Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Cracks and pops sounded, like an old house shifting, followed by a deep wooden groan from somewhere in its bowels. Shivers broke out on Nessa’s skin again, and she backed up, looking at the door.
“Yes, I know you’re annoyed, but that doesn’t help me figure out what you’re trying to say.” Sebastian lifted the edge of the wobbling painting and peered behind it. “Ah.”
He removed the painting to find a wall safe without a combination knob. It popped open, obviously controlled by the house. A shiny briefcase waited inside. Sebastian pulled it out and popped the clasps. Stacks of bundled one-hundred-dollar bills filled up all available space.
He picked up a few of the bundles, flipping through them. “All hundreds, so there’s probably about two-point-four million in the case, assuming they are bundled as normal. Why is it in a briefcase, though?”
“In case they need to do a shady transaction, and only a Hollywood-grade briefcase will do?”
He shook his head, replacing everything. “This isn’t flashy. It’s odd, but not flashy. Ivy House, lead us to the flashy stuff. I want something better than that pocket watch. Something we can wave in the gargoyle leaders’ faces to blow their minds.”
As they followed the house’s prompts out of Jessie’s room and down the hall, Sebastian continued.
“The next dicey bit is obvious. Controlling the length of time the gargoyles are here.”
“I’m not sure how that’s obvious. I doubt they’ll be suspicious of us. It’ll be easy to rile them up or cool them off, as the case may be, to keep them long enough to get the attack into position.”
“Except Jessie is incredibly unpredictable. If they rile her up too much, there will be no cooling her off. Or cooling them off after she’s made an example of them. Then there is Austin. Rile him up and he’s liable to kill them all. Remember, aggressions need to be high, at least by the most battle-savvy of the guardians. It’ll be a pot ready to boil. Hopefully. That’s the goal, at any rate.”
“And we can’t tell Austin because he’ll batten down the hatches.”
“Exactly. He’s not rational where it concerns her, which is cute and great and I love, but he won’t want her in any danger at all, even something she should be able to handle.”
She blew out a breath.
He trailed off as a door down the hall opened. He walked through. “Mr. Tom’s room.”
Nessa hurried in after him, incredibly curious. It was spotless, with very little clutter—everything looking like it had a specific location and he was vigilant in ensuring anything he used went back to that location. A nightshirt waited on a hook in the en suite bathroom.
The walls were devoid of pictures, save one—a man in his twenties with a full head of hair, chiseled features, and a stuffy air. That had to be Mr. Tom in his younger days. He used to be a looker, actually. Thick chest, muscular arms, tall. Age hadn’t been kind. That was probably why he was so annoyed Jessie hadn’t let the house make them all young again.
“Here we go,” Sebastian whispered, pulling out various boxes from the closet and resting them on the bed.
He opened each, and Nessa knew Mr. Tom had been correct. These jewelry sets were extravagant. Obviously worth a fortune, given the size and sheer volume of the jewels. Nessa would be greatly surprised if some of these hadn’t once adorned the necks of queens. Perhaps some of the jewels had even sat in crowns. They were enormous, cut in a way that screamed relic.
Sebastian had his loupe out, checking the quality of the stones.
One of the sliding closet doors closed slowly and opened again.
“Go check what else is in there,” Sebastian said distractedly.
She did as instructed, pushing the door wide and then snapping her hand back when the door pushed back against her. Ivy House did like to play games.
When she made no move to try again, the door slid fully open and something clinked on a little shelf in the corner. She found smaller jewelry boxes. Below that, more. Below that, larger ones.
She pulled them all out.
“We’ve got more.” She laid them on the bed in rows before opening all the lids. “Holy hell, Sebastian, is this for real?”
A huge blue gem winked up at her from one, surrounded by sparkling diamonds. It hung on a thick diamond chain. Each emerald-cut diamond ranged from a carat to two. They winked and sparkled as they looked up at her.
“That looks like a blue diamond,” she whispered, stroking a finger across the surface. “It’s gotta be twenty carats.”
She moved on to the next case—these were all individual pieces rather than sets. A radiant-cut diamond solitaire ring had to clock in at over three carats. Another ring, similar in size, had an emerald with diamonds on the sides. There were finely worked bracelets and other necklaces, earrings, and rings. She’d never seen a collection like this in the flesh. The fact that it had been randomly kept at the bottom of a closet boggled her mind. Mr. Tom had stowed two million in cash in that safe, but he’d stuffed this collection, worth a whole lot more, willy-nilly into a closet.