Page 13 of Claimed Gem

Ries – Warning noted. I’ll let you know when I have something.

Nicolai – Be careful. I’ll find a way to tell Damon.

Ries – Make sure he knows I’m working on this.

Nicolai – I’ll do my best but you know Damon.

Ries - Yeah, that’s why I need you to run interference there and give me some time to figure this out.

Nicolai – I’ll do what I can. Just remember, if something happens to you, Damon will have both of our heads.

Ries –I’ll be careful. Later.

Nicolai – Sooner.

Ries tossed his phone onto the mattress and leaned back, shutting his eyes for a moment. It was obvious that Nicolai didn’t trust Stephanie. Ries understood his brother’s concern but instead of taking his advice, it only made him more willing to involve Stephanie.

Damon and Nicolai didn’t trust Ries to make good decisions. Admittedly, he couldn’t blame them. For so long he’d been so afraid of failing their expectations that he hadn’t even tried to meet them.

But he was going to prove them wrong this time. Maybe after this situation was resolved,maybe then his brothers would be willing to admit that he was capable of making sound decisions and he could make useful contributions to their lives. Or maybe they would still see him as the same baby brother screw-up.

But first, he was going to prove it to himself.

7

Stephanie didn’t breatheeasy until she stepped into her own apartment, shucking her shoes as she headed for the bathroom. She removed her clothing as she went, tossing the skimpy uniform into the bathroom sink to be hand washed before her next shift.

She stepped under the hot spray of water and closed her eyes, tiredness pulling at her. Ries seemed like a nice guy when he wasn’t drunk, and she hoped he didn’t realize the small deception she’d perpetrated while in his room.

The knock at the door had been Carlos, a man who identified himself as Ries’ driver. He’d been carrying a tray with a bottle of alcohol sitting on it.

“Ries requested I bring this up,” Carlos told her, after introducing himself.

Stephanie had taken the bottle and after opening it up and smelling the strong alcohol aroma, she’d poured most of it down the sink and replaced the rest with water. The last thing Ries needed right now was to get drunk, and she refused to sit by and do nothing if she could help it.

After disposing of the alcohol, she poured Ries a glass of plain water. “He’s not going to get drunk on my watch,” she murmured to her own reflection as she’d returned to where Ries and his brother were still talking.

She showered and then crawled beneath the covers, hoping to get a few hours of sleep before she needed to report to work again. She was working a split shift today and would have time for a lunch break with Ries between her first and second shift.

“Guess your dull life isn’t so dull now,” she told herself as she drifted to sleep.

A few hours later, she arose and got ready for work once again. Thankfully, she had two uniforms and she donned it after washing out the one she’d left lying in the sink and hanging it up to dry over the shower bar.

She headed for work, her eyes keeping a close watch out for any signs of the man she’d followed the night before.

Ries had said he would see her tonight so she wasn’t surprised when he showed up. She didn’t like knowing that the assassin was out there wandering around the small town, putting Ries at a severe disadvantage because he didn’t know who was after him.

“So, who are you waiting for?” one of the waitresses asked as she waited at the bar for her next order to be filled.

“What? I’m not waiting for anyone.”

Several other waitresses joined them, wanting in on the conversation. “Oh, come on Stephanie. We know you’ve been hanging out with that rich guy, Ries.”

“No,” Stephanie shook her head. “We’re not…”

The first waitress, Mandy, waved a hand in her face. “You can’t fool us, sugar. We’ve seen it all. When you went with him up to his room a few nights ago, that was one thing. But we both,” Mandy waved a finger between herself and Pepper, one of the other waitresses, “saw you leaving the hotel earlier this morning. It was four o’clock in the morning, hon.”

“Yes, it was. So, tell us all. Is he as good in bed as the tabloids say?”