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And then something clicked.
Oh, holy shit.Something was happening.
Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.
I kept singing, and the latch slid a little more. I hummed and hummed, and hummed, trying to remember the words of the lullaby. And then finally, the latch fully gave way, exposing what looked like a keyhole. I was so surprised I almost dropped it. I put the box on the counter gently and tugged at the key around my neck, pulling it off.
I licked my bottom lip before wiping my hands on my jeans. Jesus. This was how everything fit. With trembling fingers, I slid the key in and waited. With a slight wiggle, it clicked then turned. The box opened and I gasped, shocked by what greeted me inside.
Brilliance. Pure brilliance. Diamonds, glittering back at me. I'd opened my mother's puzzle. I had finally opened it.
Holy fuck me. There were at least two handfuls of diamonds in there. Large handfuls. This was what my father had been looking for. This was what he'd been willing to kill for. Was this what a hundred and fifty million dollars looked like? Give or take a few million that mum had given to Connor Lohman. Holy Jesus.
"Woman, I warned you what would happen if you took too long. Now I'm going to have to show you. I've never used olive oil as lube, but I am willing to give it a—" He abruptly stopped talking and his face morphed into a look of concern. "What's wrong, baby? Sprite, talk to me."
I didn't know what to say. I couldn't breathe. "I… Oh God, I opened it."
Saint rushed to my side and stared at the box. Then he staredback at me, back at the box, and back at me. "Holy fucking shit. How the hell did you do that?"
Kaya
"You don't have to do this,” Jasper said. “No one is expecting this of you."
"Relax, I want to do this. I didn't even realize there was a part of me missing until I came here. There’s a history of my mum here. And even though I've always been anti-chaos, I think that was partly me running away from who I was meant to be. I don't know… I feel a little bit like I'm stepping into a legacy at Rogues, stepping into who I'm supposed to be and not hiding it the least."
Saint took my hand, threading my fingers between his. "I know, but being a Rogues agent also means dealing with Gabe. And you already know he's going to put you in danger. I don't like it."
"Well, I'm not an agent yet, right? I'm just going in to have a conversation."
He pursed his lips. "Fine." As we walked from his bungalow on the Abott Manor property, I still marveled at my surroundings. The manor house was like stepping into Downton Abbey. It was lush and green with gardens and land as far as you could see. It was surrounded by woods, from what I understood, also owned by Abbott Manor. There was enough distance that nobody should come looking or asking questions about what was going on here.
When I'd been there before, I'd had a little time to explore the property. I knew that there were tennis courts, a swimming pool, basketball court, cricket field, and an indoor squashcourt somewhere. Subterranean levels were the training rooms. Sparring. Weapons training. Unless it was long range targets, then they came out to the fields and the woods. Gabe had made it very clear, Saffron too, to not wander into the woods because there were constant training ops there. But I was curious to see more. To see where my mother had spent so much time.
Jasper said, "I know he saved your life, and I'll forever be grateful to him for that. But he was also the one who put you in that position, so he's not my favorite person at the moment."
"I know. But remember, I made the choice. He gave me the say and I decided to walk in. Am I not your favorite person too?"
"Now that you mentioned it, you're not. But this isn't about favorites. You aremyperson. That's all that matters."
I grinned up at him. "I love you too."
He leaned down to kiss me, and his lips were soft. “I don’t like this. But I support you, okay?”
“That’s all I can ask for. And thank you."
He started us walking again. "How about the diamonds? You're not going to give them all to Rogues are you?"
"I honestly don't need any of them. I kept a couple to make some diamond earrings for Gemma for her birthday. And I gave ten to Lydia and Michael. They were good to me. Took care of me when they didn't have to."
"Well, they were your parents."
"Yeah, I know. But when you go into care, it's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. And they were lovely. The house was a little loud, constantly filled with chaos, but it was also filled with love. They cared about each and every one of us kids that came through there. It wasn't always easy, but we were warm, and safe, and fed. I just want to show a little appreciation."
"You're a good person, you know that?"
"I'd like to think that maybe Mum would have wanted me to thank them. Maybe this is her way of thanking them for me too."
"I'm sure she would have loved it."
