Page 131 of Empire of Ache & Ruin

My phone rings in my pocket, and I fish it out to look at the screen. “It’s Fisher.”

Before we left, Mom was overly anxious about tonight’s heist. So when Fisher offered to stay behind, I took him up on it. Knowing he’s home taking care of the two most important women in my life gives me peace of mind.

“Fisher? What’s going on?” I ask, holding the phone between Gardenia and me.

“It’s me, Tristan.” Mom’s voice makes my heart race.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” I ask.

“It’s nothing bad, per se. Just thought you should know.” Mom blows out a breath. “The pink diamond is gone.”

“What do you mean it’s gone? I just gave it to you.” My mind is already going through a list of scenarios—the most outrageous being that the Senator figured out I took the diamond and sent someone to steal it back. The most likely scenario being that Paloma found it. But how? “What happened?”

“I came upstairs just now. Fisher and I stayed in the study after you left. Paloma also retired early.” She stops to inhale. “I just came up to my room. The diamond isn’t where I left it. My phone is gone too.”

“Archer.” Fisher’s voice booms around us. “Paloma took off. William just confirmed she took one of the cars. Should I track her down? William can come with me. We tried calling her, but she didn’t answer.”

“Fuck.” I meet Gardenia’s gaze. “I have to go and get her back.”

“Why? She’s a grown woman. If she wants to leave her house in the middle of the night, let her go.”

“Let…”

I can’t even finish that sentence. Gardenia doesn’t understand what’s at stake here. If Paloma found the diamond, it won’t take her long to rightly assume I took it, and that all along I was the one who made her father’s situation worse by taking away his last source of income. I pushed the Senator to sell off his daughter. That’s on me. I had every intention of telling her everything in the morning. But now, she’s no doubt on her way to see her dad. He’s going to twist things and somehow come out the hero.

What will he do once he figures out who I am? By now, Paloma has a lot of broken pieces of my story that the Senator can very easily put together. If she asks him about her mom’s fake portrait. If she tells him she met Freya Archer, it will take him all of two minutes to figure out who I am.

Paloma has all the pieces of the puzzle. All she has to do is stand back and look at the big picture.

“I can’t let her talk to the Senator on her own. He’ll twist the truth and make her hate me.” I start walking toward the house.

“Archer. Stop.” Gardenia grabs my elbow with both hands. “Listen to yourself. Thetruthis already twisted. You married her out of revenge. That’s it. There’s nothing the Senator can say to her that’s worse than that.”

“What are you saying?” I glare at her.

“That the damage is done. There was never going to be a you, her, and your happily ever after. You have to let her go. Let her face her father on her own.” Her eyes fill up with tears. “Finish the job tonight. Give her space to figure out if what you did is forgivable.”

“I can’t do that.” I make to leave again, but she runs ahead of me and blocks me. “Let me through, Gardenia. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Are you okay with losing your grandparents portraits? It’s all you have left of them. Aunt Freya can send you a selfie when she gets her phone back. You can replace her painting. But not your grandparents.” She points in the direction of the other beach house. “Those will be gone the minute the Senator realizes who you are. In fact, maybe she already talked to him. Maybe he already knows. Maybe someone is five houses down right now burning what’s left of your grandparents’ legacy.”

I taste bile in the back of my throat. Broken memories of twenty years ago come rushing back. The pain of losing Dad fills every inch in my body. Months have gone by since the last time I felt this fury burning inside me. The Senator took everything from me when he left Dad unconscious to burn with the house.

Tonight is my only chance to take some of it back. Not to mention that I can’t keep Paloma prisoner anymore. I need her to want me, not to feel obligated to stay. I have to let her go. I have to face the consequences of what I did to her and her family.

“Are you staying?” Gardenia asks.

“Yeah.” I nod, gripping my phone tight before I speak into it. “Let her go, Fisher. She’s made her choice.”

“As you wish.” His tone is firm as if he finally agrees with me.

Why does everyone think Paloma leaving is a good thing? Once I have the paintings, I will move heaven and Earth to find her again. Everything else can go to hell. I want my wife back. She belongs with me. And I belong with her.

“Okay.” Gardenia places a hand on my chest and pats me gently, like I’m some sort of bomb ready to detonate. “How about you get dressed? I’ll run comms. Jacob can be your backup.”

“Yeah.” I take in a breath and release it slowly. “Let’s get this over with.”

Gardenia rushes back inside. I follow her into the kitchen where she has three laptops on the kitchen island. From the feeds, I can see the party is in full swing, even though it’s almost midnight. Everyone is in black tie attire wearing masks.

---