Owen produced the penlight he had earlier that night and handed it to Chloe. She dropped to her knees beside Finn, and while he pulled at the loose slat, she angled the light beam inside, trying to brighten the interior.
“I think something is in there,” she said. “Can you break off a slat?”
Finn did just that, and Chloe shined the light in again.
“It’s a square box or chest of some kind.” She tried to squelch the excitement in her voice, but it was impossible. “Why... There’s no way...” She couldn’t even think straight. A part of her never expected to actually find anything.
“It’s the perfect hiding place,” Finn answered. “No one would ever suspect.”
“It’s a stupid hiding place,” Owen smarted off. “It’s a miracle this building is even still here. Hurricanes, termites, rotten wood. I would’ve taken a bulldozer to this heap years ago.”
“Have you no sense of historical value whatsoever?” Chloe asked in disbelief. Why was she surprised? It was Owen. The only thing he valued was money.
“History never helped me,” Owen snapped. “You can’t spend it.”
She shared a mutual look of disgust with Finn over her cousin’s stupidity. “I wish I wasn’t related,” she said in total honesty, “but there it is.”
A little grin of sympathy softened Finn’s lips before he turned back to the cupola and began working loose more slats to make the hole bigger.
Everyone crowded closer as, piece by piece, he tossed the broken slats aside until he could easily reach in for the prize. Both hands went in, and he slowly lifted out the wooden chest. It was about the size of a shoebox with a curved top and a plain metal hasp. Finn set it on the roof in front of Chloe.
“It should be you who opens it,” he said. “Make it count this time, will you?”
She laughed softly and glanced around at the others, but no one protested. Not even Lisa. They were all staring at the chest, transfixed by the simplicity of its design.
This time Chloe’s hands were steady, her fingers sure as she gently tugged at the hasp. The hinge was stiff from years of salty air, but it gave way, and the moment was at hand. She inhaled a deep calming breath, exhaled slowly, then lifted the curved lid.
Inside were several dark green velvet bags, all different sizes and all tightly closed with golden drawstrings. Her pulse jumped as she pulled out the top one and loosened the delicate rope ties. Elation soared inside her. She could feel heavy lumps through the cloth and knew with certainty she held Queen Louise’s royal parure. She cradled the open bag and poured the contents into her hand.
An exquisite necklace of intertwined emeralds, diamonds, and silver filigree tumbled into her palm, the chain slipping through her fingers like cool spring water. Sunlight danced and reflected in the jewels. Chloe couldn’t take her eyes from it despite the tears suddenly blurring her vision.
She’d done it. And the man from NorthStar had shown her the way. That alone had the power to break the hold the emeralds had on her. She turned to Finn and smiled, suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that she might never have met him if not for Lisa’s treachery. Did that cloud a possible future? She didn’t know, but right now her happiness went bone deep. They were on a rooftop surrounded by guns and sunshine, her hands full of royal emeralds, and all she wanted to do was lean in and kiss Finnegan Kane.
She gave in to the impulse. He met her halfway, and when their lips touched, his hands sank into her hair. She leaned closer, and all thought vanished as she instinctively sought to deepen their contact.
“You’ve got some nerve calling me a slut,” Lisa bit off waspishly.
Chloe sighed against Finn’s mouth and reluctantly pulled back.
“Give me the necklace,” Lisa ordered.
Chloe tightened her grip and ignored the command, too wrapped up in a stunning new revelation. She was smack in the middle of the most incredible find of her life, threatened at gunpoint by a pair of desperate felons on a crime spree, and all she could think of was that she’d picked one hell of a time to realize she was in love.
Lisa got tired of waiting and shoved the gun barrel against Chloe’s shoulder. “Did you hear me? Give it over. Right now.”
She pushed hard enough to rock Chloe forward, and Finn instantly reacted. He snatched Lisa’s wrist and came to his feet in one smooth motion, yanking her and the gun upward as he did so. But Owen was too close and jammed his own pistol into Finn’s ribs.
