Chapter 16
SHEP
THE TRIP BACK to New York was a turbulent one, to say the least. Not because of any weather systems we had to navigate, but rather the volatile man sitting opposite me in the jet.
Last night had been…informative. Theo had finally opened up to me about what had actually taken place in Istanbul, and now that I knew the facts, I was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of who was behind this.
Someone was fucking with him, and that didn’t sit well with me. Neither did the fact they were obviously trying to cause a rift within Libertine by pitting us against one of our own.
The other thing bothering me? This asshole—whoever it was—was good. They’d not only managed to bypass Alessio’s security systems, but also the Palace of Monaco’s walls to deliver two incriminating pieces of information.
They were cunning and determined, hellbent on ruining Theo—and that made them our number one enemy.
All I needed to do now was get King on board, and the best way to do that was have Theo talk to him.
Something Theo clearly wasn't looking forward to, judging by the solemn expression that had been plastered across his face the entire trip home. He’d also been uncharacteristically quiet, which never meant anything good when it came to Theo.
But I could understand his reluctance. King wasn’t the easiest person to talk to. He had a brusque way about him, a control that made him seem unbending in his resolve—but he wasn’t unreasonable, and once he found out what Theo had been up to and why, he’d be the first to get behind him.
At least, that was what I hoped.
The moment the wheels touched down on the tarmac and the jet came to a stop outside its designated hangar, Theo was unbuckling his belt and getting to his feet.
“In a rush?” I asked as he grabbed his carry-on from one of the compartments.
“I phoned for a car as we were landing, and it should be”—he bent to look out the window—“waiting for me.”
I frowned and peered out the window to see a black Rolls-Royce with the Monaco flags on the back of the vehicle and let out a sigh.
“You had them send the royal car? That’s not exactly subtle when heading to Libertine.”
“Agreed. But I’m not going straight to Libertine.” Theo went to walk by me, about to exit the plane, but I grabbed hold of his arm and got to my feet.
“What do you mean, you’re not going to Libertine? We decided—”
“No, you decided. The time we’d fly out. The excuse I’d tell my family. When and what we’d tell King. But news flash, you aren’t my handler or my scheduler, so I’m going to go home, shower, and relax before going one on one with the Almighty King.”
“Theo that’s not a good—”
“Idea?” He nodded, then looked down at where my hand rested on his arm. “Probably. But if I don’t have a second to get my head on straight and unwind, I might accidentally blurt out something I shouldn’t. Like how damn good it felt having your cock inside me.”
I dropped my hand as though his arm was on fire, and Theo scoffed.
“Exactly. I need to be firing on all cylinders before I deal with King, because we both know if he lands a low blow I’ll go lower, and I have some really, really good ammo up my sleeve this time around.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and scrubbed a hand over my face. The last thing Theo should do was taunt King with our recent involvement. Not because I thought he’d care, but because in all likelihood he wouldn’t, and then it would just be one more reason King would be pissed at Theo—and me.
What a colossal mess that would be, and what would be the point?
It wasn’t like this thing we’d fallen into in Monaco was going to continue.
So then we’d just be in the doghouse because of a moment that was now over?
That was definitely something I’d rather avoid, and if Theo needed an hour or two to get his shit under control, then I wasn’t about to pressure him.
“So what time should I tell him you’ll be there?”
Theo stopped by the door but didn’t bother looking back as he said, in true Theo fashion, “Whenever I fucking get there.”
“I WAS WONDERING what time your plane was getting in.”
King’s familiar voice had me drawing to a halt as I made my way through the carved stone halls of the private underground rooms of Libertine.
Our exclusive, members-only club—a nondescript black building—took up a full block in New York, and to the outside world looked abandoned.
But if you were lucky enough to be granted entry, one soon found out there was a whole different world on the other side of the bolted doors.
One full of luxury, decadence, and excess.
One that was only available to a select few.
This underground section of the club was even more exclusive. Only seven people had access, and as I came to a stop and turned to face the leader of our elite group, I braced myself for what I knew was going to be a less-than-pleasant exchange.
“You didn’t ask Alessio for our flight details?”
“No.” King slipped his hands into his pockets as he walked toward me, his eyes shifting past my shoulder as though looking for Theo. “But I did expect there to be two of you when you finally arrived. What happened? Did you push Theo out of the plane mid-flight?”
Usually I’d laugh that off and agree that would be the best way to shut Theo up. But something about the comment had my hackles rising.
“That’d make it a little difficult for you to grill him, wouldn’t it?”
King arched a brow, clearly not missing my defensive tone. He never missed anything. I guess Theo had been smart to take a couple of hours. Maybe I should’ve too.
“I suppose it would. Which raises the question, where is he?”
“Home, is what he told me.” I stepped around King and headed toward the large meeting room in the catacombs. “But if you want to double-check, you could always pull up his tracker.”
“That won’t be necessary,” King said, his voice following me into the room. “But I’d hoped to see him as soon as he arrived—”
“Yeah, he gets that,” I snapped, turning on him. “But he wants a minute to change and…stuff.”
