Steal Me

by Riley Rollins

  “What the fuck have you done to her? You bastard…!”

  Stuart jerked my arm higher, and I gasped. I was breathing fast with pain and rising panic, my eyes darting wildly. I saw Savvin pouring vodka into a glass. Then I watched, dumbstruck as he poured a small vial of powder into the glass…

  “I didn’t want it to be like this, Ana. Not on our first night together.” Stuart gave a nod to Savvin. “But maybe it will help you to calm down, to readjust to your… new circumstances.”

  Savvin wrapped his hand in my hair and forced my head back. I clamped my mouth shut, struggling, until Stuart wrenched my arm again. Searing pain shot through my shoulder and I cried out, only to choke from the drug being poured down my throat.

  “Careful, Sav. Not too much, not tonight,” Stuart said darkly. “I’ve waited too long for this… I want her to feel it.” He let go of my arm as my head started to spin and took me in his arms, pulling me close enough I could smell his breath. He’s been drinking, I thought, as my body flooded with warmth. Maybe I’ve had too much too. I was dizzy and my thoughts seemed to dissolve. When did I drink so much…?

  Stuart laid me down on something soft, as my eyes rolled to the side and I watched Ally being pulled away by the tall, thin man. I knew I was scared for her, but my emotions felt so far away… I could see them still… but I couldn’t feel them anymore…

  I rolled my eyes back to Stu, who sat down beside me. I felt a damp hand push my sweater up and roughly grab my breast. His breath was warm breath on my face.

  “Get the fuck off her, Stuart. Right now, we need to get some shit straight. There’s not much goddamn time left.”

  I felt my body shift as Stu stood abruptly. Their voices were above me, as if they were far away. I wanted to sleep, but something inside told me to fight. I focused on the voices, straining to make sense of the words…

  “What’s not straight, Sav? The deal’s done.” Stu sounded irritated… the way he always did at work. “I got the diamond sent straight to me, before anyone at Hillyard was even expecting it. It’s yours now, and I have the girl. Shit, Savvin, you didn’t even have to get rid of Max for me. Ana decided to come to me all on her own.”

  Get rid of Max… The words echoed inside my head and I felt my stomach churning.

  “Yeah,” Savvin shot back angrily. “But there’s still the fucking little sister to take care of.” I let my head fall to the side and blinked hard. I could see Savvin, standing close to Stu. “And you want Max to go down for the whole fucking mess. You think all that that happens by itself, you little prick? You think a set up on that kind of scale is effortless…?” I saw Savvin take hold of Stuart’s arm. “I’m taking a lot of fucking risk for you, Stuart.”

  I coughed and tried to sit up, only to fall back. I could see Stu shift his eyes to me and then back to Savvin. There was fear in his eyes.

  “I’ve done everything you asked, Sav.” He was talking too loudly now. “Don’t forget, you came to me. This whole fucking thing was your idea and I was willing to give up the diamond… as long as I got Ana and you got rid of fucking Max…”

  Savvin cut him off, shoving him onto the sofa at my feet. “Do you still think that’s all I wanted, Stuart? Do you really think that one diamond, even the Strasnyy Blue, is enough?” Savvin was standing over Stuart, his voice low and his eyes too bright.

  “It’s what we agreed on… you said it was all…”

  Savvin cut him off with a loud, cracking slap across the face and Stuart cried out shrilly, covering his head with his hands, cowering in the corner of the sofa.

  “You think I can’t change the fucking rules, you goddamn little shit?” Savvin was loud, like a man losing control. “Are you forgetting I could just as easily let you take the fall, you gutless prick? I only needed you because you have access to the whole fucking collection, Stuart. And now you’re gonna to give that access to me,” he said, his voice unnervingly quiet now. “Or there will be three dead bodies by morning, and a trail that leads the police straight to you.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut, adrenaline working against the drug in my system. Three dead, I thought. He means me and Ally… and Max…

  Savvin had used Stuart. And Stuart had gone along. He’d been willing to give up the Strasnyy to a thief and a killer… Just to have me. And to get Max out of my life. I could hear him sobbing and opened my eyes to see him handing Savvin a small slip of yellow paper…

  Max, I thought, as I listened to Stuart’s weeping. My thoughts felt like they were far away from me, lost in a fog, and my mouth and tongue felt numb. I remembered being angry with Max, and there had been some awful sadness… but I couldn’t remember why. And I didn’t understand why he wasn’t here with me now. I remembered feeling safe in his arms and I knew that I needed him… but the reason why kept slipping away.

