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“Hundreds of millions.” She pauses. “Probably. And if it’s billions, it’s low end, two, three at the most. In jewel value without all the other add ons it’s hundreds of millions. And…”
“Harry?”
“Yes, babe?”
“Not helping.”
“We’ll go with a lot of zeroes.”
“So what’s a wallet?” I lay my hand over the plain, soft leather. “It comes with a good story.”
“A thief announcing she’s a thief is a good fucking story?” Her eyes narrow. “Did you do drugs?”
“No, but it’s best to lead him away from who and what I am.”
“Hit your head?” she asks. “Because it sounds like you’re planning to get caught.”
“No,” I say, “but if Iamcaught, then I’ve set up the narrative of being a thief.”
This is a bold-faced lie. I don’t know why I took the wallet. What Harriet’s saying is it’s reckless. Beyond reckless, really. But now I have? My excuse? Itisa good angle. Not that I’m planning to get caught.
The wallet no longer holds the heat of his body, something that lit me up inside when I lifted it. His special brand of heat. That, and being so damn close to his mouth. It’s not just him…well, it’s him, because the man’s bona fide hot, just like Jac. He’s bona fide dangerous, just like Jac.
But Jac’s the client and Hendrick’s the mark.
There’s always something irresistible about the mark because the thing I’m going to steal is in itself, irresistible.
Learn all about the mark and I’ve a better idea where the necklace is.
Heart of Dark Desires.
I shift a little on the sofa.
Even the name is hot.
It draws me.
I breathe out slowly. The wallet’s plain leather, a dark oxblood that’s aging well. A person might think Hendrick Agnossio would have a black wallet, or just a money clip. This is infinitely more intriguing.
Fine craftsmanship, made to last, subdued. Belonging to a man who prefers to watch and wait and… I’m not sure. But he’s hot enough, well-known enough, rich enough, and bad enough to be as ostentatious as Jac. I don’t mistake him as someone lacking arrogance, or even flair. He has both.
It’s just different than Jac Miller.
They’re two entirely different beasts.
Jac Miller would have a fancy money clip in white gold or silver. Maybe encrusted with stones because he can. He wouldn’t carry physical ID, it’d all be on his phone, along with cards. But I suspect he has someone who takes care of the mundane, like paying bills.
As for the Heart of Dark Desires?
He’d keep it in a special vault, built for the necklace, probably in a room where it’s on display, bringing it out to impress a lover or to flaunt and use to mock Hendrick.
Hendrick…
If I had to rob Jac, it wouldn’t be easy, but I’d know where he kept it, and that would be in the heart of his mansion. In that regard, Jac Miller’s very readable. Getting to it would be the trick.
With Henrick Agnossio I’m thinking he keeps it in a safe. Maybe if he’s feeling reckless—which I don’t think he does—two solid weeks of following him showed me a man who does things very deliberately, even down to the pretty whore he started fucking.
Hendrick wouldn’t flaunt it. He might hate it, but he has it for deliberate reasons. Maybe he thinks he owns it. Maybe he fucking does and Jac is lying. I really don’t care. But Hendrick’s wallet shows me what our brief conversation and following him gave me: a man with deep and twisting complexities under a layer of simplicity.