“Nice try, asshole. Let her go.”
Chloe scrambled to her feet as Lisa twisted out of Finn’s grasp. She glared at him, one hand still holding her gun while the other rubbed at her wrist like it ached. It probably did. Chloe doubted Finn had been gentle with the move.
“Try something like that again,” Owen threatened, “and I’ll shoot first, ask questions later. Got that?” His chest puffed up with blind arrogance, the kind that came from being the one carrying a weapon and feeling invincible. It would be his mistake.
Finn didn’t flinch, didn’t blink, just leveled a flat stare on her cousin that Chloe knew meant business was going down. “You and I are going to have a day of reckoning,” Finn vowed. “Enjoy your little moment in the sun. It won’t last.”
Lisa had a head full of righteous indignation as she took two steps closer to Chloe and held out her hand. “The necklace.”
Chloe’s jaw tightened. Handing the priceless heirloom over to someone who cared nothing for its historical value, only its dollar sign, ripped at her insides. She couldn’t do it, was physically unable to put such incredible beauty into the bloodstained hands of a black widow.
Lisa cared nothing for the turmoil in Chloe’s heart and snatched the necklace out of her hand. Rather than allow a game of tug-o-war to damage the antique jewelry, Chloe released it without struggle. But it nearly made her sick to see pure avarice light up Lisa’s eyes. She looked away, unable to watch.
“Well, well,” came a new voice from behind them. “It’s a most delightful reunion.”
Chloe recognized the accented voice and gasped, the air catching in her lungs. In slow motion, she turned around and faced the nightmare from the Bahamas.
“It makes me happy to see all my American friends in one place,” Hosea said, like they were having a polite gathering on the roof. The gun he held said otherwise. So did the other armed thug climbing through the open hatch to join his boss.
Lisa slipped the hand that held the necklace behind her.
“Damn it all to hell,” Finn muttered.
“We have some unfinished business to take care of,” Hosea said with a beaming smile. But the look in his eyes was anything but friendly.
More like it promised revenge.
Chapter 30
Finn faced the new threat with a silent string of swear words that would make pirates blush. Things were rapidly going from bad to worse. He was unarmed, outnumbered, and out of ideas on what to do next.
“Get her gun,” Hosea said with a nod to his man. The guy maneuvered the angled roof over to Lisa where he lifted the pistol from her one hand. The other she still had stashed behind her, clutching the necklace.
Finn spent a quick second contemplating the fact that Owen wasn’t holding his gun. Did he manage to stash it under his shirt or in his waistband without Hosea noticing? Owen having a gun was a dubious advantage. Finn had no faith in the man’s ability to shoot wisely. They were just as likely to get shot by friendly fire than anything Hosea dished out.
“I told you I’m getting the money.” Lisa sounded angry. “You just need to give me more time!”
Based on the harsh glint in Hosea’s black eyes, he wasn’t in a giving mood. “I am done listening to excuses,” he said in his heavily accented voice. “I did a job for you. I expect to get paid.”
“You only did half a job,” Lisa argued. “You didn’t finish it.”
Finn wondered at the woman’s sanity. Arguing a point was one thing, mouthing of
f to someone as deadly as Hosea wasn’t the act of a reasonable mind. He and Chloe needed to get off this roof before they all paid the price for the woman’s foolishness.
“We agreed on a price. We did the job. You owe the money.” Hosea dismissed her and turned his reptilian stare on Finn and Chloe. “You two stole from me. I can’t let that go unpunished.”
“You stole from us first,” Chloe said.
She was right, but it would hardly matter to the man whose criminal reputation they’d shattered. If Hosea planned to keep his leadership status, he’d have to go back home with revenge complete and big money in his pockets.
“You are right, senorita. I did.” The pirate leader laughed. “And you have some big cojones to sneak on my land and lay waste to my operation. I will be sad to kill you. Maybe I should offer you a job instead, sí?”
He laughed even harder, enjoying his own joke.
