It’s a weird feeling, suddenly being responsible for this lovely girl.
I walk her back to my room, not knowing what else to do or even if the house is safe anymore.
Sweeping the curtain aside, I glance out the window just in time to see two slim figures in the early morning fog pounding over the lawn.
Two mystery men disappear into the heavy mist drifting up from the shore with Holden on their heels. Is that a gun swinging in his hand?
Holy crap!
Jasper Fairfax’s warning storms back into my mind.
Before, I didn’t take it that seriously, and I realize I haven’t given Holden the respect he deserves. This is real, the dark side of digging up lost treasure.
My heart drops into my ankles as the full backbreaking weight of my inheritance comes home.
14
DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH (HOLDEN)
Iwas in bed when the alert hit my phone, just drifting off a couple hours after getting Kit settled and brooding too much.
Mistake number one.
The camera to the basement door pinged first. The closest one to the vault.
Of fucking course.
Somehow, the bastards got past the perimeter, all the other cameras near the gate, plus the extra motion sensors I installed after Leonidas was gone and I knew this house would be vacant for a while.
It’s not an imminent disaster. They can’t possibly knowwherewe’ve stored it, let alone how to break through bank-grade security.
It takes approximately one second to clear my head and scrub the grit from my eyes.
Another half a second to process what’s happening.
One more to remember Cleo and my daughter are in the house, where we’ve now got at least one intruder.
I’m up like a bolt, grabbing my gun, running.
Charging out the service door, down the stairs for the fire escape, just a short walk to the basement and the vault.
I know I’ve been slacking lately with my knees and all.
That’s why it takes me more than sixty seconds to reach the bandit I fling through the door. He must’ve been searching on the other side, checking the little service door for entry to the rest of the house when I burst through it.
I’m on him before he regains his balance. Before he knows what the fuck just hit him.
Big guy, mean shoulders, probably in his thirties, athletic build. Ski mask.
He goes down with a muffled grunt.
My chokehold has him wheezing faster than I can breathe.
It’s the sort of weakness you only learn from years of experience taking down big guys like him. Only, this guy is strong as a buffalo and far more skilled.
Before he blacks out, he hooks his foot around my leg and twists.
Fuck!
