adversarial bickering until you decide one way or another? Newsflash, bucko. I did some shady shit, as I’m well aware, but I’m trying to make up for it because for some reason, I like you.”
She lets her words hang on the air for a minute, then continues. “Hell, I take it back. Maybe I am stupid as fuck because you’re making me feel like I shouldn’t even try here. I’m telling you everything, even the stuff that could get me killed, get my sister fired, and make you hate me. I’m taking all of this and rolling it up into one mega-burrito of suckage, and you’re sitting over there tossing out insults like this is a carnival ring toss game. How about this? You tell me how we fix this?”
Her fire is beautifully painful as she drives a sharp nail into the stack of folders in front of me. Ironically, the one she’s gouging with the tip of her pink nail is the one most relevant. I’m about to do something really fucking stupid, but I want to see just how far she’ll go and how much she knows.
This test is do or die, maybe for us both.
I open the file, turning it around to face her. “What do you see?”
She looks down, her eyes quickly flittering over the paper. “A map. Brazil, Pará state, Carajas National Park.”
“What else?”
She studies for a moment. “The dots here represent various caves, from what I remember, although closer north is where they’ve found significant pieces, ceramic vessels and amethyst and quartz tools showing habitation by indigenous groups.”
I lift an eyebrow. Now she’s showing me a bit more of her skill. “Go on.”
“If I were to guess, it’s likely there are discoveries literally in each and every one of these caves, some more impactful, some less, but I’d bet, and so would every real archeologist, that we could learn a ton about this civilization. But we can’t get in.”
“Oh, but I can.” I let that sink in and see the moment she mentally connects the dots about my negotiations with Nikolai.
“What are you after? I’d assume a gemstone because of your company, but it’s more likely that the area would contain artistic artifacts—figurines, drawings, remnants of vessels. Not exactly a pink diamond.”
“Tell me about the people there,” I say, ignoring her question and pointing at the map. “Not the Brazilians. The indigenous tribes.”
She launches into another blast of information, and I’m honestly a little surprised by her knowledge.
I certainly didn’t think her stupid, but this is not your average dinner conversation trivia. Her book smarts information is vast, varied, and maybe even as useful as she’d claimed.
“New assignment, or additional, I suppose. I want you to research the cave system, the peoples, the possible findings in the area, everything you can get your hands on. Quietly, also known as ‘don’t tell your sister.’ Think you can handle that?”
She sighs heavily, then comes around to sit on my desk. Her ass is on top of the map we were just studying, and it amuses me because it is the last bit of my father’s ill-conceived, ill-fated legacy.
The heat coming from her warms me, though I somehow didn’t realize just how cold I’d gotten during our discussion.
It’s like she’s pulling all the warmth in the room, but as she smiles at me, the edges more than a little sad, she gives it back full force.
“I will do it . . . all of it. Play along as Kitty for Nikolai, tell my sister things as long as it doesn’t affect her career or safety, tell you what they know as long it doesn’t impact Claire, and research whatever you need me to. But what I need you to realize is that I’m doing this because I feel something between us. Maybe if I do these things for you, you’ll finally see that and truly accept it.”
She bends and lays a soft kiss on my lips, and it’s almost as if I can taste the truth in her, like a sour candy, the first bite of the coating puckering and painful like her lies but underneath, the pure sugary goodness of what I hope, pray, and dream is real.
Chapter 19
Carly
My phone rings, and for no good reason, my heart jumps into my throat with hope that it’s Kyle.
But it can’t be Kyle. He doesn’t even have my phone number.
I mean, he could get ahold of me through Strega if he was so inclined. She’s one of half