“Stuff?” King frowned. “Well, I wish he would’ve done that here. A new message has come to light, and we need to—”
“A new message?” I said, wondering if the video that had been hand-delivered to Theo had now been emailed to the rest of the Kings. I hadn’t seen anything in my inbox before boarding the plane, but I hadn’t checked since landing.
I pulled out my phone and went to open my email, but King shook his head.
“It wasn’t an email.”
Oh fuck. Did everyone receive a box, then? A flash drive?
“This was a handwritten message. Delivered to me, personally. It was waiting on my desk when I came in this morning.”
What the hell? Now this fucker had been inside Libertine?
“I don’t understand. How? What did it say?”
“I can only answer as to what it said. The how is still a mystery. It arrived with the rest of my mail, and Alessio has gone back through all the security footage and found nothing suspicious.”
This person was good. Too fucking good.
“What did the message say?”
King reached inside his jacket and pulled out a black envelope. “Read it for yourself.”
I opened it up and pulled out a narrow piece of paper inside.
You have a snake in your midst. Cut off its head…or I will.
Mother. Fucker.
“I’m assuming this is referring to Theo.”
King took the message back and looked over it again, but all I could think about was how it was a direct fucking threat to Theo’s life.
“Shep?”
“What?”
“I’m assuming this is about whatever is going on with Theo. What have you learned since the first email? Has he told you anything?”
He told me everything.
I wasn’t about to tell King that. It wasn’t my place. But if Theo didn’t get his ass over here, and soon, King was going to start drawing his own conclusions about all this.
“I think it would be better if he talked to you. Secondhand intel is never as reliable—”
“Yours is. I’d never doubt you.” King’s voice softened around the edges as he studied me, and I found myself looking away. He had a very good eye for bullshit, and the last thing I wanted was to be under his microscope when discussing Theo.
There were too many secrets there. Ones that I now found myself entangled in.
“You need to hear Theo’s explanation from Theo. It’s the only way you’re going to ever be able to trust him again.”
“So you do know what happened.”
“I did my job. I went to Monaco, I made sure Theo behaved at the wedding”—not that I’ll ever tell you how—“and I found out the information you wanted and brought him back to talk to you. Anything else, you need to work out with him.”
King tapped the envelope on his hand as if thinking that over, and then pulled his seat out at the table.
“Very well, then I believe our meeting is over.”
I gave a clipped nod and headed out of the room, ready to go up to the Libertine bar and have a drink. Then I all but ran into Alessio.
He grunted, “Fuckin’ hell,” and then shoved his long hair behind his ears. “You wanna maybe watch where you’re going?”
The surly tone was so out of character that it shocked me more than our run-in. I was always the serious one amongst my brothers, so to see him so wound up was unusual. But then again, if King was riding him half as hard as he’d been riding me about Theo, I could understand the tension.
The cybersecurity of our members fell under Alessio’s purview. So the fact that some fuckwad had infiltrated his systems must’ve had his panties in a bunch.
“Seems to me you’re the one who’s distracted.” I pointed to the small tablet in his hand. “What are you working on?”
“What do you think?”
“Judging by your fantastic attitude right this very moment, Theo’s latest…issue.”
Alessio snorted. “Is that what he’s calling it? An issue? ’Cause from where I’m sitting, it’s a catastrophic fucking problem. One I’m somehow left to figure out—”
“I’m sure you will.”
“I’m glad you are, because I’m not. Whoever this is, they’re good, Shep. As good as, if not better, than me. And that’s not fucking cool.”
I could see how that would stick in his craw. “They’re not better than you, they’re just playing a different game. Once you work it out, you’ll crush them. You always do.”
“Tell King that.”
I chuckled and glanced over my shoulder to where I’d left our boss. “I’m going to pass on that. He’s waiting on Theo, and you know how he feels about waiting.”
Alessio nodded, but as I went to step around him and make my way upstairs, he grabbed hold of my arm. “About Theo…”
“Yeah?”
“You know I track the monitors, right?”
“Right.” What was he getting at? Had he somehow worked out that Theo had removed his tracker before going to Istanbul? It’d taken me a minute, but how would Alessio know unless he’d seen Theo’s arm?
“Well, I just thought you should know that it showed a certain prince wasn’t in his palace last night—”
Oh fuck.
“—and instead showed him in very close proximity to you.”
My mind began to race as I thought back to the hot encounter we’d shared last night. “So? You know he sometimes stays at Villa Monaco.”
“Uh huh, but it’s a rare day that your tracker is in his residence at the palace, like it was the day before.” Alessio raised a brow. “Anything I should know there?”
Other than I’m a fucking idiot who once again forgot all about our damn trackers? No wonder Theo had removed his.
“Nope.”
“Because King is already pissed at Theo, at everyone, really. Wouldn’t want to give him another reason to be.”
“Then shut up and mind your own business,” I snapped, and Alessio’s eyes flared. It seemed my surliness had come back full force.
“No problem,” he said, and turned to walk away from me. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Yeah, I thought as I headed toward the stairs that would take me up to the main floor of Libertine, doesn’t really matter.
I’d been warning myself from the moment I touched Theo in the church that it was a bad idea. Pity I hadn’t fucking listened.