  “Max,” I croaked softly. “I’m here…”

  A shattering crash broke the silence. I watched as Stu scrambled over the end of the sofa, shrieking as a huge black shadow of a man swept over him. I was helpless they fought, bringing lamps crashing down. I saw Savvin disappear through the kitchen, and a moment later I heard the roar of an engine and tires squealing outside. A bone crunching thud nearby was followed by utter silence, and then I felt hands on my body.

  “I’m here, Ana. Thank god, sweetheart, I found you,” Max said, his voice thick with emotion. He lifted me up, cradling my head against his chest.

  “Max, oh god, Max. It’s Savvin…,” I said, as my heavy eyelids dropped. “He has my sister… and he has the stone…”

  My body and mind relaxed then, and I felt the sweet wave of oblivion wash over me. I was in Max’s arms again. And it felt like I was home.

  26

  Max

  “Ana… Ana!” I shook her gently, her head lolling against me. She opened her eyes and I pulled her to her feet. “I need you to stay awake, Ana. Talk to me sweetheart.” I kept her on her feet and moving with me, leaning against me for support. “Tell me what happened, Ana. What did he give you?”

  “Something... in the glass, Max... You have to find Ally… she was here too, and Savvin got away…”

  I stepped over Stuart’s unconscious body and saw the glass and an empty vial next to it on the bar. This had Savvin written all over it. I pictured his face turning blue, as I strangled the life out of him…

  I picked up the glass, almost full with a mound of undissolved powder in the bottom, and let out a breath of relief. Most of the dose was left in the glass. Ana would be drowsy, but she wasn’t in danger…

  “Ana,” I said, “Stay here and stay awake. I need to search the house.”

  “Oh, Max.” She lifted her head weakly to meet my eyes and I cradled her face in my hands. All this fucking shit was my fault. I was the one who’d done this to her…

  “It was Savvin, Max. He used Stu… he wants all the diamonds, but Stu just wanted me. He gave Savvin the Blue.” She opened her eyes a little wider, her voice stronger. “Savvin will kill Ally, Max. And you too… They’d made a deal, but now it’s all out of control…”

  “Two minutes, Ana, and we’re out of here. Just stay awake… keep talking to me.”

  The kitchen was empty and the back door wide open. Savvin was long gone, undoubtedly with the diamond. But had he taken Ally with him… or left her behind…? My pulse was pounding in my chest. I could still hear Ana’s voice, calling her sister’s name from the living room.

  The two bedrooms were empty too. I headed back down the hall and back to Ana, my heart sinking in my chest. If Savvin had taken Ally with him, there was no way to know now how long he’d be willing to keep her alive. He might be panicking… and a man who’s lost control is no longer a predictable one.

  There was one door left, narrower than the others. A water closet, I thought, reaching for the knob and finding it jammed… I looked down to find the key in the lock, and that’s when I heard it. The tiniest shuffling sound inside…

  “Ally… Ally?”

 
; I heard a small voice answer back, weak but alive, and I was flooded with relief.

  I left Ally in Ana’s arms while I dragged Stu to the closet where I’d found her, tied up and terrified, and left him in her place. I turned the key as he mumbled irrationally, his eyes rolling, seeming not even to recognize me. He was a pathetic excuse for a man and possibly unbalanced, but even I didn’t want him dead. Things had already gotten too far out of hand…

  There was no going back to my house, or Ana’s apartment. We had to disappear, but stay in the city, close to where Savvin would be. And close to the diamond.

