Chapter 3
MELANIE
1WAS WRONG ABOUT THE FIFTEEN MINUTES.
It took a little over five minutes to pack whatever I needed into a single carry–on bag, two to remove any piece of damnable information around my house in case anyone came snooping around while I was gone, and another two to lock up and head to the airport
Instead of wasting perfectly good money tailing Enrico on the train from Switzerland, I decided to travel straight to Milan Malpensa to wait for him at the airport. From there, we would take the same plane from Milan to Puerto Rico.
I even had enough time to do some sightseeing The flight was uneventful except for the staring contest I’d had with some
kid sitting across from me.
Once we landed, I went to the nearest mall and did a little shopping. I got the exact make and model of the luggage Enrico would be carrying as provided in the dossier, some clothes (what’s the use of being given a credit card if you don’t use it?) and to annoy Cadell..I bought a giant teddy bear and mailed it to him.
Then I settled down to wait.
After two hours, a nondescript car pulled up..with a man matching Enrico’s description stepping out hauling luggage that looked exactly like mine.
Bingo. For his lack of finer qualities, Cadell was thorough.
I smiled. It was game time.
JORDAN
THERE ARE FEW THINGS A MAN WANTS AFTER A LONG DAY.
Food, a shot or two of tequila, a massage maybe.
My Mexican grand–aunt once removed or some other obscure relative giving him “business advice” in broken English was definitely not one of them.
While I myself am of Puerto Rican descent with the headquarters of my business here in Puerto Rico, my extended family who I’d only just recently discovered are a mix of Hispanics hailing from Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
It is as I told your uncle when he started out his business in..eh, what you call it? La ciudad nueva?”
“It is New York City, senora“, I injected some politeness into my tone even as my head began to pound. I stared longingly at the snifter of brandy I’d poured for myself and hadn’t even gotten the chance to drink before she’d smacked my hand and declared that alcohol was “muy malo“, very bad, for my health and I should come down sometime and try Uncle Jorge’s apple cider sometime, which is ridiculous considering I’d never met this woman before today and had no chance of knowing where “down” was or who the fuck was Uncle Jorge.
She continued to pratile on and I mentally decided to fire whoever had let her into my office. Blaine, who was sprawled on the sofa next to her tried and failed to hide his smile and I shot a murderous glare in his direction. And of course she thinks was aimed at her “Ay. Don’t look at me like that. I’m telling you, your uncle’s business would not have taken off if not for me she re–affirmed
Blaine cast me a sly look and angled his body in her direction “De verdad?” he drawled with an interested look on his face,
encouraging her to go on.
The bastard was taunting me.
She practically beamed at him and opened her mouth no doubt to launch into another monologue when I cleared my throat and stood up:
This had goor on long enoughs.
gone
I ushered her out of my office while telling her in rapid Spanish that it was nice to finally meet her, I asked her to extend my greetings to Uncle Jorge and the other uncle and whoever else.
I slammed the door after promising to keep in touch and barely resisted the urge to sag against it.
Chapterä
“That was kinda rude Blaine commented.
-I’ll send her a bouquet of roses and a bottle of Sangria, She’ll be fine.” I sighed, picking up my now lukewarm brandy and looking at it in distaste before throwing it back anyway.
I walked over to my desk and pushed the intercom button “Rosa?“
“Yes, Mr. Alonso?”
“Draft a letter of termination of appointment now!” I said.
“Yes sir. Addressed to whom?”
“To you I let go of the button and poured myself more brandy.
Blaine yawned, “That’s a shame. I liked Rosa. She’s hot.”
He grinned at me and I simply stared at him in return.
“Don’t you have a job to do? I don’t pay you to lounge around in my office and ogle my assistants”
He barely blinked at my icy tone. “On the contrary, you don’t pay me nearly enough for the work I do.
And I’m here because you asked for an update on Enrico’s movement.”
I straightened. The jewels. “And?”
“He’s en route to the airport as we speak. Who are we sending to pick him up and escort him?” Blaine asked.
My mind ran through a list of possible candidates and I shook my head, coming to a quick conclusion. The jewels were too important to continue to leave in the hands of other people.
“Til go myself.”
I grabbed my suit jacket and keys then tossed them to Blaine who caught them without a second thought while trailing behind me like a lost puppy.
“Ooh the big boss himself. Poor Enrico is going to piss his pants“, he chuckled as we passed by Rosa who was busy packing her things dutifully.
Perhaps my next assistant would know how to keep away unwanted guests. We took my private elevator down to the garage level and strode towards my Aston Martin.
Blaine called shotgun and I cast him an annoyed glare at his sheer stupidity.
“You can’t ride shotgun because you’re driving”
He frowned “No, I’m not
“De verdad?” I smirked, repeating his words from earlier. “Who’s got the keys then?”
His eyes widened and he glanced down at the keys in his hand and muttered a string of unintelligible curses as he jerked open the driver’s side door. We both slid into the car and Blaine drove off.
The closer we got to the airport all traces of playfulness vanished from my being, leaving the cold hard shell I was more than used to. My mind was preoccupied with the jewels.
“50x sets of blue diamonds, three sets of Tanzanite and a single, blood–red ruby”
I’d memorized the details ever since I got wind of the jewels lying in a vault in some Swiss bank. The news about them had knocked me off kilter for a single reason…
They were all that was left of my mother.
Blaine announced that we had arrived, bringing me out of my reverie.
We alighted and walked into arrivals to look for Enrico. Blaine started to say something about how we should hold up at cardboard with Enrico’s name on it but I stopped listening as the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and my skin pra kled in awareness
I knew that feeling well. It was one I always got when there was a threat nearby.
I paused and turned to survey the airport for any potential threats and my eyes latched onto a woman with platinum blond
lair cut in
As if feeling my gaze on her, she looked up from the luggage she was struggling a bit with. Our eyes locked and heat
Chapter 3
exploded in my chest.
Stummed by the sudden reaction I dropped my gaze and when I looked up again, she was gone. Something about her seemed familiar but I couldn’t place my finger on it.
Dimly, I heard Blaine greet Enrico, whose pants remained dry contrary to Blaine’s speculation, with enthusiasm. He greeted me shakily and I responded briefly as we steered him towards the car.
The moment we got in Enrico laid his luggage on the backseat and it registered somewhere at the back of my mind that it matched the one the lady in the airport.
With a proud smile. Enrico undid the zipper and opened the bag, felt around for the zipper at the false bottom and opened that too, watching my face carefully. I looked into the bag and stopped short.
“Uh oh” Blaine said under his breath.
“What is the meaning of this?” I bit out slowly.
Enrico stopped smiling, looked into the box and paled quickly.
The jewels were gone.
Forget what I said about Enrico’s pants. They were about to change status if Enrico didn’t start talking now….
He did in a rush, words pouring out of him so quickly they were barely coherent.
“I swear, sir, I swear they were in there when I left the train and boarded the plane. No one touched it during the flight sir, and I almost lost it at the baggage claim when I confused it with this other lady’s own because hers was so similar but she corrected me and she was so kind…”
“Silence.” My brain was working. “This woman… Did she happen to be blonde?” I asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Son of a bitch,” I swore in anger.
That bitch stole my jewels….
