Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
My lips curled. “River Redgrave. Mom’s half, and only, brother. It always made me laugh when you spun that sob story of abandonment and persecution, swearing you’d have nothing to do with us or the Merchant legacy. But look at you.”
River made a show of lifting his hands and checking himself out. “What am I supposed to be looking at?”
“The Rat King. One of the most feared shadow kings in the streets, running a gang twice the size of ours combined. You just couldn’t help it, River. It’s in your blood,” I said, closing the distance. “Redgraves can’t settle for mediocre.
“We have to be great.”
My face reflected in expressionless pools. “I’ll say this once: I had nothing to do with the warehouse bombing, or Gen’s attack. These attacks are too coordinated, too perfect, too timed. The tips called into the police about your routes and stash houses, half of them I didn’t know about. This is the work of someone who knows your organization and your family inside out. Your first instinct was right, Sunny. You have a mole.”
“You’re not going to throw suspicion on my people to deflect from yourself. Just because you weren’t responsible for all of the attacks, doesn’t mean you didn’t take part in some of it. That meet was a setup, River. Grant knew we were watching.”
“Because Grant is watching you! He’s watching Liam, Bane, Genny, and after you sent Kenzie to talk to Vito and he gave up his name, he knew you were watching him too.”
“Vito’s a part of this,” I said, lowering my knife.
“Why wouldn’t he be? Now, there’s a man who wants you dead. When he found out you weren’t...”
“He gave up to Grant everything he told Kenzie.”
“It’s all right that you couldn’t get there on your own.” River dusted off his coat, returning his blade to the inside pocket. “We can now move past all this unpleasant business and get to my payment. Where are the diamonds?”
“What’s the story behind them? Why’s everyone so interested in these diamonds?”
“They’re worth seven million dollars,” he said like I was an idiot.
“So it wouldn’t have anything to do with Kristoph Barrett’s reward.”
River stopped smiling.
“Ah, there it is.” Laughing, I threw myself in my armchair. “You miss a lot of things when you’re dead, but I’m back, baby, and I know the word on the street is the reward for their return is more than their worth. Apparently, Barrett signed an ironclad prenup. When he decided to leave his wife for his secretary, he wasn’t about to walk away with nothing, so he quietly swapped out the diamonds from his wife’s heirloom, the symphony of stars, with cheap fakes. The real diamonds were stashed at his girlfriend’s place, an apartment building owned by...” I snapped my fingers, beaming at River for the answer.
“Ira Hansen.
“Ding, ding, ding! What does he win, folks?” I cracked up. “Any way, he was so close to getting away with it when wifey tells him she’s pregnant. What can he do? He could ditch his wife in a heartbeat, but not his kid. He dumps his girlfriend and she’s so pissed, she flings the pouch out the window and Hansen helps himself.
“Barrett has to replace the diamonds or his future is divorce, custody battles, and seeing his kid every other weekend. It also has to be those diamonds because they’re certified and marked with serial numbers. Whoever gets them back is looking at a ten-million-dollar payday. Barrett can afford to be generous since he’s dipping into his wife’s millions. What’s ten million when she’s worth six hundred million as long as he’s married to her?”
River gave me a steady, flat look. “Kind of you to walk me through what I already know. If you’re done, I’ll take the diamonds now. We had a deal. For better or worse, you know who’s trying to kill you and where they are. I held up my end. Hand them over.”
“Hmm. No,” I drew out. “No, I don’t think I will.”
“It’s not wise to go back on a deal with me, Sole.”
“I’m not going back on anything. See, what I’m going to do is collect that reward, give you the seven million we agreed, and pocket the three mil for myself. Everybody wins, right?”
River’s face was chipped from stone.
“Huh. I’m giving you seven mill cash, and you don’t look pleased. You wouldn’t happen to be running a double play, would you? Got someone else who’s interested in the diamonds? Another party who’s offering a trade you don’t want me to know about?”
“Are you going to give me the diamonds or not?”
“I am... but not today. I think I’ll wait a month, maybe two, possibly six. Until Barrett’s wife figures out the truth and whoever you promised the diamonds can’t use them for leverage, blackmail, or whatever they’re planning. Call it payback for the Dario and Kabir jobs. Not to mention all the money you’ve cost me the last three years.”