As I started the engine, I returned to the topic of the last two days.

  Christine.

  She was simply a star on the rise, a true asset.

  If I could eventually tame her.

  What she knew about the diamond industry should be cause for alarm. No one, even those who kept up with current world news on a regular basis, had a firm understanding of a convoluted topic like the diamond industry. At least not with the details she’d provided. My thoughts were driven back to the botched engagement with Malcolm and the things he’d said.

  I rubbed my index finger across my bottom lip as I drove. Forcing her complete surrender would be one of the greatest joys of my life.

  The bar was fashionable and highly popular with the twenty- and thirty-something crowd. The music was loud, the dance floor packed, the lights state of the art, and the liquor flowed until three in the morning.

  Gio had been a low-level player when he’d betrayed us. Being caught red-handed by the police with two kilos of cocaine hadn’t been on his bucket list. The only reason the man had been left alive in prison was because he hadn’t ratted us out. However, his misdeeds hadn’t been forgotten. We would make good use of him.

  As anticipated, Navarro was waiting by his car, a souped-up American muscle car that he’d drive into the ground. The aloof man had refused to enter the refined era, his off time spent sharpening knives and fucking women. Little else. Although we all knew he was fastidious with his wealth, investing in several lucrative markets. The man was a walking contradiction of violence and rough sophistication.

  We all killed, but he continued to do so for sport. But he wasn’t simply trying to prove he was a man. He was just wired that way. God help anyone who crossed him.

  We were oil and water. On our good days, we were civil to each other.

  But on our bad, the city could rock from the violence that ensued.

  At least we’d reached a happy medium the last two years.

  I pulled into a space, immediately climbing out. “Is he still inside?”

  “He’s there. Tossing money around,” Navarro huffed.

  “Our money.”

  “Our money.”

  I grinned and we headed for the rear door. Navarro knew the owner and we were given carte blanche any time we needed. “Let’s get this done.”

  “In a hurry? The reason wouldn’t have anything to do with your houseguest now, would it?”

  “Mind your own business.” We headed inside, moving past boxes of liquor and employees coming and going. No one paid any attention.

  As we moved through the crowd, I suddenly had a sense we were being watched. I stopped long enough to scan the surrounding area, curious if anyone caught my eye.

  No one did.

  Navarro bumped my arm, reminding me we were here for a purpose. Given the trap in Miami, this was potentially our best and easiest method of leveling the playing field while creating our own vicious game.

  Using Gio as a pawn would kill two birds with a single heavy stone.

  Gio was easy to spot. In a city where men took significant pride in their appearance, the Italian prick preferred reliving his youth. It would seem prison life hadn’t changed him. Dressed in leather pants and a gaudy shirt, he stood out from the sleek crowd. Even from a distance, the man smelled greasy.

  He wasn’t paying any attention to his surroundings, attempting to lure two women to whatever hole in the ground he was staying at.

  We walked up behind him and while the women’s eyes initially lit up from seeing two well-dressed, dangerous-looking men, I shook my head. The command was received, one of the two women leading the other away.

  Almost immediately Gio stiffened, tipping his head to one side. When he dared bolt through the crowd, I sighed and glanced at Navarro.

  This shit definitely wasn’t getting any easier.

  Where it had once been enjoyable, even that had grown sour.

  Yet we trailed after him, catching both his arms before he had a chance to try to shove his way past the bouncers. They knew when to stop a guest and he wouldn’t have managed to step a single foot through the doors.

  “Nice to see you too, Gio,” I told him. “I think we need to have a little discussion.”

  “We don’t have anything to talk about,” Gio insisted.

  “I think we do.” I clapped him on the back as we walked to the other side of the building away from the parking lot. At this time of night, other businesses were closed, their parking lots devoid of people.

  “What do you want?” Gio insisted. The man was already sweating. The stench mixed with whatever cheap aftershave he’d selected.

  “Patience,” I said, noticing Navarro wasn’t doing any talking. Good cop, bad cop. We’d done it before successfully.

  Once we were standing in the empty lot, Navarro didn’t mince words, slamming his fist into the man’s jaw. Gio stumbled backward, clasping his hand across his mouth as he tried to keep from falling.

  “What the fuck was that for?” he whined.

  I moved closer, scanning the street to ensure we were alone. “You know exactly what that was for. You betrayed us and doing so comes with punishment.”

  “I spent years in a fucking hell hole. I didn’t say a word. Isn’t that punishment enough?”

  In my youth, the whining alone was cause for me to end the conversation with only one man left standing. However, I reminded myself this was a fancy ruse that I wasn’t certain would work. It would seem the odds were against us already.

  “Not nearly enough. You fucking stole from us, Gio. But you can make it up to us.” I lifted my eyebrows to see if he understood this was his only way of remaining alive.

  “How? I’ll do whatever it takes.”

  I glanced at Navarro, who was already bored from the game. Neither one of us had freed our weapons. There was no reason to. If Gio was stupid enough to reach for a gun, he’d be dead within seconds.

  “That’s good to hear. You’re going to get very close to your good buddy, Jamal Fassi.”

  The twitch underneath his eye was slight, but I caught it.

