Page 119 of To Catch a Sub

“Damien’s the broker?” Rolf asked.

“No. I didn’t know Damien existed until I met him. There were rumored ties between the broker and the Bratva, but I didn’t realize that the broker was actually a member of the organization. I thought the broker—Domantus Kazlauskas—was paying the Bratva for protection. His name was part of the information I turned over to Interpol.”

“If you were focused on the broker, how did you meet Damien?” Rolf asked.

“In order to find the information I was interested in, I manipulated things to ensure I was the best possible appraiser available when Kazlauskas needed an expert. He hired me to assess a jewelry collection and assist with insurance paperwork.”

“Who did they hire?” Landon asked. “Colette?”

She hesitated, but there was really no point hiding this information since Damien had apparently announced at least one of her aliases to every bounty hunter in Europe. “Sometimes I do business under the name Colline Chonic.”

“Irish?” Landon asked.

“Yes.”

“And let me guess, it could be roughly translated to victory hill?”

Her lips twitched. “Possibly.”

“The fact that all your aliases mean the same thing should have made it easier to find you,” Landon groused.

“The fact that you know any of my aliases means I should change my ways.”

“And stop stealing art and jewels? Good idea.”

Colette tsked and shrugged. “They say happiness is found when you do something you’re good at.”

Landon looked at the ceiling with a sigh, and she smiled. Heh.

“Is that where you got the diamond?” Rolf asked, doggedly staying on subject. “From the jewelry collection?”

Colette’s amusement faded. “No. I told you I didn’t steal anything, and Damien didn’t have the Saudi Diamond. That is, as I said, entirely separate.”

“What happened once they hired you?”

“I knew the broker would want me to come to him, and given the size of the collection, it was going to take days to go through it. I, reluctantly—” She smiled and winked, and Landon shook his head, though he was smiling too. “—agreed to stay at what I thought was Domantus’s estate in Novgorod while I worked on the collection.”

Colette couldn’t hold her smile any longer. “I didn’t meet Damien until I was almost done.”

Colette didn’t want to explain what came next. Shame and remembered fear ate at her. The club around them seemed vast and echoing when all she wanted was to be tucked up safe.

This time she poured the water into the glass before taking a sip.

“Damien came into the room where I was working one day. I was assessing a three strand necklace. It was an odd piece—black pearl and emerald, but the emeralds were bead cut. Faceted, but shaped like round beads, with a hole bored in the middle. High quality stones too, that should have been cut for a ring or earrings. The shortest strand was eighty centimeters, the longest eighty-two. It didn’t lay right.”

She touched her neck, tracing a U shape down to her breasts. “The graduation in length between each strand was off, causing them to bunch up. The proportions would have made sense were it a choker, but this was necklace length, and a long necklace at that. Also the safety clasp was larger than normal.”

She was stalling, focusing on details that didn’t matter.

“I knew someone had come into the room and was watching me. I wasn’t doing anything I shouldn’t. Or anything interesting. Just making notes and examining the necklace with a jeweler’s loupe. I thought maybe it had been broken and repaired incorrectly.

“Damien came up behind me and asked if I knew what it was. I said it was a very unique necklace. He told me it wasn’t a necklace at all. It was meant for a woman’s waist, and that he used it to assess if a woman was right for him. If it fit her, it was a sign she was meant to belong to him.”

“Belong?” Rolf asked softly.

She nodded. “That’s what he said. He took it and put it on me. I tried to step back, but he already had it around me, and I was scared of pulling and breaking it. He said he’d been watching me work, heard me discussing the merits of the pieces with Kazlauskas. According to him I was smart and beautiful.”

“You are,” Landon said softly.