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“It was on my finger!” The hissed exclamation reached them through the window.
Amelia froze. Leo didn’t let her go, but he turned his head toward the noise.
Fred’s voice, tight with tension, came next. “Baby, are you sure you didn’t take it off? Maybe in the bathroom?”
“I was next to you the whole time, Fred,” came the whispered reply. “I didn’t leave your side. I had it when we greeted Leo’s fiancée, remember?”
Fred hummed. A dog yipped.
“No, Butter. We aren’t going out in search for the perfect place to pee. You have to make do with this corner.” Nadia sounded stressed, even when she tried to gentle her voice for her dog.
Amelia frowned, wondering why they could hear the couple so clearly. She angled her upper body closer to the window and saw Fred and Nadia leaning against the building, notched in a corner formed by the guest wing wall and the rest of the building. The dog was marking his territory against the stone wall.
It must have been an acoustic quirk that allowed Amelia and Leo to eavesdrop.
“The ring didn’t slip off?” Fred sounded tense.
“We searched that room top to bottom, Fred. Someone took it,” Nadia answered. “They took it right off my finger.”
Meeting Leo’s gaze with her own wide-eyed stare, Amelia put a hand against her mouth.
“I don’t…” Fred cut himself off with a grunt. “I believe you, baby, but I just don’t see how…”
“There’s no other explanation. You know it was loose, and I didn’t want to have it resized until my fingers healed. We scoured the room. If it had fallen off, we would’ve found it. I was in that room the whole time. My ring wasstolen, Fred.”
After a short pause, Amelia heard Fred huff. “We’ll see how everyone acts at dinner. I’ll have the staff keep an eye on the guests, and I’ll make sure all movements in and out of the property are tracked. If someone came to my house to steal from me, I will find out.” Rage filled his voice. “And ifanyof my employees are lying to me—for any reason—they’ll live to regret it.”
The sound of a quick kiss reached the third floor, and then the couple was gone. Amelia poked her head out the window to make sure, then quickly closed it and whirled to face Leo.
He was grim, and he only said one word: “Shit.”
Amelia followedLeo out of the guest wing and down the grand staircase near the house’s front door. They were directed past the Blue Room hallway and into an elegant dining room. A long table stretched in the middle of the room, surrounded by ornate chairs. About half the guests were already seated. Amelia took a seat next to Cora, and Leo settled on her other side.
“Good evening,” Cora said with a kind smile.
“Hi.” Amelia’s own lips curled in response. She couldn’t help it; she liked Cora. The woman radiated grandmotherly energy, and after everything that had happened earlier, it was nice to be seated between two people who didn’t put her on edge.
“Beautiful place settings, don’t you think?” Cora said, admiring her fork. The silverware was real silver, polished to a high shine. Cora tilted the fork this way and that to let the light bounce off of it.
“The whole house is incredible,” Amelia replied. She shifted her gaze to Fred, who was seated at the head of the table. “You have a beautiful home,” she told him.
He nodded in acknowledgment of her compliment, but Amelia could tell the jovial persona was gone. In its place was a cold, perceptive man who surveyed his employees and guests with eyes that missed nothing. His all-too-perceptive gaze shifted to one of the waiters milling around, who approached to fill Leo and Amelia’s glasses with ruby-red wine.
When the waiter stepped back, Fred leaned against the back of his chair. “Leo never told me how the two of you met.”
His question was a blatant lie, and Amelia knew it. Leo told her everything he’d said to his boss, and it included their imaginary first meeting. Nerves seized Amelia from head to toe, but she fought to keep her body relaxed. Turning to Leo, she forced her lips into a calm smile. “It was in an airplane,” she said, remembering the story Leo had shared with her on Tuesday night. “I was on the last leg of a tour, and he was on the way home from an event. We argued over the overhead compartment.”
“Amelia had taken more than her fair share of space,” Leo added.
“That isnot true, and you know it,” Amelia exclaimed, affronted on behalf of Fake Amelia in The Airplane That Didn’t Exist.
Leo just laughed.
Fred made a noncommittal noise, and Amelia took the opportunity to down a big gulp of wine. She glanced at Leo, whose eyes had grown serious, though his body was relaxed.
“We’re here!” A gigantic man spread his arms as he entered the room. “The party can start!”
“Mark,” Vanessa chided. “Not that kind of party.”
