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I can’t tell if he’s joking or serious. Likely the second, knowing him. Regardless, the point is moot since there’s no place I’d rather be than in his arms.
That’s when it dawns on me that I don’t have to let the Flame of Mir come between us. The diamond and the heist don’t have to be this horrible memory, a taboo subject in our relationship. A.J. told me just today that she’s closer than ever to delivering the final blow to the stronzo, and I have no reason to doubt her. Once we no longer have to worry about the Italian mobster, there won’t be a reason not to retrieve the Flame of Mir from his possession. If he still has it, of course. It may be long gone by now.
This whole idea could go nowhere, so I must be careful and keep expectations in check. Especially after our fight from earlier. I’d hate to disappoint Nik by promising him something I’m not sure I can deliver. It’s wise not to mention this idea to him until something comes of it. It’ll be a pleasant surprise. My gift to him.
Besides, sharing my idea would lead to him asking too many questions, the type I can’t afford to answer just yet. The odds are that the stronzo has long fenced the diamond, anyway. But if he hasn’t, then I could easily rectify this blemish in my history with Nik so it can no longer affect our future. I could clear the slate between us. For the first time in our relationship, we’d be on even ground—equals, at last.
Best of all, I would return Nik’s prized possession to him. I would give it back to the man who gifted me this beautiful diamond necklace—as an apology for bringing up the one I’ve stolen from him.
“Chain me to your bed, huh?” I ask with a laugh before kissing this gorgeous man’s mouth. My gorgeous man. All mine. A priceless, unequaled gift from Cupid himself. “You’d have to catch me first.”
13
KAT
“You have completely lost your mind,” the familiar voice says with unconcealed astonishment.
I stifle a sigh, making sure to employ my sanest, most reasonable tone. “If you’d just listen to me for a second instead of yelling at me over the phone?—”
“Oh, you think this is yelling, Kat? Uh-uh, honey. Keep this idiotic, suicidal idea in your head, and I’ll show you yelling.”
I exhale loudly, fighting the urge to groan with frustration. “Come on, A.J. Just give me a chance to explain my plan to you.”
“Why? What difference would that make?” A.J. shouts over the line at the top of her lungs. “I just can’t imagine what you could say that would matter to me. And that’s because no ridiculous plan can change the fact that you want to steal from the head of the freaking Italian mafia, Kat.”
“Will you please hear me out?” I ask, exasperatedly. But my pleas don’t move her. I’m not sure she even hears them. I lost her the moment I asked her to help me find out where the stronzo has stashed the Flame of Mir.
“Snooping around this man’s business got us into this mess in the first place,” A.J. says.
I feel compelled to correct her. “No. Getting caught snooping around his business got us into trouble. All we have to do is not get caught this time.”
“That simple, huh? Now, why the fuck didn’t I think of that in the first place?”
“It might not even matter in the end, anyway. You said it yourself—you’re so close to finishing him, A.J. By the time I have all my ducks in a row and feel ready to make my move, he might have no option but to let us do whatever we want—and that includes taking back the diamond.”
“If you are willing to bet your life on something so uncertain, then you might be too stupid to live, Kat.”
“Hey, you know what they say—faint heart never won fair lady. Luck favors the bold. And the prepared. Which is why I’ve come to you, my best and most resourceful friend. You know, because that’s what friends do. They help each other out. Just like I helped you when the stronzo caught you in the first place. Remember that, A.J.?”
My indignant tone doesn’t concern her in the slightest. After a decade of friendship, I suppose her reaction—or lack of one—is to be expected. “I am trying to help you by talking some sense into you. You’ve made some questionable decisions in your time, Kat—but this? This one takes the cake.”
“You don’t approve of it. I get it. Loud and clear. But I’m doing this anyway, A.J., whether or not you help me. So what’s it going to be? Do I have to figure this one out by myself?”
“As if you’d have any idea where to even start,” she says scornfully. “It’s probably pointless, anyway. I strongly doubt the son of a bitch has been sitting on that diamond this entire time. It was just too hot, and you know it. There’s no way that thing isn’t long gone by now.”
“Maybe,” I say, conceding that she has a point. “But maybe not. Before calling you, I reached out to every fence on the East Coast that could’ve possibly pulled off a job of this size. No one’s heard a beep. Nada. I don’t see how the stronzo could’ve gotten rid of it without someone I know hearing about it.”
“He’s a freaking mob boss, Kat. One of the old school ones, too. Do you think that maybe he just might have more contacts than you do?”
“When it comes to most of his extracurricular activities, sure. Absolutely. But there’s no feasible way for someone to fence the largest red diamond in the world in my corner of the planet without someone I know hearing about it.”
A.J. sighs wearily. “You don’t know that for sure. You can’t know what you don’t know.”
“Perhaps you’re right, and I’m just wasting my time. But there’s a chance I’m onto something here. I’m not asking you to get yourself into more trouble, of course. I just called to check if you think you can learn the Flame of Mir’s location without getting caught. If you don’t think you can, that’s completely fine. I don’t want you to do anything even remotely risky. Especially not when this nightmare is so close to an end. But you’re a freaking genius, so I thought I should ask—just in case it’s something you could easily pull off.”
“You’re talking about it as if it’s a simple errand. You’re asking me to spy on one of the heads of the Seven Families. One who’s had his eye on me for a while now. It’s a little more complex than picking up your dry-cleaning for you.”
“I know. And there’ll be no hard feelings if you tell me you can’t do it. I mean it, A.J. Cross my heart and hope to die.”
