Chapter 14 #2
I schooled my expression into vague indifference. ‘I’m sure I can arrange to sell it back to you,’ I said blandly. ‘You’re going to have to be more specific, though, Vance. I have a lot of jewelry in the shop at the moment. It might have been sold already.’
A muscle twitched in his jaw. ‘Let’s cut the bullshit, shall we, Kendra? Your mother double-crossed me.’
I forced my face into a frown. ‘What? I don’t know anything about that.’
‘Your mother knew this jewelry was worth more than what I was selling it for. She might not have told you that at first, but I know for a fact you know all about it now,’ he shot back.
He pulled out a small book from his jacket pocket and held it up.
I didn’t need to get any closer to see what it was: The Great Lost Treasures of the House of Fabergé by Mila Yegorova.
My stomach plummeted, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to throw up or cry. Or both. My skin had gone clammy with fear.
He’d figured it out.
‘Turns out that pile of junk is worth millions,’ he finished.
I felt Alice shift in her seat next to me and silently begged her not to react. The tension in the room was palpable between us now and I didn’t want her to get caught in the crosshairs.
‘I still don’t see,’ I said tightly, ‘how that is my problem.’
Wilson closed his eyes for a brief moment, then he opened them again, and his gaze flicked to the two men that were stationed behind us.
All of a sudden the barrel of a gun was pressed to my temple and I forced myself not to react, even as all my nerves went on high alert and my heart started to race with panic and adrenaline.
I didn’t need to look at Alice to know the same had happened to her.
Next to me, she let out a gasp, then froze.
‘Kendra, you are entirely too much in my way,’ Wilson said with a weary sigh. ‘I’m going to tell you what happens next, and you’re going to agree. Understood?’
‘Okay,’ I said. I didn’t have much of a choice. Not when I had a gun pressed to my head.
‘Tell me where the jewelry is,’ he said calmly.
‘As I have been trying to tell you,’ I said, my mouth dry, my stomach oily with fear, ‘I don’t know.’
The guy in charge of Alice grabbed her hair, yanked it back and shoved the gun under her chin. The angle meant she couldn’t open her mouth to scream but she made a strangled noise in the back of her throat and her eyes went wide – terrified.
‘Even now?’ Wilson asked, and I surged to my feet.
‘You can kill her right now and I will walk out of this place covered in her blood still not knowing where that fucking jewelry is,’ I yelled at him.
The air around us went staticky in the silence, and all I could hear was mine and Alice’s ragged breathing.
‘But you’re looking for it,’ Wilson said cooly, unimpressed by my outburst. ‘You and your little friend are running all over the city searching for it. Don’t lie to me, Kendra. You know I’ve had people following you. Watching you. Listening to you.’
My stomach rolled and I swallowed back stinging acid. So they had gotten close enough to us that day in the library to overhear our conversation.
‘A million dollars, you said. For that little brooch.’ Wilson held up the Fabergé book again to illustrate his point. ‘When you find it, you’re going to bring it back to me. Got it?’
‘I understand,’ I said evenly.
‘And if you don’t,’ he said, leaning all the way forward and lowering his voice, ‘I’ll make sure what happened to your bitch of a mother happens to you.’
Wilson was clever. He’d all but admitted to killing my mom without actually confessing. I was the angriest I’d ever been in my life, yet my whole body felt numb. I fought to keep control of my composure.
‘If you kill me,’ I said evenly, ‘then I can guarantee you will never see the jewelry again.’
Wilson’s eyes flicked to the men behind us, and Alice shrieked as she was slapped round the face. She lurched forward, but was dragged back again by her hair, and I heard her start to sob.
Slowly, and deliberately, not wanting to make any sudden moves, I turned to look at her.
‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine,’ she said tightly. It was the biggest lie. Tears rolled down her cheeks and there was pure fear in her eyes. She didn’t deserve any of this and it made me even more angry.
I could feel the gun digging into my skull – the guy behind me really wasn’t letting up – then he grabbed my neck and forced me to turn back to Wilson.
‘This is totally unnecessary,’ I said as calmly as I could manage.
‘I could say the same,’ Wilson shot back. ‘I don’t take kindly to being manipulated, Kendra, and I really don’t take kindly to being taken advantage of.’
‘The good news is, I’m not trying to do either,’ I said hotly, before realizing too late that he was probably talking about my mom, not me.
Wilson leaned back in his chair again and reached for an iPad on the table next to him. He hit a few buttons, then set it down. A few seconds later, a bartender appeared with a short glass filled with amber liquid. Whiskey. I knew it was his drink of choice.
