Page 71 of Juan

Juan wasn’t the only one to grasp the potential of what she said, and the room filled with unintelligible, and not-suitable-for-work, words.

“Check the nickels again, Grace,” Chad said.

They watched the camera get closer to the frame hanging back on the wall as Grace approached it. Her hands came up as she removed it. Setting it on the table, she pried the prongs up to loosen the backing as she called a colleague over. A second set of hands appeared on the screen, and together, Grace and her colleague took the frame, matting, and backing apart.

Three nickels sat embedded in the thick white paperboard. A soft snick came over the line as Grace popped one out. With the camera trained on the coin, she turned it slowly in her hands.

“Check the rim closely,” Daphne said.

Grace slowed her perusal, setting the tip of her finger on the rim, rotating it underneath the thousands of sensitive nerve endings.

They all jumped when Grace jerked, then froze. “Get me a knife,” she barked. Less than five seconds later, a knife appeared in view. Inserting the pointed tip into something only she could see, she slowly twisted it back and forth. A collective gasp went up when a thin crack appeared running through the middle of the rim.

A round of muttered curses could be heard through the microphone. A crowd had gathered.

Slowly, Grace twisted and gently jimmied the crack wider and wider. “Take the knife,” she said suddenly. The silence in the room hung so thick, a pin drop would shatter it.

Using the nails of her two thumbs, Grace pried the nickel the rest of the way open.

And there, nestled inside, lay a tiny dose of what they all knew was scopolamine.

Epilogue

Stone popped the cork of a bottle of champagne, grinning like a fool. A fool in love, of course. Juan didn’t fault him; marrying the love of your life would do that to a man. Not that he and Amber had gotten hitched yet, but it was definitely in the cards.

Standing beside her new husband, Juliana’s smile lit up the gardens of the house they shared. The house they’d share for many years to come if the fates were kind. On her other side stood Chiara, her maid of honor. On Stone’s other side stood Mantis, still reeling from the surprise of being told he was to be Stone’s best man at the impromptu wedding.

Amber leaned over, slipping her arm around his. “Told you,” she said with a smile.

Maybe not quite an impromptu wedding. After all, Juliana and Amber, along with the caterer Simone, had been planning this party for a few weeks.

“You did,” he smiled, dipping his head and brushing his lips against hers. While everyone had known about the party, Amber had been the only one to suspect it would morph into more. She’d mentioned it to him ten days ago, then, out of respect for what Stone and Juliana obviously wanted—a surprise—forbade him from talking about it with his brothers. It hadn’t been hard to hold his tongue, mostly because he didn’t think either Stone or Juliana capable of keeping such a thing secret. And if they weren’t talking about it, then it wasn’t happening.

But sometimes, surprises were good.

Stone wrapped his arms around his wife, holding her close as he raised his glass. “To family,” he said, taking a sip, then placing a lingering, tender kiss on Juliana’s lips.

“To family,” they all repeated, raising the glasses the caterers had passed around moments earlier.

Juan’s eyes sought Zoe. Sitting safely in a large pen they’d set up for all the puppies. The four furballs wrestled and tumbled across the grass, yet managed to never bump into Zoe. Or not bump into her hard enough to cause injury. Sherman kept a wary eye on all the shenanigans but seemed happy to stay by Stone and Juliana’s side.

“To family,” Juan said, turning and wrapping his arm around Amber. Happiness shone from her eyes—for Stone and Juliana, but also for herself, for them.

“To family,” she said, taking a sip of her champagne, then lifting her lips for a kiss.

“Should we tell them?” he asked after pulling away.

Her gaze traveled around the small crowd. All the Falcons and their partners, Kendall, Dottie, Chiara, Chiara’s parents, Leo, Joey, Clara, and Adrian. “I think we should wait,” she said. “Today is about Stone and Juliana.”

He nodded, the motion cut off when Stone called his name.

“Yeah,” he answered, raising his voice to be heard across the garden.

“I hear you two have some news, too?” Stone said.

His eyes shot to Amber’s. She frowned and shook her head. “I didn’t say anything. Did you?”

He shook his head. “What do you say now? Tell them?”