Page 68 of Palace of Betrayal

His father turned his focus back to him, his smile wide. “Does this mean I might get a daughter one day?”

Leo placed his arm around his father’s shoulder in a rare display of affection. “Perhaps even a grandchild or two one day.”

Joy wreathed his father’s face as he hugged him. “Oh, you’ve no idea how happy this makes me.”

Leo didn’t say but he suspected he might.

“Sorry to interrupt but can we discuss the next steps?”

Bebe moved to his side, and he pulled her close to his hip, her arm going around his back and resting on his hip.

The King motioned toward his private dining area where they’d eaten just a few days ago and they followed. “Of course. Please sit.”

Leo bent to whisper in Bebe’s ear. “My father is over the moon we talked and worked things out.”

“I adore your father.”

Leo looked up at the man who’d raised him and who was now leading a country from a nightmare he’d only just learned about and felt a wealth of pride. He was so lucky to have a parent such as his father, even when he hadn’t deserved or appreciated it. “Me too.”

Seated beside the King and Bebe, Leo waited for Roz to begin.

“As you know, the first auction triggers the second, in a series of five. I know from communications with Mercy that she hasn’t found the buyer in Proenia yet. So, we need our auction here to go ahead. Atticus has given us nothing of worth. It seems he never spoke with The Collector and has no idea of their identity. What works in our favour is that The Collector doesn’t know Atticus’s identity either.”

Leo leaned forward on the table, his elbows resting on the polished wood. “How did he manage to get access to the auction then? Surely The Collector would be cautious and would vet any potential buyers to make sure it wasn’t a set-up?”

“Yes, that’s true. From what Atticus said, bringing Alwyn and Alain on board, making them the scapegoats, and blowing up The Grace was his proof.”

Leo frowned not convinced by that. Anyone could’ve staged those things.

Roz cocked her head to the left. “I can see you’re not convinced.”

Leo shrugged. “Both those things are easily staged.”

“True but handing over the Tanzanite Tears is further proof. No government or Monarch would freely hand over the gemstone with that kind of value.”

“So, handing over the gem before the auction is the final demand for entry?” Bebe asked.

“According to Atticus, yes.”

Leo shook his head, steepling his fingers. “How can we trust him?”

Kanan smirked. “Believe me, Atticus is a pretentious asshole with no morals but a hardened criminal he’s not. Let’s just say he gave it up easily and he was telling the truth.”

Leo had forgotten while he was making love to Bebe these people were interrogating Atticus. He should feel a modicum of sympathy for the man, but the second he’d put Bebe in danger any hope of forgiveness from Leo was long gone.

He trusted these people. He knew tier-one operators. being one himself, and he easily recognised the skills they had at reading people. So if they trusted Atticus was telling the truth, then he would too.

“We have Atticus’s phone where the details of the auction will be sent. I propose we have someone pose as Atticus and enter the auction. We buy the program Atticus was after and kill two birds with one stone by getting dangerous software out of the hands of a maniac and triggering the second auction, buying Mercy and the others some time.”

Bebe rubbed her hands along her thighs, momentarily distracting him from the conversation, before she spoke. “Won’t that mean handing over the gemstone?”

Roz paused and her eyes came to him and then the King. “Yes. Of course we’d get it back for you once The Collector is taken down.”

Leo looked to his father, a silent conversation going on between them as he nodded.

The King pinned Roz with the look of a leader willing to do anything to keep his people safe. “I’m willing to do this. I trust you to deliver it back safely.”

Bebe touched his thigh, making him look down at her. “Thank you.”