Page 111 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

When Devin and Sticks arrived with the container that held the stolen painting, Benji told them what Simon wanted.

“Whatever,” Devin said.

Sticks acted like he hadn’t even heard, but he never said that much anyway, so Benji took his silence for a yes. He pushed the door all the way open, and they carried in the painting.

—

Simon waved Benji and his flunkies over to the sitting area, where he, Petry, and Nico waited. “Hurry up.”

They carried the package over and laid it on the coffee table.

Simon tried to pull off the Bubble Wrap, but there was too much tape.

“I got it,” Benji said, pulling out a pocketknife.

Simon shot his brother a glare to remind him he wasn’t supposed to speak, then snapped, “Be careful!”

Petry snorted. “Like it really matters.”

“Excuse me?” Simon asked.

Nico forced a smile. “Mr. Petry is excited to see it, that’s all.”

That was not what it sounded like to Simon, nor was the sneer on Petry’s face helping to sell the excuse.

After Benji finished and stepped out of the way, Simon peeledback the wrapping. For a second, he lost himself in the beauty of the piece until Petry jerked him out of his reverie.

“That’s it?”

“Were you expecting something different?”

“I don’t know. I guess I thought it would be more impressive.”

“More impressive?” If Simon hadn’t had doubts about Petry’s intentions before, he did now.

Nico whispered in his boss’s ear.

Petry rolled his eyes, then said to Simon, “I meant, sure, it’s impressive. Love it. Where’s the special one?”

“The special one?”

“From the list,” Nico clarified

“Right. It’s stored elsewhere. We can set up a time to see it later, if you’d like.”

Petry nodded at the painting on the coffee table. “It’s like this one, right?”

“Well, no. The subjects are completely different.”

Nico started to lean toward Petry again, but Petry waved him off. “I know they’re different. I just meant— You know what? Never mind.”

“So, youdon’twant to see it?”

Nico smiled. “What Mr. Petry means is he can wait until you have all three.”

“Of course.” It was actually a relief to Simon. The less time he spent in these men’s company, the better.

“You only have forty-eight hours left,” Petry said. “You damn well better get the last one in time.”

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