He smiled back at me, pride in his eyes, and one of the last times I’d ever look at him up close, but I didn’t know that. “Yes, princess. It’s yours.”
Olena tutted. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. I trust you brought payment?”
My father gave her a feline smile and reached for the briefcase near his feet. “Of course.”
“Open it,” she demanded when he lifted the case.
He did as he was told and set the case on the table. I’d seen the money myself earlier. It looked completely real—and this would not have been the first time we’d used counterfeit cash for a deal. The bills could stand up to scrutiny. They had all the proper watermarks and security threads. There was only one way to prove they were fake. If lit on fire, the ink burned bright green rather than black. Lucky for us, not many people were in the habit of lighting their payment on fire.
Olena’s eyes widened at sight of the neatly stacked bills lining the case. Image after image of Benjamin Franklin’s apathetic smirk stared up at us. “I have heard rumor,” she said inher icy, lyrical tone, “of a clever man and his clever daughter moving around this country taking advantage of hardworking people.” She pinched a stack of bills between her needle fingers and lifted it from the case.
My heart kicked up a gear and sent blood rushing through my veins. I fought to keep calm and hold still. I noted my father’s jaw twitch from the corner of my eye. But ever the con man, he played it cool. “I’ve heard that rumor too. That’s why I’ve taken measures to protect my family and my assets against any danger.” He nodded over at me still holding the diamond in my hand.
“Hmm,” Olena purred and freed the top bill from the stack. “Smart of you to protect the things you hold valuable. I do the same.” She jerked her head toward her henchman and said something in their language.
He approached her, and when he pulled a shiny silver lighter out of his pocket, I nearly fainted.
I glanced at my father, knowing it was all over if they lit that bill on fire. We’d be exposed. Caught.
He didn’t even blink, and I hated him. Hated how calm he was in the face of imminent danger. Hated how I couldn’t reach out for his hand and tell him I was scared. Hated that he’d trained me to put on the same façade and keep it together no matter what.
I let my training take over and dampened the emotions slicing me raw inside. “If you burn that, we won’t replace it,” I said coolly.
My father tittered a laugh and placed his hand on my arm. “Let her do what she wants, princess. She needs to know she can trust us.”
I felt my pulse leaping in my wrist where his hand lay. I tried to read his face, to know what he was thinking, and, more importantly, what his plan was for escaping this room when the bill burst into green light like a firecracker.
Olena only continued to smile at us, giving nothing away. “Sweet girl. Thinks I care about a hundred dollars when there are millions more.” She brusquely said something to her henchman, and he flicked open the lighter. The flame sparked to life and licked the edge of the bill before I could take my next breath.
I continued not breathing because I was too shocked when the bill burned like a real one. The edge of it caught fire and curled with a wisp of black smoke.
The room was tense enough to explode.
My father calmly held up his hands. “There, see? All this fuss for nothing. Now—”
Olena narrowed her eyes and barked something at her henchman. He dropped the bill and stomped out the flame while she reached for the stack she’d pulled it from and took another one from the center. “Again,” she demanded and held up another crisp bill.
“Olena, please—” my father said with a weary sigh, and I heard it in his voice. The tiniest tell only I could make out. We were about to get caught.
I glanced at the case and realized he’d lined the stacks with real bills, but their insides were made up of the fakes for this exact reason. My father expected a test; he knew she was going to take a bill from the top of a stack and burn it to make sure it was real. His error was assuming one bill would satisfy her.
Olena muttered something in the other language, and her henchman flicked the lighter again. When this bill caught, it burned emerald like a radioactive orb.
I didn’t have time to panic because a hell we weren’t even expecting broke loose.
A loud clang called our attention to the living room. The waiter dropped the silver dome, which had been covering one of the plates. I’d honestly thought he’d left, and Olena must have too, based on the startled look on her face. The domeclattered on the floor, and when the waiter bent as if he were going to pick it up, he reached for his ankle and retrieved a gun. He stood back up with it aimed right at us.
“FBI, nobody move. This room is surrounded.”
Nobody listened, and everybody moved.
Olena’s henchman reached for his own gun at the same time my father leapt out of his chair. I knew he was armed, and it would be a matter of seconds before someone pulled a trigger.
I tried to dive under the table, but Olena grabbed me. Her bonelike fingers dug into my upper arm hard enough to bruise. “Where do you think you’re going, princess?” she snarled.
I shot her a terrified glance and prayed she didn’t pull out a gun too. Though, Olena probably knew how to kill me with one hand if she wanted, no weapon needed.
A gunshot rang out, and we both flinched. Someone cried out in pain, and I was too terrified to figure out who it was.