It was a classic lose-lose situation. They were open targets without any decent cover and stood on a pitched surface that didn’t lend well for hand-to-hand combat. Behind them, a thirty-foot drop into the harbor, in front of them two armed pirates and a two-story fall to hard packed earth.
There was his dad and Jonathan. Unless there were more of the thugs below and they were at gunpoint, too. More than half an hour had passed as they searched the dry dock. Plenty of time for Jonathan to free his dad from the shed before Hosea and company arrived. He hoped like hell they’d called in the cavalry, but he couldn’t count on that.
“So here we are,” Hosea continued talking. “I see everybody come to this roof, and I ask myself why. What could be so important up here?”
He knew about the emeralds. This was getting out of control, and Finn refused to let the bastard walk away from here with the prize. Desmond and Mathis went to great lengths to protect the jewels. And by the saints, they weren’t getting lost on his watch.
“We can pay you right now.” Lisa practically shouted the words in her haste to gain favor with the bad guys. “We’ve been looking for treasure and found it.”
Hosea bobbed his head, mouth pursed, an impressed look on his face. “This would be very good. Keep talking.”
“Oh, God, no,” Chloe whispered.
“We have emeralds,” she continued in a headlong attempt at suicide. “They belonged to some queen and are priceless.”
“This is what you hide behind your back, si?”
“Ye-yes,” Lisa stammered. She brought her hand around and held out the necklace for display. “This piece alone would pay what I owe. What we owe,” she corrected and looked straight at Owen. He looked less than thrilled to be included.
If Jonathan or his dad planned to make a move, now would be a good time.
“See, Hector, this makes me happy,” Hosea said to the man beside him. “I knew it was smart to come here. We have enjoyed American food, and now we will have money to buy Nikes to take home.”
While the two of them laughed over Hosea’s witty repartee, Finn surveyed what he could of the grounds below. The angle of the roof limited his line of sight, but he thought he spotted a shadow moving along the edge of the lumber corral.
Whatever was about to happen, he needed to make maximum use out of the commotion. He quickly ran down the possibilities, and it didn’t take long. He could rush the pirates, but would probably end up shot by Owen if he chose that same moment to pull his gun from wherever he’d hidden it. The only cover up here was the cupola, and that was no cover at all. It only left one option.
They jump.
“This necklace,” Hosea said as he looked straight at Chloe. “They were going to steal it from you, no?”
Chloe stiffened, but she nodded.
“But we will give it to you,” Owen piped up. “All of it, if you will let us go.”
Owen’s negotiation skills failed to impress anybody, least of all Finn. Begging mercy from a man dead-set on revenge was useless. There was little chance they’d get off this roof alive without an intervention.
“I have much respect for a thief,” Hosea said to Owen with a smile. “It’s a clever man who beats another at the game.”
The idiot actually preened.
“Now we have come full circle.” Hosea pointed his gun toward Finn and Chloe. “You two find this treasure.” Then he nodded to Owen and Lisa. “You two try to steal it. And I”—he thumped his chest—“Hosea Alvarado, a humble businessman from Boca Chica, beat you all.”
The pirate leader was enjoying himself way too much, probably visualizing the palatial new compound he’d build with the massive haul he intended to waltz out of here with. Finn hoped that smugness would be his downfall.
“You will bring me this treasure,” Hosea said to Owen. “I want to see my reward for perseverance.”
No one moved. Owen glanced at them all, as though waiting for someone foolish enough to open their mouth in protest. Or volunteer for the job, which had about a zero-percent probability factor. Finn figured the idiot didn’t really care one way or the other. He was just all about saving his own ass.
Owen had to walk around Chloe to reach the queen’s box, and she glared in fury at him. “Traitor,” she muttered under her breath.
He didn’t respond, just took careful steps on the sloped roof until he got around her, like he was afraid she’d stick a foot out and trip him. It wasn’t a bad idea. At the cupola, Owen squatted down on his haunches beside the box. The lid was still open, and he lightly stroked one of the velvet bags before snapping and latching it shut.
