Page 81 of A Devious Arrangement

I have no doubt I could tell him I murdered someone in Times Square, and he’d help cover it for me.

“I didn’t realize why Stasia needed that tiara. I hurt her, Dam…I hurt my girl.”

“You’re a fucking idiot,” he deadpans.

“I know. So where did you put it so I can fix this?”

He clears his throat, and there’s a long pause before he answers. “I gave it to the Archives.”

“Jesus Christ…I didn’t mean to make it impossible to get back.” The Archives is the Order of Saints’ highest-guarded building. It’s what holds everything the Order wants to keepsafe. The fact that the Kokoshnik Tiara wasn’t already placed in there tells you just how precious the other items are.

“You told me to hide it. What did you expect?” Damon says, the sound of his fridge opening and closing soft in the background.

“I wanted to search for it, not risk our lives stealing it.” I drop my head back and pinch my nose. This is going to be a problem. I promised Stasia I would get the tiara, but even as a Lord, it’ll be hard to retrieve it from the archive. It’s a fortified building. It won’t be as simple as getting an ID and wearing a disguise. Not impossible, but not easy either.

“Too late. You should have been more specific. Watch yourself—they aren’t going to want to give it up. You should have seen how excited those greedy bastards were when I dropped it off.”

I should confess that I can just go in there and request it. It might require some begging on my part, but I can get it. None of the actual sneaking in and stealing portion of our plan was ever necessary, but even with her tears, I still want to drag this out a little longer.

I never said I’m a good person, and if one more day with her allows me to convince her she’s mine, then I will take it.

“Daddy,” my nephew says, and I wince. Damon is going to kill me.

“What are you doing up, kiddo?” Damon asks in a voice he only uses with his kids.

“I heard you talking.”

“You are so dead,” Damon growls into the phone, raising the hair at the back of my neck. He can be scary as fuck when he wants to be.

“Got to go, bye!” I quickly hang up.

Now that’s taken care of, I’m ready to climb back into bed and cuddle up with my girl. First, I need to settle things with theSalvatores because like fuck am I going to let her stay at risk. Not when I’m the one dragging this out.

I dial the head of the Salvatore family. He picks up within three rings.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of being contacted by the youngest Everette brother.” His voice is clear. I’m not surprised I didn’t wake him. His world operates at night.

“You own a debt for the Volkov family.”

“I own a lot of people’s debts. What’s it to you,” he asks.

“You’re going to sell it to me,” I state.

“Now, why would I do that?”

“Because I’ll pay double.”

He laughs. “Fuck, that redhead got you good, didn’t she?”

“Don’t speak about her. I won’t warn you again. So, we have a deal?”

“I think you’re a fucking idiot, but we have a deal.”

“Never said I wasn’t. I’ll have my accountant wire you the money, so make sure you get the paperwork aligned.”

I can hear the smirk in his voice. “As always, it’s a pleasure doing work with you.”

I hang up the phone. “I’ll gladly be an idiot when it comes to her. She’ll probably hate me for this, but I’ll fix that too.”

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