Filthy Little Lies

Chapter 1

Savvy

The feeling in the pit of my stomach, like it’s chewing on its own lining, should be enough of a warning to stop me. But seeing as I have everything to lose by not going forward with this harebrained plan, I climb out of my car and walk to the Lakeside Pawn Shop.

A cloud, heavy with the rain that’s been threatening all day, covers the last bit of the sun as I move forward, casting the street into ominous shadow.

Another warning that I’m going to ignore.

Pausing just long enough to take a breath and find my bravery, I yank open the door.

A soft beep signals my entry and a man, of medium height and square of shoulder, wearing a black collared polo shirt with the pawn shop’s emblem and his name, Bob, embroidered on the chest, steps out of the back room.

“Hello.” My voice squeaks when I greet him, and I clear my throat. “Sorry. A little tickle.” I tap my chest.

He eyes me silently.

I could pretend to shop the store a little first, but the sooner I get this over with the sooner my problems will be over.

“I’d like to sell something.” I pull my bag in front of me, hugging it to my chest.

“All right,” he says, pressing his hands onto the glass display case and nods toward my bag. “Whatcha got?”

My fingers tremble as I open my bag and feel inside for the leather pouch tucked into the inside pocket. I manage to settle the shaking enough to open the drawstring and pour out the contents into my palm.

Diamonds.

His eyebrows shoot up as he takes in the glittering jewels in my hand.

“Where’d you get these?” He pulls out a black pad and drops it onto the counter, tapping it with two fingers. I assume he wants me to lay the diamonds on it, so I tip my hand and let them slide off.

One rolls off the pad and onto the glass countertop. I hold my breath, waiting for him to react. High-valued diamonds have a particular clink when they fall; that little bauble had more of a thunk than a clink. If he knows his jewels, he’ll notice it right away.

“Seven.” He picks up the runaway gem and tosses it back with the others.

My heart stops when he turns to the work area behind him and digs around the top drawer.

A soft beep signals the front door opening, and I look over my shoulder toward the sound.

My heart leaves skid marks as it comes to a dead stop.

A man in his mid-thirties with thick black hair brushed away from his face walks in. From the height strip taped to the door frame, he’s six-three.

I didn’t even know that was a real height. I thought it was just a height used in my smutty romance novels.

Though only hitting five-three, myself, even if he cut off a few inches, he’d still be a giant compared to me.

He’s wearing a black leather jacket, even though it’s nearly eighty-five degrees and humid today, and a dark gray button up. As he moves into the store, I’m able to make out his jeans and black boots, and an entirely different part of my body reacts.

Down girl. He’s not for you. You’re here for cash, that’s it.

The guy behind the cabinet stops digging and glances over his shoulder. He freezes, drops whatever he’s holding, and spins around.

“Hey, boss.”

The man in the leather jacket lifts up the counter pass and steps behind it. Once on the other side, he notices me.

I wish he hadn’t.

His eyes narrow as they sweep over me. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful and terrifying in my twenty-five years. He has a cropped beard dusting his strong jawline, framing full lips.

I bet he can kiss, like really kiss a woman. The sort of kiss that makes her toes curl and panties spontaneously combust.

It’s been so long since anyone’s kissed me, I’m starting to fantasize about strangers. Dangerous-looking strangers. Maybe I should slow down on the dirty books.

“I’ll be in the back,” he finally says and pushes through another door.

The shop worker goes back to his search, pulls out what he was looking for and comes back to the counter with me. A tester.

Dammit.

I was hoping the shop was small enough they wouldn’t have one. This is why I usually do more research before trying something like this. Spend at least a day or two scouting the store, watching the employees to see which is the least experienced, but I wasn’t given the time this time.

Twenty-four hours is all I have, and I’m already staring down the ticking clock at three more hours to go. And then boom.

My life will completely implode.

He picks up one gem and places the top of the testing pen to it. My stomach tightens. I curl my hands into fists at my sides as I try to nonchalantly look for the model of the pen.

Diamonds move heat away from the source. So if the heat the pen puts to the gem moves quickly, the pen should light up and beep. The lower the quality of the diamonds, the slower the reaction. And these are pretty low on the grading scale.

Nothing is happening. I should cut and run, but I’m frozen. I need to take them with me. There’s another shop a few miles down that looked more run down than this one. I can try there.

Tick-tock.

“Did you let it warm up?” I lean over the counter to take a look at the pen. “Sometimes, especially with older models, they need like thirty seconds to warm up.”

He jerks his gaze up to me.

“That’s what the guy at the last shop said anyway.” I quickly add. “But he was really creepy, staring at my chest and kept trying to get touchy with me. Maybe he was just trying to stall? I left before I found out.” I push on an innocent smile. “He gave me the creeps.”

