Garrett froze, then lifted both hands until they were at shoulder height.
My own hands had frozen inside the case. “What’s going on?”
“I said hands, Grace.” He’d protested before Kessler’s guards had taken me to the wine cellar. He’d said I wasn’t a threat and that Kessler’s money would turn the police around before anyone got to the collection room. He’dseemedlike a man who was in over his head. So what was he now?
Garrett inched closer to me.
“No heroics, please.” Caulfield’s gun wavered, but he focused solely on Garrett.
I let go of the egg and turned to face him fully, putting my hands out. “Brandon, we both know the egg belongs to the Dubois family. You need to?—”
“Grace, I’m glad you’re safe. Truly.” He took a deep breath, as though that alone could fix everything. “I had nothing to do with what Conrad did. I swear to you, he told me he was only coming for the egg. I was as much a victim of his erratic behavior as you were.”
Victim? Did he seriously think I’d believe that?
“My team is covering the entire house,” growled Garrett. “You won’t get out.”
“I will, but I just need the egg.” His eyes flicked between us. The gun shifted as his gaze moved, so it was pointing at me again. “I’m so sorry it’s come to this. I was simply supposed to authenticate it. I tried to tell Werner that sending Conrad after you was madness, but Conrad insisted for some inane reason. Since you’re both here and he isn’t, I presume he either ran or he lost.”
“Brandon,” I said, trying my best irate-customer voice. “Please put down the gun and we can?—”
“Now everything is ruined, and I just need the egg, Grace. Please put it back together and hand it over.”
Garrett’s weight shifted in my direction.
The gun snapped back to Garrett. “Garrett, please do not test me. I’ve not used one of these in a long time, but you’re a rather large target and even with the vest you’re wearing, you’d be very hard to miss.”
“Stop pointing the gun at Grace.” He was pulling Brandon’s attention from me. He was trying to get between me and the gun, the same way he kept putting himself between me and any danger.
I couldn’t let him sacrifice himself for my belief about the egg and Didi’s promises. It was only a thing. He was… He washim.I couldn’t let the egg come beforehim.
“I’ll do it.” I forced myself to turn my back to Dr. Caulfield and lowered the yolk into the blue enamel shell. How could I fix this? How could I get away with everyone safe, but without losing the egg?Irate-customer mode, Grace. Tell him he’s right, but be logical.“Brandon, putting the egg in your pocket doesn’t make it yours.”
“It does today.” His voice quavered. “I remain open to a partnership, though. I have considerable resources. I can place this with a private buyer who’ll pay more than Werner’s forty million. We can split it, you and I. You just have to give it to me and tell the police I was an innocent bystander.”
Partner? Innocent? Did he really believe I would throw everything away for money? Of course he did, becausehe’dthrown his integrity away for money.
“You’ve been brokering for Werner Kessler for years,” I said, closing the blue enamel shell over the yolk. Cradling the egg inmy hands, I turned to face him. “When he lands in prison, you’ll lose your?—”
Caulfield’s gun swung toward me again as his nostrils flared. He was angrier than I would have expected. Angrier? Was that right? Or was he panicking?
Why? He had the gun, and believed he’d be able to get out of the house unscathed. He already had Kessler’s money for everything but the egg. He had assets he could sell if he was in financial need. “Slide the egg across the floor.”
“He’s not the only one, is he?” I asked.
Of course. He was probably front-running for dozens of collectors. If word got out about what happened here, he was done for. He’d be too high-profile for clandestine agreements.
“Slide it,” he repeated.
Beside me, Garrett remained steady. But it was his moving fingers that caught my attention. Like he was counting? Counting down?
My gaze went past him, to the open doors at the end of the room. The ones we’d come through. In the hallway beyond, Radek stood with a lifted weapon, pointed directly at?—
Oh god.
The world exploded in violence, everything happening at once.
Garrett was suddenly lunging directly at me. He wrapped his arms around me, driving me sideways, his body folding over mine like a shield. A gunshot split the air—deafening, enormous—and a fraction of a second later, another shot followed.
