Page 121 of The Saint (Gentlemen Rogues 3)
His gaze slid over me again. His perusal was less cold than before, more assessing. “I can only guess. The Dove was before my time. But even when I was put undercover, Igno was still obsessed with her. Decades later, she still had an effect on him and his operations. Her photo was ever present and every new recruit was put on the lookout. She was the only person to ever double-cross him and live. That's if she's alive, of course."
His gaze met mine again. While his words were glib, his eyes were soft somehow. As if he knew what he was saying was hurtful and he was sorry about it but needed to say it.
Or you're reading too much into it.
"I'm not sure how much you've heard, but about twenty years ago, Igno had arms deals with Red Legion. Standard shit. It was millions of dollars’ worth of arms he was buying. Igno, atthat time, was more a middle man. A common broker before he became a power player. He had a buyer, he had a seller. He was going to keep a cut on the arms from the south and give the rest to the other buyer. Together, they had amassed a hundred million dollars in diamonds."
Everyone around the room whistled low. "The buyer gave the diamonds to Igno. Igno held on to them until the buy. This was an industry built on trust, and everyone trusted Igno. He delivered. And he was ruthless with those who tried to double-cross him. He was like an insurance policy. Until he went to make the buy. He had the diamonds, or what he thought were the diamonds. And it went to hell from there. The seller checked the authenticity, found out they were fake, and it became a gun fight. Igno walked away clean, but when he went to his buyer with accusations, there was another fight. Again, Igno walked away. But he understood. Someone who had access had taken his diamonds. And he'd always assumed it was, what did you call her? Dove? So he put a hit out on her, but she slipped the net and he never caught her. Which is why I think his men are so interested in her."
I sat up straighter. "But surely by now, she has done whatever she was going to do with those diamonds. He's not going to get them back."
Webster shook his head. "No, she wouldn't have kept them. She would have hidden them. Rumor was, she shared his love of puzzles. The two of them used to love to work puzzle games together. There was this puzzle maker in Edinburgh, Martin Altair. He was obsessed with Lucas prime numbers. He apparently made an un-openable puzzle box once. Dove and Igno would mess with that thing a lot. She took it with her when she left. I assumed she found a way to open it and put the diamonds in there and stashed it. I think that's what he's really looking for, and he thinks you know where it is."
"I haven't seen my mother since I was fifteen. How the hell would I know where something like that is?"
Gabe’s stare back was harsh. "It doesn't matter if you know or not. He believes that you do. Which means we are on a race against the clock."
Kaya
Saint turned to me. "Do you know what this thing is? Do you know what we're looking for?"
I frowned. “Mum was always fiddling with things like that. I don't know if I've seen it. I need to finish going through her papers."
Gabe nodded. "We'll have a team go through them with you."
I don't know why, but that irritated me. "No. I will go through them and bring you anything I find."
A hush fell over the room, and I could tell Gabe was a hair’s breadth away from trying to order me to. But I didn't work for him, and I didn't know him. Hell, I didn't know any of these people. I’d met Saffron and Tabatha, and they seemed nice. Lovely. But again, I didn't reallyknowthem. I didn't want them going through the last things I had that belonged to my mother. Which was not much.
"Like I said, I'll go through it. I'll give Saint the information and he can bring it to you."
Saint met my gaze and frowned. He opened his mouth to say something, but Gabe interrupted him.
"I'm sorry, you misunderstand, Miss Reynolds. You're not leaving the Rogues campus."
I opened my mouth to argue and tell him to fuck right off. He must have read it on my face because Saint clasped a hand on myknee and squeezed hard, warning me. But I grinned up at Gabe. "Excuse me?"
Gabe sighed and then glanced around the room. "Dismissed for the time being. We'll regroup when we have more information."
Saffron gave me a soft smile and then leaned down to whisper in my ear. "My brother is a dick. Hold your ground."
And then they were gone, everyone but Gabe and Saint and me.
"Miss Reynolds, I can see how—"
"First of all, call me Kaya. Second of all, I don't work for you, so you can't control me. And third of all, I said what I said. Those are my files. You can't have them."
Gabe blinked once, and then twice, and then glanced at Saint as if Saint was going to turn around and be like 'Oh, it's for your own good. Do what you're told.'
But I could tell by his posture that was not what was going to happen. "You heard her, Gabe. After the last couple of days she's had, she needs to see her friend. She wants to check on Ryan, all things you haven't let her do. She probably also wants to sleep in her own bed. My bed… a bed."
I smirked at that flub. "Not to mention, the files are back at Saint’s."
Gabe grinned. "I'll send a retrieval team."
"You won't find them. My mother taught me a thing or two about hiding things. And I don't think Saint is giving you permission to tear up his house right now. So you can let me go home, retrieve them, and give you the information you need."
Gabe crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, but you do understand the gravity of what's going on, the kind of people that are after you, right?"