  Less than an hour later, we’d checked into a small bed and breakfast on the outskirts of the city. A false name, a fistful of cash and we were safe for the night. Ally was already asleep in the bedroom, her breathing and pulse reassuringly strong.

  “No… I can’t, Max… Not another…,” Ana complained as I handed her a bottle of water. “I’m not dizzy anymore…”

  “Drink, Ana,” I said firmly, settling her into a soft chair and covering her with a blanket. I sat down beside her, taking her hand in mine. “I still think you should both have been seen by a doctor…”

  “No, Max. I told you, we’re fine,” she said, taking a swallow of water. “There would be questions we can’t answer…”

  She looked at me, her eyes hard. “Why did you go to Stu’s place, Max?” She pulled her hand out of mine, and looked away from me. “I heard you this morning, at home… on the phone. Were all three of you in on it, Max? To steal the whole fucking jewel collection and set me up as the thief?” She got up and walked away, her back to me, staring out the window into the darkness.

  “You came here to seduce me, Max… to get to the diamonds. Will you just disappear… once you have everything you came for?” Her voice was flat, unnaturally calm. But I saw her bottom lip begin to tremble…

  I had her in my arms, crushing her to me, when her emotions broke loose and came flooding out. The anger and betrayal she felt, all because of what I’d done…

  I held her as her body shook with her sobs, angry and sick inside at what I’d put her through. I led her back to the sofa, pulling her down onto my lap, holding her until her breathing steadied and stroking her hair. “Ana, if there was only something I could say… some way to make you understand…” I held her face in my hands and wiped the tears away. “I’m not a good man, Ana… and I’ve lied to you. I did come here to steal the diamond… and there are reasons for that. But what happened between us was no lie, Ana.”

  I pulled out my phone and put it into her hands. She looked from it to me. “Please… Do exactly what I tell you,” I said. ‘It’s complicated.”

  She punched in the codes and numbers precisely as I told her. Minutes later, she stared at the screen, flipping through page after page of information. It was all here and now she knew how to access it. She could put me in prison for the rest of my life, and my entire family too… if she chose. I was now just as vulnerable to her, as she was to me.

  “I don’t…,” she began. “Why, Max? Why show me all this?”

  “Because I love you, Ana. Because I choose to trust you. And because I believe that you love me too…” I stroked her cheek with the back of my fingers, aching to kiss her, to hold her. “There’s still more, that you need to see…”

  I directed her to a file, one sent by Sergei. In it was the entire history of the Strastnyy diamond, going back through the centuries. It detailed all that was ever known about the stone, until it had finally disappeared one hundred and fifty years ago. There were even images of the original estate inventory made at the death of Anton Kozlov in 1797. It described the diamond in perfect detail. All except for the hidden inscription. That had passed from generation to generation, only in legend…

  I watched as Ana read, absorbing everything, understanding without explanation. She already knew more about the diamond than almost anyone in the world, but I had given her the rest of the story… what was known only to my family. It was everything I had left to give, but for one thing.

  “When the pendant was made, early in the eighteenth century, it was common for the stones to be in closed settings.”

  “The backs of the diamonds were covered in foil to increase brilliance, and then the stones were set into a solid cup of silver, closing in the entire back of the stone to protect the foil,” Ana said, nodding, wiping her eyes. “It’s common knowledge…”

  “The part that no one knows, outside of my family, is that Catherine had the setting altered, before she gave it to her lover, Anton…” Ana’s tears had dried, and her eyes were wide and clear as she listened.

  “Catherine had the blue diamond removed and the setting refashioned with an invisible hinge. Once the diamond had been replaced, there was no outward sign anything had been changed. But before that was completed, Catherine had an inscription carved inside the cup that held the stone. The words are in French, the language of love even then.”

