Page 126

To do what?

Something clangs in the background, followed by someone murmuring apologies.

I snatch my hand away and return my attention back to the photos.

Clearing my throat, I point to the one of the Sotheby’s auction. “Why are you standing to the side in every photo? Don’t people usually stand in the middle? And what are you holding?”

His eyes flicker open, but he doesn’t answer me.

Chapter 40

Past: Four Years After the Accident—Twenty-Eight Years Old

A hushed murmur risesfrom the crowd as I stride to the front row of Conference Room A inside the Kensington Hotel next to The Orchid.

I know what they’re whispering about.

The youngest Anderson son was just promoted to CFO of Fleur Entertainment Holdings. And he’s interrupting the Sotheby’s auction that has been going on for the past hour and a half.

Ignoring the camera flashes and the subtle pointing of fingers, I unbutton my black suit jacket and smooth my fingers over my tie before taking a seat in the spot saved for me and carefully placing Lexy’s journal on my lap.

The auctioneer, a tall man with white hair and horn-rimmed glasses, clears his throat and slams the gavel.

“Quiet, please! For the next item on the list, a rare and exciting find aboard the famous Spanish sunken ship,La Reina Estrellada, otherwise known as The Starlit Queen. The ship disappeared into the frigid depths of the Atlantic near the Bermuda Coast in 1770. For over two hundred years, explorers around the world have tried, to no avail, to uncover the resting place of the vessel.”

He clicks a button and a spotlight shines on a glass box to the left of the podium, the image of the contents also projecting on the large screen behind him.

I rake in a sharp inhale as the crowd gasps.

This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for.

A single glittering gold coin is carefully displayed atop black velvet, the spotlight highlighting the weathered edges and Spanish words inscribed on the surface.

“Once considered an impossible treasure—the crème de la crème for all treasure hunters—The Starlit Queen has recently been recovered, and with her are twenty-five cases of Spanish gold, coins, and jewels, all of which have been claimed by the Spanish government. However, the government has graciously allowed for one rare Royal 8 Escudos coin to be sold to the highest bidder—a collector who wants to own a piece of haunting history.”

Impossible treasure.

The words ricochet in my mind.

Fragments of the January morning five years ago fill my consciousness. My lips twitch when I remember Lexy’s teasing grin as we huddled in front of the crackling fireplace after our impromptu snowball fight outside my apartment.

How she bit her lip when she scribbled the fifth item on her bucket list.

Item 5: Get a piece of treasure from a sunken ship.

Dreamer: You’re laughing at me, Ethan, but this stuff is out there, waiting for us to find it. Do I need to remind you of my motto again?

Keeper: Good luck going againstprofessionaltreasure hunters, Nova. Need I say it again?Professional.As in, they’ve spentyearslooking for sunken treasure, and you want to somehow come across it?

Dreamer: Looks like you need a reminder: If I believe it, who’s to say it isn’t true?

My heart twists, the sharp pain my constant companion. Five years later, my darling Nova is still in a coma.

The agony has never faded—the gash in my heart only widened.

When my assistant, Debbie, told me the sunken treasure was found a month ago, I called in various favors to have Sotheby’s host their auction here at The Kensington. My home turf.

Because this treasure is mine.