Page 27 of Diamond Don

“What kind of understanding?” She sounds nervous, and a little guarded.

“Not that kind of understanding, Kat. Unless you ask me very, very nicely, of course.”

Kat scoffs.

“I wouldn’t hold my breath, Nikolai. Or whatever your real name is.”

“My name is Nikolai. I had no reason to lie to you about it. I’m Nikolai Stefanovich, as I’m sure you already know.”

Kat gasps loudly, staring at me wide-eyed. She even retreats from me slightly.

“I see that my reputation precedes me.”

“Nikolai, you have to believe me. I had no idea. If I had known who you were, I would have never, ever?—”

“Stolen my most valuable possession and assisted with my best friend’s murder?”

“Wait, what? What the hell are you talking about? I may have taken the diamond, but I did not kill anyone. Ever. I don’t even know what you are talking about.”

I carefully study her reaction to my statement. She looks flushed and shocked as she refutes my accusation.

“On the night you took the diamond—the same night we first met—my oldest friend, Maxim, was murdered. You wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with that, would you, Kat? It is one hell of a coincidence that you pulled your stunt on the same night he was assassinated.”

“I would never—you must believe me. If you have looked me up, then you know I had nothing to do with it. I’m strictly white-collar. Everyone who knows me—or knows of me—will tell you that.”

I gathered as much during the past week. She is incredibly notorious as a skilled con woman and thief, but her hands are clean of blood as far as anyone knows. It isn’t much of a guarantee of anything, but it’s at least more than my desire to believe her.

“Say I am willing to believe you weren’t involved in my friend’s murder,” I say. “You still have stolen something invaluable from me. Surely you understand I can’t just let that go.”

“Nikolai, trust me—if I could take it back, I would. I’d have never taken your diamond if I had known it belonged to you. As a rule of thumb, I try my best to avoid incurring the wrath of the bratva if it can be avoided.”

“And yet, you did, Kat. Which brings us back to why we are here. For starters, I must insist you give me back the diamond.”

“I would if I could. I mean it. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that’s impossible. It’s out of my hands.”

“Well, get it back, then. That’s my first requirement for our little understanding, Kat.”

“Like I said, I just can’t. It’s not going to happen. You’re going to have to pick something else.” She shrugs.

“Pick something else? There’s nothing else! For someone who claims not to want to incur my wrath, you’re doing a hell of a good job pissing me off. Do I need to remind you I decide what happens to you?”

“No need. The fact that I’m currently tied down to a bed really drives your point home. Trust me. But it doesn’t change anything. I can’t give you what I don’t have, and I don’t have your diamond. It’s truly gone, and I can’t get it back.”

“Why the hell not?”

“I can’t contact the person who tasked me with acquiring it. I don’t even know if they still have it. For all I know, they might have fenced it by now. Even if I could get a hold of them and they still had it, I couldn’t convince them to give it back.”

Kat’s tone is very matter-of-fact, as if I should just make my peace with the fact that my rare red diamond—worth over a quarter billion dollars—is gone forever. Simply because she says so. If anyone else told me such nonsense, I would kill them just out of spite.

“Don’t play games with me, Katherine.”

“I’m not. I’m just being honest with you. There’s no way to get it back.”

“Why don’t you reach out to this mysterious person to set up a meeting and let me handle the rest?”

“You are not listening. There is no ‘handling’ anything. It’s gone. I can’t contact them, and you must accept that.”

In a spurt of uncontrolled anger, I grab her by the neck with my left hand.

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