  I took Ana’s hands in mine, holding them to my chest. “The story has been passed from father to son, from mother to daughter in my family. The inscription is there, Ana, just as you always knew it would be. For my beloved Anton, from his Catherine.” I kissed the soft palm of one of her hands… then the other. “I can tell you how to open it, Ana. And I can tell you the rest of the words hidden inside…”

  I took her in my arms and kissed her. My body was aching with need for her. It took everything left in me, to ignore its painful insistence. But right now, it was her forgiveness I wanted most. And for her to know, that she was truly loved…

  I leaned in and whispered the words, as true today as they had been so long ago, softly in her ear.

  27

  Ana

  Max tucked me in, insisting that I try to sleep. I insisted on the couch, wanting to stay near him. He spent most of the night making calls, sitting at the small dining table and trying to keep his voice low. He told me about his uncle Sergei, back in Russia and how close they were. In spite of myself, I was beginning to understand how badly they wanted the Strastnyy back, and what it meant to their family. Max explained, that with the connections his family already had in D.C. and New York, that Savvin would be stopped. That the Blue would be taken back and the rest of collection left untouched.

  In spite of his reassurances, I slept fitfully, images of Savvin invading my dreams. Whenever I woke, Max was beside me, stroking my hair and talking to me gently until I fell back to sleep. No man had ever been so kind, so patient, so reassuring. But he was also a thief, I reminded myself, and a part of the Russian mafia. He’d promised me he’d get the diamond back from Savvin, but he’d never said what would happen to it, once he did…

  I shifted uncomfortably and pulled my blanket up under my chin, listening as he talked to his uncle.

  “Because there was no need to kill him, Serge. Collins is weak, even disturbed, but he’s not a complete fool. He’s in too deep himself… He could be charged with kidnapping, even attempted murder, if he goes to the authorities.”

  Max was right. Stu had gotten involved with Savvin, to try to get rid of Max and because he wanted me for himself. For that, he’d been willing to sacrifice the Strastnyy. He could never go to the police now.

  “It’s Savvin who’s the wild card here. And I still don’t know if Stuart gave him what he needs to access the rest of the jewels. But he does know that I’ll be coming for him.” Max paused, listening to his uncle. “Only if I have to… I’m hoping for another way. But he could take us all down with him, if he’s not stopped.”

  I couldn’t catch the rest of what Max said. Moments later he put the phone down and looked over to see my eyes on him. He smiled, coming to sit next to me. “It’s still not daylight, Ana. You should sleep. Hell, so should I,” he said, running a hand through his hair.

  I sat up, putting my hands on his broad, strong chest. I could see the strength and determination in his eyes. He had saved me, and he had saved my sister. No matter what else he was, when I
looked into his eyes, I still saw the man I’d fallen in love with.

  “What’s going to happen, Max?” I searched his eyes. “It was the diamond you came here for…” I couldn’t meet his eyes then. “And Savvin set me up. When they discover the Blue is missing…”

  “He wouldn’t have released anything implicating you to the authorities yet. That would tip them off to increase security on the jewels, and that’s the last thing he wants. And now, there’s nothing left to give them. I’ve destroyed the files, Ana. All of it. Savvin has no way left, to link you to any of this.”

  Ana,” he said harshly, lifting my chin, forcing me to face him. “I’ll get the diamond back, if it’s the last thing I do, and Savvin’s never going to get anywhere near the rest of the collection.”

  “Max,” I said, touching the muscle in his jaw with my fingertips. We looked into each other’s eyes as my thoughts warred inside my head. I couldn’t forget the sense of betrayal I’d felt when I’d learned Max had lied to me. And that he’d come here only for the diamond. And was looking for it still…

  I thought about the history he’d shown me on the Blue. How it had belonged to his family… and that by rights it still should. And if the inscription was really inside the setting, as he told me, it would be indisputable proof…

  I understood his family’s desire for the stone to be returned. I knew too, that it would take decades or more to have it returned by legal means, if indeed it ever was.

  I looked into his face as he looked earnestly back into mine, feeling my body responding… warming under his gentle touch. He’d told me the truth about himself and his family, and given me enough to turn them all in, for crimes going back over the last fifty years.