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“I don’t know. All I know is that she believes she is on some kind of holy mission…”
“She’s not,” growled Fletch, getting a rein on his temper. Scaring the shit out of Mia was going to do nothing to improve the situation. “Tell me what I need to know to find her and keep her safe. I’ve made a deal with all parties involved. The Petacci’s will withdraw their insurance claim and cease trying to find Claire in exchange for the return of the Grenadine Necklace. Lloyd’s will cease and desist any and all attempts to bring the thief to justice, in return for the jewels still in your stash. Between the two, the bounty on her head will fall apart, and no one will have added impetus to find her, but I have to know where she is.”
“It isn’t that I won’t tell you. I don’t know. I know where the stash is, and I know that she left you a note upstairs. I can also grant you access to a secure chatroom on the dark web. It’s a dead drop. You can leave her a note, but that’s about it.”
Fletch pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m getting a terrible headache. Text me the IP address of the chatroom. Take the boys to the stash and bring it back here. I’ll go upstairs and see what the brat has to say.”
He opened the door of the bedroom. He could feel her loss in this room as keenly as he’d felt it when he entered the house. He’d known Claire was gone before he saw the faces of his people or before anyone had spoken a single word.
Fletch looked at the bed. The note, in her bold handwriting, couldn’t have been more obvious had it been a coiled snake. He snatched it up and flipped it open.
Fletch,
For what it’s worth—and I know that may not be much at this point—I love you. But the day I buried my grandfather, I made him a vow that I would carry on his work and restore as much of the jewels and treasure that the Nazis and their collaborators—both formal and hidden—had stolen to their rightful owners.
Mia will take you to our cache of things we’ve already liberated. She will also show you the evidence we have that should see these things returned not to those who filed an insurance claim, but to those for whom they are priceless.
Please know that nothing and no one could have taken me away from you save the one man who loved me first. I owe him. I owe him a debt I can never repay. I’m choosing to break my heart in sacrifice to that debt and hope someday you will find a way to forgive me and move on.
I love you.
Claire
Damn it, Claire. Why couldn’t you believe in us and trust me to take care of this?
His phone buzzed. He knew it wasn’t her. He pulled it from his pocket and looked at the IP address, pressing the link to take him to the chatroom where they had kept in contact with their various couriers and those to whom they had returned a part of their families’ histories.
He thought about making it an encrypted message for her alone but decided to let those whom she believed she served see what she had done. He started to write a long note, pointing out all the ways he could make this right and begging her to come back to him. Then he thought about her defense of him earlier in the day. He decided to follow her lead: succinct and to the point.
Claire, I love you. I will find you and bring you home. Fletch and his big dick
* * *