  “I don’t know who you’re talking about.” Gio was a good liar. That’s how he’d managed to escape with the nose candy in the first place.

  “Do you love your family, Gio?” Navarro asked, his voice stone cold and deadly.

  “What does my family have to do with it?”

  “Maybe nothing. But if you want them to live, I suggest you listen to Kruz. He’s not in an accommodating mood today and neither am I.”

  Gio had the good sense to look from Navarro back in my direction. “Why hurt my fucking family? I paid my debt.”

  “Not to us,” I interjected. “How well received are you inside Fassi’s organization?”

  When he didn’t answer right away, I added my own incentive, pulling out my weapon and pointing the barrel at his kneecap.

  His eyes flew open wide. “Okay, look. I’m nobody. Just a runner and not what you think. I check ships and logs, making sure everything is ready to go.”

  “For diamonds.”

  He seemed surprised I knew that. “How did you… Never mind. Yeah.”

  “Why are you in Barcelona?” Navarro pressed.

  Gio run his shaking hand through his hair. “Family shit.”

  I twisted the gun and he threw his arm out.

  “My mother is sick. She wanted to see me. I’ve heading to Morocco tomorrow.”

  “You do realize you’re being used by Fassi. Correct? He’ll pay you more than you made being employed by Jago Torres for the shit job he gave you. Soon, he’ll invite you to handle an assignment to test your mettle. You’ll pass of course and that’s when he’ll start asking for information about your past. Including your former employer. Once he gets whatever it is he’s looking for, he’ll live up to his reputation as a butcher.”

  I was dangling a carrot. At least Navarro wasn’t laughing his ass off.

  Gio licked his lips nervously. “So what now? You want me to work for you. Right?”

  Navarro grunted. “You’re not so stupid after all.”

  “You’re going to head to your job with some priceless information that you’ll dole out at the right time. If you’re lucky, you’ll still be breathing by the end of the conversation.” Maybe I was being somewhat pickier about the phrasing I used, but wasting time with a putz like Gio wasn’t tops on my agenda.

  He swallowed. “What information?”

  “It’ll be truthful enough and nothing you need to know ahead of time. We’ll get that to you prior to your departure tomorrow. Where are you staying?”

  The man was nervous as hell, shifting back and forth from foot to foot. “At my mom’s place.”

  I glanced at Navarro who nodded. “Okay. We’ll drop it off there. We’ll leave it up to you how to use it, but you follow through with the deal. If you want your family to live.” I’d allow Navarro to make that judgment call. As long as Gio let it slip we’d gotten into the diamond business, that should be enough.

  “Just don’t hurt my family.”

  Now he was begging. Prison life certainly hadn’t hardened the man. He’d be eaten alive by Fassi. I wouldn’t elaborate on the point with him. “You do your part and I have no intention of hurting your family.”

  “Fassi will know something’s off. He’s not a stupid man.” Gio was insistent.

  I thought about what he was saying. “True. He would also realize we’d hunt you down once we learned you’d been freed from prison. We need to fix that, so he thinks you barely escaped and are pissed.”

  “How?” I’d never worked with Gio directly, but I could tell he had a feeling I’d chosen the good side of the good and bad cop routine.

  Pop!

  The single bullet went through his thigh. I’d spared his kneecap. The man did need to continue working for this plan to work.

  He dropped and howled as expected and at this point, my work was done for the night. I started to cross behind the club toward the parking lot when Navarro stopped me.

  “You shot him.”

  I laughed. “You’re observant.”

  “We need to work on our communication skills, brother.”

  “Yeah? Maybe we do, but not tonight. I have more important things to do. Brother.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Christine

  “Malcolm is dead.”

  The bluntness and meaning of Kruz’s words hit me hard, more so than I could have imagined. I hated Malcolm and had since being treated like a whore the day he’d found out about my pregnancy, but had I wanted him dead? The answer wasn’t one I was willing to accept.

  My knees felt as if they were going to cave out from under me. Fortunately, even with a dotted haze crawling across my eyes, I managed to take two steps forward, gripping the edge of the kitchen island.

  “Why?” Had I asked the question? Did it even matter? “Because he threatened you?”

  He was drinking coffee from a large mug, the scent I’d once loved now becoming nauseating. Was he really just going to drop the bombshell and clam up?

  “Talk to me, Kruz.”

  “You wanted to know the truth. I gave it to you.”

  I sucked back tears that I knew had nothing to do with Malcolm. Lightheaded, I closed my eyes briefly, struggling to find one good thing about the man who’d treated both me and my son so horribly. I should feel something. Right?

  Grief?

  Remorse?

  Anger?

  What I honestly felt was cold. “Tell me why. I’m obviously nothing more than a business arrangement. I don’t know why I thought differently since you used me to get into that party. So why?”

  “Who are your parents, Christine? Why are you estranged from them?”

  “My God. Are you trying to turn this around on me?”

  “No, I’m looking for answers as to why the relationship went south and also why it is you know so much about the diamond exchange business.”

  I’d never been a very good liar, although over the last few years, I’d gotten much better at it. “I already told you.” While I was able to look him straight in the eyes, I felt heat rising on my face.

