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Maximo nods at the pile with the Heart of Dark Desires, and my fingers itch to take it. Jac spies it too because he sits up very straight.
“Why did she even think these would buy her a fucking seat,” he asks.
“I think the legend of these got corrupted. It isn’t meant to be about power. But love.” Cat explains, her gazing darting to me. “Fiona—”
“My Fiona?”
Her eyes narrow. “Not your anything,” she snaps. “And yes, that Fiona. She…she had the earrings. All the pieces have names and the legend is that there were two lovers, separated in the end. Georgina, Fiona’s great, great aunt, and a man named Hubert.
“It started with a locket. The one I have. I don’t know where my grandmother got it from or why—she either had it given to her or she stole it. It’s not expensive, but the etching on the front is a G and H overlapping and…” She rubs her hands down the thighs of her dress. “The pieces were sold or given away over time, to hide them from Georgina’s husband, and what started as love went into obsession but was always love.”
“How the fuck did they think it meant power,” Maximo asks.
“The one who has the lock has the power. Switch lock for jewels and…” She shrugs. “You get a half story to twist. Desperate people do desperate things.”
“Or my fucking father knew the legend and twisted it to keep her on a string.” Jac’s sitting back again, the picture of laconic hedonism. “Still doesn’t prove who owns the Heart of Dark Desires.”
I’m about to say something when Cat gives me a hard look.
“The locket—the lock to the heart and soul—I’m thinking was the very first piece made, and then the bracelet, since it’s called First Blush Love, then the mayor’s necklace—Lover’s Delight—which we should return.”
Declan fishes it out. “It’s way more beautiful than I remember it being.”
She blushes. “That’s a fake that Harry made. She’d got a better touch than some of these old jewelers.” She pauses. “But after the necklace…the rest could be any order. The Heart of Desires, I think we know that.”
Jac snorts.
She ignores him and continues. “Your tiara, Hendrick, is known as the Queen of Hearts. Jac’s choker is Love’s Slave, almost a companion to the ring, Dark Obsession. And the earrings are Soul’s Fire. I haven’t looked, but considering Jac’s cufflinks match the choker and the ring, they may be part of that set too.”
“Return or sell?” Ivan asks.
We all look at each other. “There’s really only the ring and the Lover’s Delight to be returned.”
“Do that,” Maximo says. Then he looks at the table. “That’s one priceless love affair.”
“Have someone see Magdalena home,” Ivan says, standing. “We have things to do.”
Our revenge is bloody and heartless. Vicious. I kill people in their bed. I take them down, have them held down while I torture information from them, just in case others are hiding from us, or there are things in the work we should know.
It’s not fucking lost on me how much more powerful the Quinate are going to become after this. We’re absorbing territories and information. Taking deals and business. Taking the wealth.
We’ve split up the city and all of us work out the new areas, leaving blood and bodies. It’s a warning, and we know how to execute this.
Then Jac and I meet up.
Time to take on the first real Gimboni and Kincaid kill. And it’s going to be glorious.
Most of the Kincaids go down first. And then, in the early hours of the morning, we walk into a meeting with the grandson and some fucking Kincaid assholes. I let Jac have his fun. He likes to play with his prey, and I let him go to town, Jac-style.
After, we kill everyone. Except the fucking Gimboni prick. I pin the sad little Gimboni to the floor with my foot, as Jac takes some photos.
Then Jac crouches, gun in one ringed finger. “Quick or slow, motherfucker?”
“Please—” the worm begs.
Jac stops him with a smash to the face with the butt of his gun. “Not the right word.”
I roll my eyes. “Let’s get this going. Do you want to kill him here or in front of the bitch and the dick?”
