Page 93 of Reckless Promises

“Diamonds.”

I lean forward, resting my elbows on my desk. “Diamonds? Gabriel isn’t that smart.”

He deals in dirty money and drugs—sometimes guns. But diamonds are a whole different ballgame and beyond the scope of his standard business dealings.

“My thought exactly.” Shane tips his head. “Gabriel’s not that smart. Which is why, when I dug a little further, I noticed the shipment is also listed under Sascha’s name.”

“Fuck.” I run my hands down my face.

“What? I thought that would be good news. You were the one who said it—two birds, one stone. Whatever your issue is with Sascha, he’ll be there. Both of them will. If there really are diamonds onboard, they won’t let this shipment arrive unsupervised, no matter how much they trust their men.”

Shane’s right, even if something about this feels all wrong.

“You’re worried.” Shane doesn’t miss whatever just crossed my face. “What’s going on?”

“Odette told me something earlier.” I tap my desk. “Gabriel was on a personal trip when Dad was taken down last year.”

“So? He called it in while he was overseas. We already knew Gabriel wasn’t the one to actually do the dirty work. That’s not how he operates.”

“Except it wasn’t a call.” I open the desk drawer and pull out a piece of paper.

Letters aren’t unusual in our business. Electronic communication is harder to bury when all it takes is one match to destroy a piece of paper.

“Dad got this the night before everything went down.”

Shane takes the paper from my hand, skimming it over. “They changed the date and time.”

“And location,” I point out. “And look at the bottom.”

“Gabriel’s signature.”

“But if he was in Paris, there’s no way he signed it.”

“How do we know for sure he was in Paris?”

“Odette said he was.”

Shane hitches an eyebrow. “And you think he never lied to her about anything? Besides, we looked into it, all the sources said Gabriel was in town.”

“That’s what he’d want everyone to think.” I tap the desk. “Dad was like that too. Anytime he took a trip, he made sure no one knew about it. The second people think you’re not around is when they move in.”

“Let’s say you’re right.” Shane sets the paper down. “Gabriel still could have left this for someone to deliver while he was away. He didn’t have to be there on that exact day to sign it. You sure you aren’t just letting the fact that you’re fucking his daughter go to your head.”

I shoot upright and plant my fists on my desk. “Just because you’re my brother doesn’t mean I won’t feed you a bullet if you don’t watch your fucking mouth when you talk about my wife.”

My vision blinks in and out of focus. Shane can say a lot of things to piss me off, but he needs to leave Odette out of it.

Shane holds his hands up in front of him, smirking when he realizes he crossed a line. “My apologies, brother. Relax.”

I circle the room, walking over to my bottle of whiskey and pouring a drink.

“At the risk of eating that bullet sooner than I’d like, I still feel like I need to point out that I’m only saying this because I want to make sure your judgment isn’t clouded.” Shane stands up, walking over to me. “Gabriel’s not innocent. Whether he was there or not,his menwere. He knew about it at some point. And I don’t remember him sending any condolences or trying to mend fences when our father went down.”

“I’m aware.” I finish my drink, turning to face him. “But if he’s not the only one involved, he’s not the only one coming for our family. And I’m not leaving any loose ends.”

“So you think Sascha was in on it too?”

“Yeah.”

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