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“Stealing makes you a criminal, doesn’t it?”
“I didn’t steal those goddamn earrings.” He pulls his icepack down and his eye is swollen and puffy. “I won them.”
“You won them?”
“The guys in the alley have a high-stakes poker game once a month. I cleaned one of them out, after they brought me in thinking I’d be easy pickings. He lost all his dough, so he bet the earrings and I won them, too.” Matt frowns. “I gave them to Celina because I was trying to win her back, but she figured out I didn’t buy them.”
Ah, sothatwas the unethical activity. Matt had himself a gambling problem.
“And then the guy and his goons started turning up at the pub and hanging around at the restaurant where I was working until they got me fired.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen this play before—the poker game might’ve been a set-up. Get some sucker in, let him win and then extort him afterward. But that would only work if the diamonds were fake, and my gut told me that wasn’t the case. Maybe one of the Romano crew stepped out of line. Got greedy, lost to Matt, and now the higher-ups were demanding their cut.
“Why don’t you give the earrings back?” I ask.
“Serge doesn’t want them back. He wants help.”
“What kind of help?”
Matt shook his head. “I can’t say.”
Should I let him know that I have suspicions about who’s working him over? That I know these people won’t stop until they get what they want...and then some?
“You’re in deep shit, Matt.” I say it so seriously he turns to me, his face going white. “I know those guys, okay? They’re not going to leave you alone.”
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“They’re part of a crime gang. Ever heard of the Romano family?” I watch as Matt sways. “You had no idea, did you? They’re into a lot of things. Drugs, jewels, cars. Diversification, that’s how they keep funds coming in. When one operation goes down, they’ve got the others to keep the cash flowing.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I know people.” I lean forward, doing my best to intimidate the poor guy. I feel bad for him, since he obviously has no idea what he’s gotten himself into, but I can’t let it show.
“What do you want?”
“The diamonds.” I place a heavy hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Go to Celina, get the earrings back and give them to me. Or you’re going to have more problems. But, if you help me, then all this will go away.”
“You only want the earrings?” he asks, his voice shaky.
“Just the earrings. If you help me, I’ll help you.”
“Here.” Matt rushes over to a unit on the side of the room and yanks a drawer open. He plucks out a blue velvet box and thrusts it at me. “Take them. I wish I’d never seen these damn things.”
I take the box and flip the lid open. Inside are two perfectly cut square diamonds suspended from a ring of smaller shimmering blue stones. Now I know exactly how we’re going to lure the Romanos out of hiding.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Hannah
IDON’TKNOWhow long I slept, exactly. But what I do know is that it was the deepest, most peaceful sleep of my entire life. I barely remember Owen leaving the bed. He sent me into a bliss coma and I’ve awoken more rested and more satisfied than ever before.
It’s a problem. Because I’m not someone who has sex purely for pleasure’s sake. I don’t judge anyone who does, and I’ve wished in the past that Icouldbe more like that. But the fact is, I’m not. Ineeda connection. And for all the teasing and taunting and the playful antagonism I’ve shared with Owen over the years, Idolike him. A lot. More than I should.
Because falling for Owen is a fool’s game.
He’s a ghost. A guy who flits in and out of people’s lives because he can’t bear to get close. I understand why, now. But it doesn’t change how he behaves. Only justifies it.
I head to the shower—filling the room with steam and the scent of lemon soap. I glide it over my body, over all the places he touched and with each new spot, I remember how it felt with him.
