doesn’t work if the piece is a forgery. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I know. I’ve seen it too, and I think it is safe to assume Dasselaar is going to want to show off his special skills at the gala as a sort of live authentication.”
“That makes sense.” I turned away from the mirror and leaned my hip against the vanity.
“Hopefully he’s one of Dasselaar’s guests at the estate.”
“And what? I’m supposed to walk up to him and tell him he’s my fated mate?”
Cal laughed. “No. I mean, not if you don’t want to. It took me the better part of two years to tell Jack. But you could get to know him a little bit. Find out who he is.” An odd emotion flickered through our twin bond, and I knew Cal wasn’t telling me something.
“What don’t I know?” My twin said nothing, but that weird feeling still vibrated down our bond and I didn’t like it.
“Nothing.” Cal pretended to look at a watch he didn’t wear and pushed off the doorframe. “You should start packing.”
Over the next day, Nero, Cal, Jack, and Hadrian came up with a list of information they needed that they thought I could obtain while inside Dasselaar’s estate. They’d made me memorize the list and recite it over and over again. I could tell Nero was nervous about not being able to plan the heist before sending me in, but there were too many loose ends and too many variables, and until I provided them with onsite intel, their planning was dead in the water. As it stood, we weren’t even sure where Dasselaar was housing the painting. Nero would have to come up with a final plan on the fly after I gave him more to work with.
The door to the suite opened and Cal and Jack sauntered in. They were both wearing dark blue coveralls that had the logo for a Dutch electricity provider embroidered on the chest.
Nero, who’d been pacing by the window, turned to look at them. “So?”
“Felix was right. The power for Dasselaar’s security system routes all the way to the street. We were able to install the piggyback so we can control his power and get into the cameras.”
“Excellent.” Felix rubbed his hands together like a cartoon villain, then linked his fingers together and turned his palms out, cracking his knuckles before his hands started flying over his keyboard.
A few minutes later, Felix shouted in triumph, startling Cal who had been stepping out of his coveralls. He started to fall, but Jack steadied him before he hit the floor. “Careful, sweetheart.” Cal beamed up at Jack, who placed a small kiss on his temple.
Nero crossed the room to stand behind his mate, his large hands massaging Felix’s shoulders. “What do you have?”
“I’m a little shocked it was this easy to get into his system. He’s got cameras throughout his estate, and they’re decent quality, but on the whole, the system is pretty basic.”
“That’s good for us, though, right?” Hadrian asked. He had hung back from most of the conversations, content to text with his mate, Ben, until he was needed for a specific task.
“Yes and no.” Nero leaned forward to take a closer look at Felix’s computer. “I’ve seen this before. People who have a basic security system usually have other methods of keeping themselves and their belongings safe.”
Jack nodded. “He’s relying on personnel.”
Nero tapped his nose and pointed at Jack. “Yep, and it’s a lot harder to get around people than to hack into a sophisticated security system. No offense, Lucky.” He dropped a kiss on his mate’s head.
Felix turned to look up at him, and Nero’s lips dropped to Felix’s in a quick kiss. “None taken. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re right. Four different scary-looking dudes have walked through this hall alone since I got into the feed.”
We all circled the table, standing behind Felix and watching the camera angles.
“That’s a lot of manpower.” Julius held up a Post-it note where he’d drawn tally marks. “I count at least fifteen different guys.”
“We need to know if they’re on specific patrols or if they are just randomly walking the estate.” Cal looked a little concerned, and I felt it in our twin bond. Did he think I wouldn’t be able to handle this?
“I have something that will help us get a better lay of the land.” Felix shooed us away so he could slide his chair back and stand up, and we all dispersed back to where we’d been before Felix had hacked the video feed. He disappeared into the bedroom he and Nero were sharing, and a minute later, he returned to the living room carrying two small leather ring boxes. Felix set them down on the table, then picked up the top one and flipped it open, showing me what was inside. “I’ve been tinkering with these to help me sleep and because I knew we were going to need a video feed at some point. I put the finishing touches on it last night and now we just need to test it.”
A small, onyx pin sat nestled in black velvet. It was a Haida-style orca that was quite lovely, but I didn’t understand what I was supposed to do with it.
“It’s a camera. I made it black so it would blend in with your preferred wardrobe. When you put it on, we’ll be able to see whatever you’re seeing.” He set the case down and carefully pulled the pin out, then spoke over his shoulder to Julius who was still behind his computer at the dining room table. “Jules, can you bring over my computer so I can calibrate the image and test the feed?”
“Aye, aye, Quartermaster.” Julius gave him a mock salute, then picked up Felix’s laptop and brought it over. Felix handed me the pin. “Put it on your lapel. That should give us the best angle.”
I looked at the pin, then at Felix. “You want me to put a pinhole in this suit?”
Felix stared at me like I was stupid. “Yes. Is that a problem?”
“This is Tom Ford.”
Felix crossed his arms. “And I’m Felix White. I don’t have time to rework the camera into anything else.”
Glancing down my body, I noted the striped pocket square I’d placed earlier. It too was designer but far easier to replace than the suit. “How about here?” I tapped the pocket square. Can I put it here?”
Felix shrugged and shoved his glasses up his nose.
I was still going to have to pierce my suit, but hopefully the pinhole wouldn’t be as noticeable if it wasn’t on the lapel. Reluctantly, I pushed the pin into the fabric, securing it on the fold of the pocket while Felix and Julius did whatever they needed to do on Felix’s computer to ensure the image was coming through clearly.
When they were satisfied, Felix handed me the case. “The charger is inside. As long as you put the pin in the case overnight, you’ll have enough power to transmit video all day.” Felix reached for my jacket and removed the pin, placing it back in the case.
“Okay.” I nodded to the other case. “What’s in there?”
“Standard issue closed-channel comms. With a slight twist.” He flipped the case open to reveal a heavy silver ring with a light amber-colored stone. “The stone pops out, and it goes in your ear.” He demonstrated and handed me the earpiece. “Make sure it fits.”
I slipped the device into my ear. “It feels good.” My voice echoed back to me with a slight delay from Felix’s laptop.
“And it seems like the sound is relaying well too.” Felix fiddled with his laptop for a second, then disappeared into the room he was sharing with Nero and closed the door. A second later, I heard his voice in my ear. “Quin, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear.”
“Excellent.”
Felix returned to the living room and held out his hand. I took the comm device from my ear and placed it in his palm. He popped it back into the ring and put the ring back into the leather box. “This has a fantastic transmission range, so we should be able to hear you whenever you’re wearing the comm.” He held up the leather box. “The charger is in here. If Dasselaar does some kind of security screening, these devices should just look like jewelry in your bags.”
“Is it my turn to give Quin something?” Cal emerged from his bedroom with three hard-sided cases. “Take your pick, Quinny.”
I shook my head. “I don’t need a gun.”
“Oh yes, you do. We don’t know who else is going to be there, and you might need it. I’d prefer you had some way to defend yourself beyond your rapier wit.” Cal smirked at his joke, then gestured at the cases again. “Pick or I’ll pick for you.”
He wasn’t going to let this go, so I blindly picked a case and prayed I wouldn’t have to use what was inside.