Page 32 of Control's Undoing

Annie was coming down the steps from the second floor.She wore a knee-length tailored dress.The skirt was straight cut, not tapered, so he could easily shove it up over her ass and hips to her waist.

Merde.

Annie saw them and grimly shook her head.Colum met her near the foot of the stairs, Xavier following.He nudged Colum so they were both facing a wall-mounted display with a pretty lace fan inside a latched glass-front case.Xavier’s gaze darted to the plaque, a smile curving his lips as he read it.

“He won’t sell,” Annie said, standing beside Colum, supposedly studying yet another wall-mounted display—this one of a fake newspaper made of stiff-looking paper.

Their plan had been for Annie to offer to purchase the skull on behalf of an anonymous, eccentric, and, most importantly, wealthy Broadway aficionado.Xavier had refused to play investor, so instead he and Colum were here as museum patrons.

Colum ran a hand through his hair.He’d rolled up the sleeves of his button-down shirt in a nod to the summer heat, and the muscles in his forearms flexed in a way that made Xavier want to see what other muscles Colum had hiding under his nondescript clothing.

“Lend?”Colum asked.

Annie shook her head.“No.The museum director’s exact words were, ‘What are you, fuckin’ kidding me?Get outta here.’”Annie’s accent changed as she mimicked the words.

Thinking about accents brought him back to last night in the hall…

Xavier shook his head.Two days ago, he would have said nothing could distract him from the possibility of finding a lost work by Wilde, and yet here he was, lust blinding him to their mission.

Then again, he thought Wilde might have understood his lack of focus.

“What if we study it here?We bought our tickets.”Colum reached over and tapped the sticker on Xavier’s chest.They’d both gotten the rather unofficial-looking stickers when they purchased their tickets.Annie, who’d arrived ten minutes after them, had flashed her auction house ID and gone right up to the roped-off second floor and the director’s office.

“We need to open it,” Xavier said.

Annie hushed him.“Keep your voice down.There are still some options.Since we aren’t sure that’s the right item?—”

“I’m sure,” Xavier cut in, out of patience to have this discussion again.

Annie shot him a look.“Since we aren’t sure, maybe we should look around, make a list, and then make an offer for multiple items.I can’t risk going too high with an offer on just that one item, as it would raise suspicion.Maybe even push the museum to look more closely at the piece.But if we purchase multiple items, a higher price point will be reasonable.”

Colum hesitated.

Xavier eyed the doorway into the room where the skull was.He could just walk in there?—

“No,” Colum said.“That would take too long.”

A grim silence descended.Xavier had no doubts that whoever had tried to break into the archive, then attacked Colum, was after the manuscript.The fleet admiral had said he would have other people investigate who was searching for it, how they’d found out about the archive, and why right now.While Xavier itched for answers, he was glad that wasn’t their task.Their job was the manuscript, and he was sure that it was mere meters away, locked inside an ugly prop skull.

“Okay,” Annie said, voice soft, almost a whisper.“Then we break in and steal it.”

Xavier’s attention whipped to her, and Colum choked on air.Xavier patted him on the back.

“We’re going to rob a museum?”Colum hiss-whispered.

“I can’t tell if you’re horrified or turned on by that idea,” Xavier said, studying him.

Colum looked over, a smile kicking up the corner of his mouth.“I’m not sure either.”

“Let’s go.We’ll come back tonight.”Annie grimaced.“You two leave first.It’s bad enough the cameras probably caught us standing here talking.”

“What do you mean ‘bad enough’?”Xavier asked.

“I just asked to buy that thing, and right after he said no, it gets stolen.”Annie shook her head.“I’m going to be suspect number one.”Now she smiled.“So I’m going to need an alibi.”

Followingtheir visit to the museum, the three of them went out for lunch.Colum had been dying to try New York pizza, so she’d taken them to Mano’s in Queens and they’d split a cheese pie.After that, they’d walked around Dumbo, strolling along the waterfront, enjoying the unseasonably cool weather—summer was typically hot as blue blazes in the Big Apple—and popping in and out of some of the trendy shops.Xavier insisted the three of them take a selfie on Washington Street, recreating the iconic photo of the Brooklyn Bridge.It had been a fun, carefree afternoon, and they’d managed to spend hours playing tourists without worrying about their plans for tonight.

Colum was still shocked about the plan to break into the museum.Annie had a funny feeling he might think she was joking, but she wasn’t.

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