“I’m thinking,” Grant said after a minute.
Kiernan settled onto the chair across from Grant.“Maybe it’s time to cut our losses.”
“What?”
Kiernan sighed.“I know that’s not what you want to do, but?—”
“It’s more than that.You know that.”
Kiernan held Grant’s gaze for a long moment.“Is it ever going to be enough?”
Grant’s eyebrows shot up.He exhaled a mirthless laugh.“I just gave away a million dollars.A million dollars I wouldn’t have had to give up if things had gone to plan.”
“Staging a break-in to get your clients to pay up isn’t a great way to do business.”
“Since when did you grow a fucking conscience?And those assholes were trying to steal from me.Cheating me out of my share.We had just as much to lose as they did, but instead of one-fifth of six-hundred-eighty-nine million, they gave me five.That’s not what we agreed to.”
Kiernan gripped the arms of the chair, looking like he was going to say something else.
Grant waited.The break-in was only part of the plan.The blackmail was going to bring in double, enough to increase his other investments.The ones that were going to set Grant and Kiernan up for life.
The world had gone soft, choosing things that didn’t matter and deciding they were important.Grant knew what really mattered was power, and the way to get power was money.He’d invested in the largest diamond mine in the world, but when his profits were slashed, he found a way to make up the difference.
And get his revenge at the same time.
The clients who were stupid enough to cut him out of their diamond business were also stupid enough not to realize he was the owner of the company that held all their secrets.He held all the cards, and all the loose diamonds.The ones his former partners were scrambling to find after they went missing.
“I’m just saying all of this is getting bigger than we planned for.Stealing the diamonds was one thing…”
“But?”
Kiernan looked up at Grant and sighed.“But… Paul could make things messy.And Roger isn’t exactly known for his intelligence.”
“That’s why we hired him.He has no idea what he’s really involved in.”
“No, but he might figure it out.”
“No one has any idea we planned this.That Paul wasn’t going to walk out of here, or that Roger would be the one who took the fall for all of it.”
Kiernan leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees.“But Paul did walk out of here, and Roger didn’t take the fall, and there was a witness who keeps saying she saw three of us.”
“Don’t worry about her.She’s not going to be any trouble.”
“What makes you say that?”Kiernan’s expression turned stormy.
“Calm your tits, brother.I’m not going to kill her unless I have to.”
Kiernan smirked at the old expression.One Grant only said when he was stressed.“I lost the tits when I started lifting in high school.”
Grant chuckled.“Yeah, but you still act like a woman half the time.”
“Not wanting to kill everyone doesn’t make me a woman.It makes me human.”
“And you’re saying I’m not?”
“I love you, brother, but you’re spending more time on revenge than on making a difference these days.”
“Because these fuckers tried to screw me!They brought me in so they could get my investment, then they lied and said they didn’t get as much as they got so they didn’t have to repay my money?Fuck no.That’s not how it’s going down.”
