Page 8 of Claimed Gem

“No falling in love or getting emotions involved. I’ll help her find and nail the criminals, and if I get to nail her in the process, that is an added bonus.”

He laid there for a while longer, trying to come up with a game plan. Firstly, he needed to make sure that Stephanie understood his reasons for helping her get to the bottom of what she’d witnessed. He needed to make sure she knew that his decision was his own and had nothing to do with her personally. Ries didn’t want to risk her getting the wrong idea.

There was also a bonus to Stephanie knowing his help had no romantic ties, whatsoever. Ries wouldn’t have to worry about forgetting where the lines were drawn, even though he was the one drawing them.

Ries was aware he had a savior complex. He liked the idea of swooping in and helping a damsel in distress but whenever he’d given into that notion, he’d ended up getting hurt. The last time…

Ries rolled over and punched the pillow next to him, scrunching it up beneath his pounding head as he tried to push the past away, but that door had already opened and wouldn’t be closed. He hadn’t always been so reckless with his life. There was a time when he’d thought a gorgeous woman wanting to spend time with him had meant they truly liked him. He’d learned the hard way that wasn’t the case. He’d been a fast learner, too. It had only taken one such episode to teach him that when put up against his brother Damon, he would always be seen as coming in second place. After all, Damon was the force behind the family business and he alone held the Kafatos family purse strings.

Once women found out where the real power lay , they had no qualms about dumping Ries in search of more fruitful prey. The saddest part was that Damon didn’t seek their attention nor did he appear to actually want it. Ries had taken a page out of his brother’s playbook and while he enjoyed the attention, he refused to allow his heart to get involved ever again. He and Damon were as different from one another as day and night, except in their dedication to keeping their hearts locked up tight.

Ries sighed as sleep began to pull him under. He welcomed it as a respite from the thoughts rolling around in his brain and the persistent sick feeling that still consumed his body. He allowed his body to relax into the mattress and moments later he was asleep.

5

Stephanie droppedoff her serving tray and arched her back, stretching her arms overhead to relieve the tension that had gathered in her neck and shoulders after working a six-hour shift.

“Tired?” Terri asked, dropping her tray on the bar and leaning her elbows on the polished surface.

“Yes. We were pretty busy tonight,” Stephanie told her, dropping her arms and reaching around behind herself to untie her apron. Her shift was over, the bar was now closed, and the only task left was to take out the trash and then head home where she planned to sleep for the next twelve hours.

“It’s tourist season,” Terri told her. “Want me to take the trash out tonight?”

Stephanie shook her head, “No, I’ll get it. You worked longer than I did.”

“Okay. Have a good night.”

“You too,” Stephanie watched Terri toss her apron into the dirty laundry basket beneath the bar and then she headed for the door. “Bye, Tomas.”

“Hey, wait up. I’m ready to go and I’ll walk you out, that is, if Stephanie’s okay locking the back door?” Tomas asked, hope in his eyes that maybe Terri would finally give him the time of day.

Stephanie hid her smile and nodded, “Sure. I’ll drop the trash and lock the door behind me. Get out of here, you two.”

She waited until they left and then walked over and made sure the front door was locked up tight. She headed for the kitchen area, turning lights off as she went. She retrieved her purse and then picked up the two bags of trash sitting by the back door. She made sure the lock was engaged and then turned the lights off as she pushed through the door, stepping out into the night air.

It was late at night and as she walked toward the large dumpster at the corner of the back lot, she couldn’t help but notice how quiet it was. The bar closed at two o’clock in the morning, and after cleaning up, Stephanie guessed it was probably closer to three in the morning.

She tossed the trash bags into the dumpster and then turned toward home. She reached the street and then froze as movement on her right had her stepping back to conceal herself. It was an instinctive reaction but proved to be the correct one.

Across the street and just around the corner, two men were talking, almost standing in the middle of the street. Given how quiet it was, their words carried to her ears as if she were standing right next to them.

She peeked around the corner of the building, covering her mouth with her hand when she recognized the younger criminal from the other night. The man who’d sold the stolen vase was standing not thirty feet from her.

One part of Stephanie wanted to call the police and make sure that justice was served, but she kept her phone in her pocket. The police had been completely unwilling to help and she had no confidence that it would be any different tonight.

The two men nodded at one another and then took off, going in different directions. Stephanie watched the criminal head down the street and before she knew it, she was following him, from a discreet distance. She wanted to find out where he was going and maybe then she’d have something to tell the police that would make them take action. Someone needed to pay for their crimes and Stephanie didn’t mind helping that happen.

He wandered down several streets, walking almost five blocks away from the bar before he turned into a small fenced warehouse space. He walked up to the door and knocked twice. The door opened and after a brief conversation which she couldn’t hear, another man joined the first and they walked away from the building, approaching her hiding place and giving her an opportunity to listen in on their conversation.

Normally, she would have been concerned that she wouldn’t understand anything, but to her surprise, they began speaking English. She looked at the second man a bit closer and was shocked to realize that he didn’t look Greek in the least. She had a very bad feeling in her stomach.

“Did you get it?” the Greek criminal asked.

“Yes, did you bring my proof?” the English man asked.

“You’ll get your proof.”

“I need Ries Kafatos dead, the sooner the better.”