Page 75 of The Eagle's Vault

Declan followed me off the bed, discarding the condom. “He couldn’t have done the job in Cassaforte like you did, and he’s nothing more than a liability if he comes with us tonight.”

I found the shirt and threw it on. What was I doing? This was a fling. It was a one-off. I was putting too much emotion into it. So what if the orgasms were great? My brother was family. He took care of me. “Isaac taught me everything I know.”

“Taught you?” Declan pulled on his pants, while I hauled on my underwear. “What could he possibly teach you? I saw him trying to pick locks and file keys. You’re the one who came all this way to repair Edoardo’s safe, not him. All he’s done is skulk around and keep you cooped up.”

“He’s protecting—”

“You walked away from me when I said I wanted to do that for you.” Declan snatched my wrist and yanked me to him, darkness clouding his features. “Said you were done being protected and that you wanted to live your life. Not his life, Leigh. Yours.”

My hand swept across his strong chest, the chiseled muscle hard under my touch. He was right about all of it. My own life was what I wanted.

Wasn’t it?

“Why did Edoardo think you were the assistant when you arrived at his villa?”

“Because I’m a woman.”

His jaw flexed as he let go of me, pacing toward the desk where my books still lay. “Or because Isaac passes your work off as his?”

Isaac wouldn’t do that. “We’re a family company. We all work together.”

“Stop making excuses for him.” Declan clenched his fists and pressed them so hard against the table the muscles flexed all the way up his back. Why was he so upset about this? “It’s like talking to my mother about Daphne.”

“What?”

“You won’t see any of his flaws, will you? Everything’s perfect inside your little skull.”

I took a half-step back.

Declan sucked in a long breath, his shoulders relaxing. But he didn’t turn to look at me. “Who designed the case for the Codex of San Marco?”

“The what?”

“The manuscript Phillip Maguire owned. Who designed it?”

“I—” How did he know about that? “I did.”

His head tilted back, like he was staring up at the ceiling. “And who created the copy of those plans for the Fenix Group? I’m assuming it wasn’t you, otherwise you would have reacted when Giovanni told us about them.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Someone at Barton did, and I’m willing to bet it was Isaac.”

I’d designed and built a case for a medieval manuscript for Phillip Maguire, based on work I’d done with a book conservator back home in Boston. It was a beautiful design, but we’d only built one.

That I knew of.

“Declan, there was only one case.”

“I was there, Leigh, inside the Barton vault. I saw the plans. I know someone at your office is working for Fenix, whether they’re complicit in everything we’ve been through or not.”

“How did you get into…”

He turned around slowly, his face a mask. He didn’t have to say the words. Somewhere deep inside, I knew.

“You broke into our office, didn’t you?” If the Reynolds team could get past the Cassaforte defenses, why wouldn’t they be able to get past ours?

“The Codex belonged to the British Museum, not Phillip Maguire.”

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