The bartender didn’t even glance at me and Alice – two teenage girls with guns pressed to their heads – he just turned and walked straight back out again. I had to hand it to Wilson – his staff were incredibly well trained.
Wilson regarded both of us, then his glass of whiskey.
‘This really is the most interesting situation,’ he murmured. Then he nodded, and one of his minions pushed me back into my seat while the other let Alice go. ‘Where do you think the jewelry is, Kendra?’
My heart was thundering, and my breathing was definitely not under control, neither were my nerves, but I knew Wilson would force the truth out of me one way or another so there was no point in lying.
‘I think it’s very well hidden,’ I said.
He didn’t move, didn’t twitch, but I could tell he was convinced – finally – that I didn’t actually know where the jewelry was. At this point if I did have it I would have genuinely handed it over to him. Holding onto it wasn’t worth it if Alice and I ended up dead.
‘I’m going to give you a week,’ he said. ‘Seven days. To find it. Starting now.’
I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to tell him it wasn’t as easy as that – my mom had laid out a complex scavenger hunt, and I had no idea how many clues were still left to uncover or how long the process would take.
I didn’t say any of that.
‘I’ll be back here in a week,’ I said, loathing myself and the world I was part of.
‘With the jewelry,’ Wilson clarified.
‘Yes, with the jewelry.’ I tried to sound bored. Of him, and his games. I had to maintain that facade, be that angry, manipulative girl that he thought I was. Showing any vulnerability now could break me.
‘Good girl,’ he said patronizingly. ‘Stay out of trouble, Kendra.’
I made sure to glare at Wilson’s men as we left the room, and waited until we were back in the main club before I rubbed the sore spot on the side of my head. Next to me, Alice started shaking.
‘Let’s go,’ I said.
‘Our phones!’ Alice said, sounding as panicked as I felt.
‘Shit.’
I looked around for a second, and when Lucas didn’t appear immediately I grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the club as quickly as possible.
The security guy gave me a long stare as we stumbled down the stairs.
‘These are yours,’ he grunted, holding out our phones. I didn’t want to hang around any longer to ask where Lucas had gone.
I snatched them back and stuffed them into my purse, then dragged Alice round the corner, down the block, then into an alley where we wouldn’t be overheard. Or seen.
‘Are you all right?’ I asked her.
‘Holy shit, Kendra,’ she said, and then burst into tears.
I wasn’t great with crying – especially when the tears weren’t my own – but they felt completely justified right now.
‘I’m so sorry, Alice. Please don’t cry,’ I said, a little desperately as I reached out to squeeze her shoulder.
Alice seemed to take this as an invitation to fling herself into my arms.
I wrapped one arm round her and used the other to pat her back, making vague shushing noises and telling myself this was definitely not the right time to tell her I told you so.
Her sobs turned into sniffles, and I pulled her closer, turning our position from awkward comfort to something much more intimate.
‘Are you hurt?’ I murmured.
‘No,’ Alice said. Then she sniffed.
‘Are you sure?’
She lifted her chin and nodded, her nose now only an inch from mine. Damp tears still clung to her eyelashes, and in that moment I really, really wanted to kiss her.
But I wouldn’t. Not when she was this emotional and vulnerable.
I took a step back to remove the temptation.
‘Does that happen to you a lot?’ Alice asked. She reached down and started rummaging in her purse.
‘More than I’d like as far as the threats go. But the guns are a new development.’ I swallowed hard. ‘And the threats to people I … people I care about. That hasn’t happened before.’
Alice stopped rummaging and stared at me.
‘I know you said you were involved with some shady characters, but …’
‘They don’t know who you are,’ I said, hoping to reassure her. ‘And I’m going to keep it that way. I promise, Alice.’
She gave me a watery smile and pulled a Kleenex out of her bag.
‘Here,’ I said, holding out my hand to take it from her.
Alice gave me a look I couldn’t interpret as I took the tissue and stepped closer to her again, close enough to gently wipe the black streaks of mascara from her cheeks. I needed her to know that I cared. That I would protect her.
‘Oh, Kendra,’ Alice whispered, so gently that my heart broke a little.
‘I’m fine,’ I lied. I finished cleaning her face, then straightened up and handed the Kleenex back to her.
‘You’re not,’ she said. ‘Neither am I. And that’s okay.’
I laughed once.
‘Is it safe for us to go home?’ she asked.
I glanced over her shoulder, at the mouth of the alley.
‘We’re still really close to the club,’ I said. ‘Wilson could have sent his guys to follow us, so …’