  Kruz studied me as he’d done a hundred times, only there was a marked difference that I couldn’t pinpoint. He slid his mug across the island on the other side, taking a deep breath. “Your father was arrested in June two thousand and eighteen for diamond smuggling. To be specific for conflict diamonds, rough-cut diamonds not regulated by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, a requirement within the United States. But you already knew that. Didn’t you?”

  As soon as I’d blurted out my limited knowledge on buying and selling precious jewels, my instinct had told me I was an idiot.

  “However, the charges were dropped and for the life of me, I couldn’t find out why, although he obviously has friends in some very powerful places. Maybe law enforcement. Maybe the mafia. What was discovered was that one of his friends is Malcolm’s father. Their friendship goes way back to the early days when Skyler Worthington owned his first jewelry store and your father was a renowned gemologist.”

  Sighing, I looked away, but at this point there was no reason to lie. “That’s true.”

  “Something changed as they both became successful. Skyler went on to building a highly lucrative diamond exchange business utilizing dozens of contacts he’d made all throughout the world. Your father was right by his side overseeing acquisitions, both men becoming extremely wealthy.”

  All I could do was nod. He had it all figured out.

  “But as with so many powerful organizations, greed does come into play. I assure you I’m not making fun of what your father and his buddy tried to achieve. All you need to do is to look around you; I’m a product of the desire for more power and money myself. But sometimes, even the most powerful, ruthless men can make mistakes. With conflict diamonds, they realized they were missing a significant amount of money that was left on the table because of regulations so they bypassed them.”

  “Why are you telling me what you obviously figured out I already know?” I asked.

  “Because I want to know everything there is about you. It’s a requirement since we will be married.”

  I resisted lashing out at him. I didn’t have the energy at this point. “Fine. Go on. I’m curious what you know.” At least I felt stronger, more resilient than I had the night before.

  “This is the guessing part. I’m assuming someone, maybe an undisclosed and likely foreign entity offered Skyler and your father Thomas an even more lucrative, exclusive deal. Your father had an innate ability, a keen set of senses envied by other gemologists. He could determine if a rough-cut diamond was worth top dollar.”

  I closed my eyes. “My father was brilliant at what he did. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize or didn’t admit that he was getting into bed with some disturbing individuals.”

  “Yes, an operation that over time expanded into various countries including Morocco. They are dangerous and cutthroat, the leader, Jamal Fassi a loose cannon. Especially since he had close to a billion dollars of diamonds stolen from him.”

  “It sounds like you know these people.” I found myself inching closer, a strange set of vibrations coursing through me.

  “I do.” His eyes flashed. “The men who forced me to your apartment were soldiers for Fassi.”

  “And the organization you work for stole the diamonds from him?”

  “Yes, and no.” He laughed. “Call it a moment of weakness, but we turned them over the authorities.”

  I wasn’t expecting that. A laugh bubbled to the surface. “You’re kidding me?”

  “No, I am not. The reason? Because up until now, we weren’t in the business of buying and selling diamonds or any other precious jewel. Plus, in tossing out very expensive baubles to several international authorities, that would keep them off our backs.”

  That the story delighted me was surprising, but I chuckled until I noticed his face had gone dark. “Wait. You don’t think I lured you to my apartment, do you?”

  “A part of me believed it was possible, but something tells me you’re simply a pawn in a very dangerous game. I need an answer, Christine. Why aren’t you speaking to your parents? After all, you did intern for the man during high school.”

  He was obviously pleased with himself that somehow, he’d found out about my after school and summer jobs. I bit my lower lip, anger getting in the way of everything else. “Do you also know my shoe size and favorite candy?”

  His halfhearted laugh made me want to slap him across the face, but I refrained. “I’m certain you learned a great deal about his business and his activities. My guess that your hatred for the man took flight during that time.”

  I had to give him credit. He was damn good at figuring out aspects of my life I’d tried to ignore.

  “Fine and you’re right. I hate my father and what he did, including the way he kept my mother trapped. I saw things, including the way he treated people who worked for him and that appalled me. You have no idea how the success changed him. You also have no idea the kind of person he turned into.”

  “Trust me, Christine. I can easily imagine.”

  “I knew certain activities were illegal. I wanted nothing to do with the man or his money. I’ve wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. My parents knew that as well. My father all but forbid me to go to college if that meant taking education classes. When I asked why, he said because it wasn’t my place to become a teacher. I had no clue what he was talking about. It wasn’t until later I realized he wanted to marry me off to some son of a foreign businessman.”

  He laughed. “Interesting. Solidifying a business relationship.”

  “Much like what you want with me.” I folded my arms and he took a deep breath, this time being the one to look away.

  “It is different, Christine.”

  “Is it really? I begged my mother for years to leave him, but she refused. Even when things became physically abusive, she stayed. Her reasoning was that she’d fallen in love with him when she was fifteen and couldn’t just walk away. Do you believe that crock of shit? So I walked away from my parents and paid for college myself without money from them, or the trust fund they set up for me years ago. Dear old Daddy cut me off. In truth? Even as poor as I am, I’d do it again.”