Page 54 of Forging Caine

The Oaks boardroom was at the front of the building, down a long hallway from the entrance. High cubicle walls on one side, smaller boardrooms dotting the other. Nathan waved at me from the large reception desk down the hall. I raised a hand to return the gesture and a flash of dazzling light hit my eyes.

Shit.

The ring.

I tucked my hands behind my back and smiled as I hauled off the engagement ring, placed the promise ring back on its original finger, and slipped the giant diamond into my pants pocket. I hadn’t called Cass with the news and would get in so much trouble with her if Nathan found out first.

“Sorry I’m late.” Nathan placed a hand on my arm and kissed my cheek.

“No problem.” I talked with the receptionist, a pretty woman with dark hair whose gaze lingered too long on my big brother stand-in. Getting the visitor’s badge should have taken thirty seconds, since I’d advised her there would be a third visitor for my meeting. But it must have taken five minutes.

Unphased by the attention, Nathan accompanied me down the hallway. “I got stuck in another meeting that went over. How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine.”

He lowered his voice. “You know I’m not happy about this, right?”

Reason number fifty-three why I’d encouraged Antonio to take all the time he needed at home and not join me for this meeting. “This is about taking down an art smuggler, not about your happiness.”

Outside the Oaks, I reached for the door handle, but Nathan stopped me.

“I’m not the enemy here, Sam. I don’t know what was going on with you Friday night, but you know I care about you and I’m looking out for you.”

“I know.” And most of me appreciated it, but I wasn’t about to confess everything.

“There were rumblings one of the federal prosecutors on the task force was going to take over for me on this case, but I insisted. I don’t trust anyone else to have your best interests at heart.”

That must have been what Kelsey and Elliot had been talking about. “You don’t think there’s some conflict of interest going on here?”

“Don’t get me wrong, Sam. I’ll still do my job. But you’re not just a cooperating witness or a confidential informant if I’m involved.”

Or with Elliot involved. No, with Elliot, I was his mentor’s daughter.

A wave of nausea flew through my stomach.

No thinking about your father now. This is work, Sam.

“I know,” I repeated, and opened the door before he could say anything else.

Nathan started talking before he’d even pulled out a chair. “Goals, boundaries, and how far we’ll let this go. That’s what I’m looking for.”

Kelsey frowned at him.

Nathan was smart, and although I’d never seen the professional side of him, I knew he was good at it his job. But it was more intense than I’d expected from the goofy guy who used to pick me up and spin me around every time he said hello. He placed a leather messenger bag on the table and pulled out a laptop as he sat.

“Good to see you, Nathan.” Elliot grinned. “Now that you’re here, let’s get going before Sam has to leave us. We’re assuming the next painting Fiori delivers will be a stolen one, given his comments about a murky provenance. The priority is to identify it, meet with Fiori and record him admitting he knows it’s stolen and that he’s intending to sell it. Our goal isn’t for him to admit he’s the head of our smuggling ring, but that would be helpful.”

None of this was news, but hearing him say it in such a formal setting caused a tiny pain in my chest. What were the odds we’d be able to accomplish all that and still get away for vacation? Antonio would not be happy.

Kelsey pulled a small black box from her bag and pushed it across the table to me. “I understand you drive a Ford F-150. Fortunately, those are common enough around here, so we had a recording device ready to go.”

I opened the box, which contained a key fob resembling the one for my truck.

“Lock button to record, unlock to stop the recording. It can store days of conversation, so don’t worry that you’re recording too much.”

“Does it have to be out in the open?”

“That would be best, but so long as it only has a thin layer of fabric over it, like in a pocket, you should be fine.”

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