Page 69 of Mountain Summons

“I won’t. But move that weapon away from Lena. It’s a gravel road from here on out, and we don’t want any accidents.”

Lena’s fists clenched in her lap. She forced herself to keep breathing, to trust Tristan’s steady voice, his controlled movements. But he didn’t know André like she did. He couldn’t know how crazy the man was.

“I’m sorry,” Lena whispered in a low voice.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart,” Tristan replied, his eyes on the road ahead of them. “You know I love you, right?”

He said it in a casual tone, for André’s benefit, but there was nothing casual about it. It wasn’t something he’d ever said before. And yet, Lena had already known. And she wanted him to know she felt the same way.Just in case.

“I love you too, Tristan,” she said, biting her lip to stop herself from saying anything else. Because anything else she said would be tainted by fear.

“No more talking,” André said gruffly. “Just remember what happens if you lie to me.”

26

Tristan

If looks could kill, Lena’s would have fulminated him on the spot.

Tristan kept his eyes on the road, hands light on the wheel, but he felt the weight of her glare — thedon’t you daremessage radiating off her even without words.

He was sorry she didn’t like his method, but he was doing his best to keep her alive.

He also wasn’t planning on dying—not here, not today, not if he could help it. As soon as Lena was safe, he’d find a way to disarm the reporter.

He wasn’t sure how. But he’d find a way.

What he couldn’t do—what he wouldn’t do—was take Lena anywhere near that mountain again.

“Where is it?” André barked from the backseat, jabbing the gun harder against Lena’s shoulder. “I swear, if you’ve lied to me?—“

“We’re close,” Tristan said calmly, glancing at the rear view mirror just long enough to catch André’s wild eyes. “Just a couple more minutes.”

André let out a sharp breath, his knee bouncing restlessly. “You think you’re smarter than me, Lieutenant? You think you can talk me down?”

Tristan’s jaw tightened. “I don’t need to talk you down. I’ll get you to the cave so you can look for whatever it is you’re looking for.”

“You’re not even curious?” André taunted.

Not in the least. But Tristan decided to humor him. “Sure I am. What is it?”

“You were the ones who found my grandfather’s body.”

Lena flinched, her voice shaky. “Your grandfather? Maxim Jubert was your grandfather?” she asked tremulously.

“On my mother’s side.” André let out a strangled laugh. “Do you know what it’s like, to grow up hearing that your family should have beensomething? And that it was all stolen from you?”

“I don’t understand, André.”

“My grandfather …” André’s voice shifted, softer, almost reverent. “He was a lawyer. A fixer. He worked for very powerful men. In those days, things were different. After the war, not all Nazis stood trial. Of those who escaped, many came through Switzerland, on their way to South America. My grandfather helped them vanish—helped them create new identities, clean their stolen wealth. You can imagine what they paid him in return.”

He let out a breathless laugh, the gun trembling slightly against Lena’s neck. “Keep both hands on the steering wheel, Lieutenant, if you want to hear the rest of the story. One of my grandfather’s clients paid him in gems. But in the man’s safe, my grandfather saw something. A pink diamond. Not justany diamond—the Eye of the Last Emir. It was taken from the treasuries of the Emir of Bukhara before the Russian Empire swallowed his lands.”

“So he took it?”

André made a happy sound. “He took it. He was going to bring it home. It was going to be a new start for our family.”

“And what happened, André?” Tristan asked, his voice controlled, calm.

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