He frowns. “There’s a lot of assholes out there. Which shop was it?”

Yeah, Savvy, which shop was it? Ugh, I am off my game today. I’m sure it has nothing to do with my entire life depending on how this transaction goes.

“I don’t remember, The Fawn Pawn or something like that? It’s on the other side of town, near the warehouse district.” I open my bag. “If it helps, I have an appraisal sheet and a letter of authenticity. The diamonds were my grandmother’s. She died last month.”

“Sorry to hear that.” He puts the pen down and takes the sheets from me, glancing at the authenticity letter and focusing on the appraisal.

“Thanks. I really hate to lose these. They’ve been passed down from my grandmother, sort of a family jewels situation.

But between the cost of her funeral, and the repairs needed to get her house in order to sell, I can use the cash now.

” I take a beat, talking over him as he inspects the gems. “She didn’t have any life insurance. ”

He picks up the paperwork again, reading the grading report.

Getting the letterhead from the Gemological Institute of America hadn’t been hard, but the seal at the bottom of the report took some time.

Time I didn’t have, so it’s not my best work.

Hopefully, he won’t spend too much time verifying anything.

“We do loans, you know.” He puts the papers down. “These certificates give a three-hundred-thousand-dollar value to the diamonds, we can do a loan up to a hundred-fifty. You’d get them back after the loan is paid.”

“What about an outright purchase?” I ask.

“We can do that, too, but I’ll need to send these out for verification before we finalize anything.”

“But I have the certificates.” I tap the forgeries. We need to finish this before his boss comes out here and pokes around.

“If it’s an outright buy, I need outside verification. If you want to do a loan, we can do that today. Up to you.” He shrugs like he couldn’t care less either way.

I need the hundred thousand today, immediately. Doing a loan buys me more time, and I’ll get the diamonds back at the end. Though not having them will make pulling this scam on another shop harder. The last two I have at home won’t pull in as much money.

I won’t have these gems, but I will have time.

And time is life at the moment.

“Let’s do the loan. That way, I’ll get to keep grandma’s diamonds once I sell her house. What are the terms of the loan?”

He goes over the logistics of it, basically giving me a six-month reprieve on the money. But with the insane interest he’s going to charge me, I’ll need to find additional money.

Tomorrow’s problem.

Today’s problem is solved.

“Sounds good to me, let’s do it.” I smile, like he’s just saved me.

“I need your ID to get the paperwork sorted.”

Double dammit.

“Of course.” I open my bag and pull out my wallet. Opening it so he can’t see the abundance of cards filling the slots, I peruse my choices, then pull out the top card.

“All right. Be right back.” He scoops up the diamonds, the certificates, and the fake identification, and takes everything into the back room.

My heart beats in my ears. It’s too quiet in the shop. From a quick inspection, I find four cameras that I can see. There’s probably a few more hidden from view as well. Not that there’s anything in here I can lift without having to break into a glass display case.

It’s like they don’t trust their customers.

A diamond-encrusted emerald ring catches my eye in the display case in the corner. Leaning over the glass, I read the price tag attached. Fifteen thousand dollars. Without getting a much closer look I can’t be sure, but that ring is not worth fifteen thousand.

It’s not worth even fifteen hundred.

The emerald isn’t real, the diamond is premium moissanite at best, and the gold band is probably gold plated.

A pair of pearl earrings in the same display case shows a price tag of twenty thousand.

Even the best curated jewelry stores wouldn’t charge half that for those earrings.

The rest of the jewelry in the case is more of the same.

Even for a pawn shop, these prices make no sense.

Unless they aren’t selling these to customers who want the jewelry but want to hand over cash.

My stomach dips.

The perfect way to launder money.

This. This is why I don’t just jump into a job. I could get lucky. It might not be what I fear. That huge guy in the leather could just be a normal guy who owns a pawn shop that cleans money. Just a pawn. He’s not necessarily part of something bigger and more dangerous.

Feeling the cameras on me, I inch my way down the length of the counter, creeping closer to the front door. If Bob comes back without a bundle of cash in his hands, I’ll bolt. The car is only a hundred feet away, I should be able to get away.

More time goes by and no one comes back out. The thick air in the shop suffocates me. Or my nerves are wrapping themselves around my lungs.

I’ll leave.

I should go.

Cut my losses and get away from here before this whole thing goes sideways.

I hurry to the door. My hand is on the handle when there’s a loud metallic click. The deadbolt has slid into place, locking the door.

I spin around, sure there’s someone there, but I’m still alone. They have a remote on the lock?

My throat closes.

The door leading to the offices swings open and the leather jacket man steps out. His eyes trained on me, my papers in one hand and the bag of shitty diamonds in the other.

“You have some explaining to do.”