That first box had revealed a gaudy ruby choker. The diamonds surrounding each princess-cut stone were as big as my pinkie nail.
I wasn’t a part-time gemologist so I had no idea how much this stuff was worth, but I knew a single one of these items would change someone’s life for a decade.
In this economy, maybe five years, but still,fuck.
More rubies came. So many rubies. Too many rubies. In all shapes and cuts and sizes. Ones I didn’t know existed.
Was this the wrong time to tell Stan that I hated rubies?
“I’m going to get a headache from all this red,” I mumbled two hours later, as we trawled through box after box after box. Pockets and drawers within the briefcases made the task take an age. I didn’t think jewelry stores contained this many pieces. “Do you even wear any of this stuff?”
Yseult shook her head. “Not my style.”
“You ever think about donating it to a museum?”
“It’s entailed. Not mine. My brother’s. Anyway, the collection belonged to him until recently. I’m not sure what you did, but he arranged matters with the insurance company and…”
“Like you don’t know, Yseult.” Stan smirked at her. “I saw your most recent blog.”
With a confused huff, I turned to the second-to-last jewelry box in my case. Unlike the others, it showed a lot of signs of wear and tear. Small stains in the velvet, little pockets where the fabric had rubbed away. Marks on the gold hinges and the clasp at the front spoke of an antiquity that surpassed the others in the collection.
Yseult’s smile turned self-satisfied. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Stan.”
“Hmm, I bet.” When I dropped the case, Stan shifted. “Okay,duci?”
“Yeah, the hinge’s rusty. It won’t open.” I shoved it at him when another attempt saw the box tumbling from my grip and landing on the pile of other velvet-covered monstrosities. “Here. What blog are you talking about anyway?”
“It’s calledI Told—” Yseult broke off. “Custanzu?”
“Cristu.”
Whipping my head around to face him, I demanded, “Is that it?”
His hands wereshaking. I hadn’t seen them shake when he’d held a knife/gun and there hadn’t been a minute’s hesitation or a quiver in his voice when he’d tortured Dante.
I peeped over his shoulder and immediately grimaced. “My god, they’re awful!”
He released a bark of laughter. “They are! But they’reours!”
“You’re sure?” Yseult inquired.
His thumb stroked over one of the gaudy quail-egg rubies with as much reverence as he used while stroking my clit.
Unsure if I was offendedorcomplimented considering the value of this beast, I nudged him with my elbow. “Stan?”
No answer.
“Baby?”
I twisted to stare up at him and caught his expression at a different angle. The hope etched into those hard lines… Fuck. My heart clenched, squeezing and racing at the same time. I’d never seen that expression on him before and, crazy as it might have seemed, I knew that was how he’d look when I gave him our first child.
Boy or girl. It wouldn’t matter to him. He’d just see the future in his arms and that was what’d count the most.
Gently squeezing his arm, I nodded at Yseult and began clearing up the other boxes, storing them in the cases so the security guards would be able to retrieve them.
A part of me thought he’d fuck me silly once the Valentinis had their rubies back in-house, but if anything, there was a veneration to his stillness that I hadn’t anticipated.
“I think we’ve lost him to the ugliness.”