He stood up, the box in his hands. For a second, he didn’t move, as if he’d changed his mind about handing over the prize. Hosea and his posse of one seemed to relish Owen’s torment over losing that which he had intended to steal for himself. It was a game of thieves, and the loser suffered the humiliation of fetch and deliver.
Finn couldn’t wait much longer for Jonathan to act. This little rooftop scene was about to get ugly, and he needed Chloe safe. He needed that distraction, and he needed it now.
Owen held the chest arm’s length in front of him, bearing a peace offering to a man who had no intention of leaving witnesses.
“Stop,” Hosea commanded. “Put the little chest down right there and step back with your friends.”
Owen did as directed, backing away from the pirate with careful steps. Finn contemplated making a grab for the gun he spotted at Owen’s back, but wrestling it from the weasel would require more time than they had to spare.
Hosea signaled Hector to retrieve the cache of jewels, and like a good little mongrel, he jumped to obey his master.
“This is a good start,” Hosea said. “But I am not yet happy. There is one more debt to pay.”
Finn knew it would be his for the punishment he’d delivered in the Bahamas and steeled himself for what was about to happen.
But rather than shoot him or sic his goon to inflict damage, Hosea stepped over to the roof edge and waved down to someone on the ground before turning back to them with a deadly smile of anticipation. “The Holy book decrees an eye for an eye. In this, I believe. You blew up my buildings, so I will now blow up yours.”
Dread sank into Finn’s bones. He must have made a move for the pirate because Chloe grasped his arm. “Finn!”
Her cry barely had time to register in his brain when an earth-shaking boom rattled the building where they stood. Lisa screamed and fell into a heap on the shingles, arms over her head as a rolling black cloud rose from the lumber corral.
Finn’s heart dropped at the loss of expensive teak and mahogany, ship’s planking, and years of aged beams for restoration matching. Bright orange flames were beginning to eat at the old walls, and the well-stocked bins of dried lumber quickly succumbed to a fuel-induced feeding frenzy.
Hosea doubled over laughing, wholly enjoying the destruction. During that brief span of inattention, Finn reacted. He charged across the ten feet separating him and Hector and body slammed the guy, knocking them bo
th to the ground. He used the force of the blow to roll and a death grip on the pirate to fling him toward the open hatch.
Finn followed through to his feet, while the other guy scrambled to stop a life-threatening slide. Without a second’s hesitation, Finn snatched the chest of emeralds and turned, only to stop short on the business end of Owen’s gun.
The damn fool had it aimed right for him like he was the enemy instead of the humble businessman from Boca Chica who just blew up thousands of dollars of rare lumber.
“Owen, no!” Chloe cried out.
When the shot fired, it came from Hosea.
Chapter 31
Fear and adrenaline surged through Chloe. For several heart-stopping seconds, she quit breathing until she realized Finn wasn’t down. Hosea had shot Owen. The dark stain of red blood began to spread on her cousin’s chest just below his shoulder.
He stared down at the horrifying sight in utter shock, then glanced up at Chloe, jaw slack and eyes glassy. Without even bothering to look or aim, he lifted the gun and fired three rounds at Hosea.
Then Finn was on her, yanking her into motion. One hand clamped like steel on her wrist, the other clutching the chest of emeralds, they sprinted over the mossy shingles, building speed and aiming straight toward the roof’s edge.
By the time she realized his intent, there was zero chance to prepare. A few quick steps later, they plunged off the roof and into a three-story fall.
Chloe tried to suck in a huge lungful of air on the way down, but terror and the downward pull of gravity conspired against her. She’d barely managed half a breath before they’d hit the water and sank.
She forgot to tuck during the fall to minimize the impact zone and slice in rather than slam the surface with stinging force. Her spread arms helped slow her descent, though, and she twisted, trying to right herself. A few strong kicks upward, and she burst free, gasping to fill her lungs with air. She treaded water, breathing heavy as gunfire sounded above her. She spun around, looking for Finn and spotted him several feet away.
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