“Is that the Ring you found on your last dive?”Camila asked, excitement lighting her eyes.
Desi’s heart gave a single hard thud.“What?”She grabbed the book, flipping to the title page.The Testament of Solomon, Apocryphal Books, Complete Edition.
Trying to mask her shock, she forced a shrug.“Maybe.Hard to say.It was pretty corroded.”
Briar smiled, a slow, self-assured curve of lips that revealed teeth so white they looked manufactured.His gaze lingered on Camila, and she giggled.And Camila never giggled.
“You’re not going to believe this, Des,” Camila said, tossing her hair.“Go on, tell her, Briar.”
“Miss Starr,” he began, voice smooth and cultured, “I’ll get straight to the point.If you can recover this exact Ring”—he tapped the image again—“and bring it to me, I’ll pay you five million dollars.”
Camila’s mouth dropped open.Greed flared in her brown eyes like sunlight on glass.
Desi’s knees weakened.Five million?Was he serious?
“Did you hear that, Desi?”Camila grabbed her arm.“Five million!We could be rich!”
We?Desi thought bitterly.Of course Camila expected a cut.She’d brought him here, hadn’t she?
Briar snapped the book shut.“To be candid, yesterday my divers searched the wreck you discovered.TheSentinel,was it?But there was no ring.Then Cami mentioned you’d found a ring, so I knew I needed to speak with you.I’ve been searching for that artifact for a long, long time.”
His divers?The idea of strangers rummaging through Caleb’s ship made her stomach twist in violation.
“Why?”she asked.“Why is it so valuable?”
“If you’re thinking of selling it, you’ll never get what I’m offering.It’s a family heirloom.Sentimental value, nothing more.”He adjusted his cufflinks, the gesture so polished it was almost rehearsed.
Right.Family heirloom.Not unless his family name is Solomon.
But the number echoed in her skull—five million dollars.She could pay for Daria’s transplant, cover the anti-rejection meds for life.She could save her sister.
“Desi?”Camila’s voice swam through the haze.“Are you even listening?”
Desi straightened, forcing air into her lungs.“No promises,” she said at last.“But I’ll… I’ll do my best.”
Briar’s smile sharpened as he extended his hand.She hesitated, then took it.
An icy shiver coursed up her arm, spreading like frost through her veins.
“It’s a deal,” she said.“Mr.—?”
“Montverre,” he replied smoothly.“Briar Emrys Montverre.”
The name struck like a thunderclap.
Blood drained from her face.
Desi couldn’t get upstairs fast enough.Montverre!
The name had spilled from his lips like venom from a snake.The world spun around her; air vanished from her lungs.For one terrible second, she thought she might black out, until Camila’s hand gripped her arm.
She’d mumbled something about feeling ill, needing rest, and somehow managed to stumble out before the walls closed in.
Now, in the quiet of her apartment, she flipped open her laptop, fingers trembling over the keys as she typed his name.Briar Emrys Montverre.
The results appeared instantly.
Of course he had his own website.Sleek.Cold.Polished, like the man himself.
