Page 91 of Merciless Heir

“Thing is,” he says, finally, “if it’s not missing as in stolen, then Jenson—” he straightens “—or my mother, knows where it is. Otherwise, why the actual fuck are we waiting for word on some sale?”

“I said ‘think’. It’s the operative word.”

“We go ask them.”

“Cool, no really. You’ve got it all worked out.”

“Hey.” A small smile appears, even though his eyes remain dark and cold. “I’m the one with everything on the line. The one who should be getting frustrated, not you.”

At least he’s not flinging accusations at me like bullets. The type saying I’m behind it. Which I’m not. This shit wasn’t in the brief job description from Mama Sinclair.

I shift my head back into the game. “We both know that avenue will be met with a big fat nothing, otherwise we’d have it and we’d have parted ways. Something I’m behind, just like you.”

The smile still doesn’t go anywhere near his eyes.

“And I could be wrong with me thinking these things, Kingston.” I get up and start pacing to think. There’s something off, and we both know it. The same thing that’s been off for a while and now it’s starting to smell. “You’ve spoken to Jenson before, and he’s what? Been sounding like that?”

“No.”

“So far, both he and your mother have been cucumber cool.”

“My mother has.” The smile’s vanished now and he comes to stand in front of me, effectively stopping my pacing. “Jenson’s been Jenson. This is the first real time I’ve heard him flustered in this way, like he’s a step away from Jenson’s version of panic. If I’m saying I have it, then he’s involved.”

I nod, letting his words slide through me, trying to ignore the heat of him, the fact he’s so close and if I reached out, I’d touch him and then… “If he stole it, which is what you’re implying.”

“That’s what I’m saying, Sadie. No implied.”

Slowly, I let out a hiss of air. “If he did take it, then why not let you pretend you found it, or think you had?”

“You’re the one who came up with the theory it’s not stolen or missing.” He rocks on his feet a little. “What if he thought I was getting it evaluated?”

All my feelers I have out lead places that end up at dead ends. Which never happens to me. There’s something so off, and maybe I’m too close. I don’t know. “So, we say it has been. But not yet.”

“Sadie—”

“If he did, then that’s gonna light a fire. But first, I think we should also operate that it’s missing or in someone else’s hands.”

“What? They gave it away?”

“I don’t know. The more I think about this, the more what-ifs I have. What if they don’t know it’s gone? What if Jenson was in major financial strife and sneakily giving it away or selling it is the way out, but he doesn’t want two to turn up?” I shake my head. “Those are just a couple.”

“You’ve a point, Sadie,” he says in that quiet way I’ve come to realize holds so much, “Occam’s razor it, then. Simple. We explore the most likely and we treat it like it is actually going to be sold. So, with the latter we jump on that and then go from there. With the former, he took it or has it and is in financial trouble. I’ll get to the bottom of that. Money talks here.”

I don’t think it’s that, but right now all we have is a fake. “Okay, you do that, and I’ll explore other avenues. I keep meeting dead ends, but maybe I’m not looking in the right places or asking the right people.”

“And here I thought you knew all the scum of New York.”

I gaze at him, trying to ignore the sparks that sing inside from him. “Asshole.”

“Stop trying to turn me on, Sadie.”

“You wish.”

“Crazily, I very much do.”

Sucking in a deep breath, I say, “I still think something big is going to happen in regards to some kind of underground sale. I just don’t know where or what or with who.”

“If it’s not the tiara, how is that going to help?”

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