Page 77

Story: Pick Your Battles

Amber’s eyes flickered to something off-screen. “Duty calls, Joles. Get Knox to set up the chat and make sure Ford is in on the call. He’s family now. I’ll talk to you soon. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

She pocketed the phone and thought about her sister’s words. Ford was family now. He’d been pseudo-family before because he’d been Knox’s best friend. But now that she was in love with him? Full family status in Amber’s eyes. Jolie couldn’t find a single problem with that.

When she walked back over to the men, Ford searched her gaze. “All good?”

She nodded. “Knox told them all what happened and Amber wanted to talk to me. In fact, they want to set up a video chat with everyone later today.”

He smiled. “Good idea. It’ll help them all to see that you’re both safe.”

“Amber wants you in on the call, too.”

“Me?”

She laughed. “Yes, you.” She wasn’t saying more with Marcus right there, but Ford figured it out, anyway.

“Is this the family inquisition stage of our relationship?”

His wide grin told her he wasn’t worried. “I think so.”

He squeezed her into his side and kissed her hair. “Bring it on. And Marcus says he’s got more information to share with you.”

Marcus nodded. “It’s for all four of you, but I figure it’s okay to tell you first.”

Her stomach tightened. “Is it about the farm? Is something wrong?”

Marcus shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong. In fact, it’s good news.”

That was a relief. She didn’t want to face any more bad news for a long while.

“The diamonds that were in the canister are worth over seven million dollars.”

Her jaw dropped open. “McConnell threw seven million dollar’s worth of diamonds into a pond?”

Marcus nodded. “He did. And the company has been hoping for their return for all that time. In fact, they wanted them returned so badly, they set up a reward.”

“A reward?”

He nodded, smile wide. “A reward of a hundred thousand dollars.”

The amount had her jaw dropping. That was a huge amount of money. “Don’t tell me McConnell gets that money. He’s the one who stole them.”

Marcus laughed. “Nope, he’s not getting it. It’s going to the people who returned the diamonds.”

His smile had her looking at Ford, who looked as dazed as she felt. She couldn’t form the question.

As if he knew that, the police chief grinned. “The four of you located and returned the diamonds to their rightful owners. They’ll divide the money equally among you.”

She was too stunned to react for a long moment. Then she grinned. “Seriously? We get the reward because the idiot hid diamonds on our property?”

Ford laughed. “That’s going to piss off McConell.”

She agreed. “That’s almost the best part.”

Marcus shot up that eyebrow again. “And what’s the best part?”

She laughed. “Telling my oldest brother that the farm isn’t going to be as big a financial burden as we thought.”