Page 39 of Diamonds (Aces Underground #2)

MADDOX

A lissa’s a genius. That fight with Pia was the perfect cover for me to slip away into Rouge’s office.

I’m able to slip in easily—she keeps it open during operating hours—without attracting the attention of any passersby.

A lot of people are running to see the fight in the Diamonds section, and the people in Hearts—the closest to Rouge’s office door—have eyes only for each other.

Rouge’s office is decorated just as lavishly and obnoxiously as I imagined.

The walls are upholstered in rich crimson velvet with gold trim.

The lighting is deliberately low, with jewel-toned sconces shaped like inverted goblets casting a moody glow.

A chandelier—massive, dripping with garnet and ruby crystal—hangs from the ceiling.

The floor is dark mahogany, polished to a mirror finish and half-covered in layered Persian rugs in rich reds and golds.

A decanter set rests on a bar cart in one corner.

Rouge's desk is lacquered cherry wood overlaid with red mother-of-pearl inlay. The legs are carved into sinuous curves like blooming roses. The desk accessories—penholder, paperweight, letter opener—are all gold and black. Behind the desk sits Rouge’s throne—a high-backed chair upholstered in crimson crushed velvet with clawed brass feet.

Interspersed through the office are curiosities, no doubt from Rouge’s travels to find waitstaff. There’s a Fabergé egg, a gold-dusted Venetian mask, a tiny carved obsidian panther. I look around for a knickknack that might be the writing raven from my father’s riddle, but no dice.

I’m also not seeing a way to get into Rouge’s private space where she and I fucked all those years ago. It must be through her office. The last thing I remember before those damned shrooms took hold was her escorting me into her office. There must be a hidden door somewhere.

I’ve seen it before. I close my eyes, try to remember… But I started hallucinating the moment I walked in her office.

Guess I’ll have to figure this one out for myself.

I walk the perimeter, trying to find an obscured passageway.

I look behind a painting of a grave-looking man—Ruskin Montrose, Rouge’s grandfather—but no luck there.

A dark cherry bookshelf stands in one corner.

I pull out books at random, seeing if one will trigger the opening of a secret passageway.

God, I feel like I’m in the middle of a fucking Scooby-Doo cartoon.

This is getting me nowhere.

Then I see an object in the far-right corner of the office, beside a lavish fainting couch layered in red cashmere throws and silk cushions. An antique armoire.

An armoire…in an office? Seems a little fishy.

Maybe I need to stop thinking like Scooby-Doo and start thinking like C.S. Lewis.

I open the door of the wardrobe, knock on the back of it. It doesn’t sound like it’s against a solid wall. My knocks reverberate in a way indicating a much bigger space behind the wall.

But how to open it?

I return to Rouge’s desk, fiddle around with the objects on it. Something has to trigger the opening in the back of the armoire.

Fuck. It’s no use. I sit back in Rouge’s chair, defeated, letting my arms land on the armrests with a thud.

My left hand hits a ruby embedded on the arm of a chair. It goes down, and whirring sounds from behind me. I turn around, and the back of the armoire is opening.

Holy shit. I did it.

But no time to waste. Alissa can only beat up on Pia for so long.

I run into the bedroom.

This I remember. The extravagant four-poster bed with dark-red sheets, the vintage Frigidaire on the corner from which—my stomach twists—Rouge produced a goblet of blood. And next to the fridge?—

The safe! Just as I remembered it.

I reach into my right-hand pants pocket and pull out the key. My fingers are shaking as I place it in the keyhole.

Moment of truth.

What I find in this safe could change everything.

I won’t be able to unsee whatever it is.

I take a deep breath and turn the key.

The safe opens.

And…

Brilliant red gemstones spill out. Red. Rubies, I assume.

Except, no.

I know a few things about gemstones. I have a few pairs of cufflinks with precious stones inlaid in them.

I wore the sapphire ones the first time I came to the club.

I used to own a set with rubies, but I never wore them so I pawned them one month when my profits from the store were a little low.

A shame. I could have worn them with my Valentine’s Day outfit.

These gemstones are lighter than rubies. And when I pick one up and hold it to the light, it sparkles radiantly. These stones are also in round cuts as opposed to the oval cuts that rubies are traditionally shaped into.

These aren’t rubies.

They’re diamonds.

Red diamonds.

Dozens of them.

Holy shit.

A handful of these is easily worth a million bucks. The total contents of this safe would run into the billions.

My father was a wealthy man, especially before he blew all his money on legal bills and hush money. But he could never imagine anything like this.

Not what I was expecting at all.

I dig through the priceless contents of the safe until I land on something larger. I pull it out.

An ornamental pin in the shape of a flower. Petals enameled in soft pink and pearl white, edged in rose gold. At its center, a single clear crystal sparkles. Delicate and elegant.

A brooch. In the shape of a lotus.

The gift Wade Gimble gave to Svetlana on her last night.

My heart pounds.

We suspected Rouge had something to do with Svetlana’s disappearance. Now we may have proof.

But I need more. I have to keep digging, see what I can find.

A few seconds later, I hit the damned jackpot.

A small notebook. Red, of course, with a golden spiral keeping it bound.

I open it.

Names. Hundreds of names. With dates going back several years.

I flip to the back of the notebook. There, written in neat, cursive handwriting, are two names.

Belikova, Svetlana (9D)

Thiên, May (7S)

Next to both names, an arrow. Written next to the arrow are the letters “S.C.”

Spades… Clubs…?

I don’t know.

There’s too much.

In the margin next to May’s name is a tiny drawing of a crown followed by “D4” written in the same tidy handwriting.

Dam Number Four, where we found May’s head. That’s what the little sketch of a crown must be referring to, just like in the riddle.

Next to Svetlana’s name, another crown. This one followed by “D1.”

My breath hitches. Was Svetlana beheaded as well?

When we were looking through Alissa’s Maps app last Sunday—just one week ago—Alissa mentioned that there was a Dam Number One as well.

This means… We can show this to the police. Lead them to the first dam in that nature preserve next to O’Hare.

And if we find a head matching Svetlana’s description…

It’s all over.

It’s all fucking over.

Oh my God.

We did it.

“Maddox?”

I jerk toward the sound of my name, ready to pounce.

But it’s Alissa. Sweet Alissa.

I run to her, throw my arms around her. “Alissa. We fucking did it.” I hold up the notebook. “This contains enough evidence to put Rouge away forever.” I break the embrace, take a few steps back. “Wait. Where is Rouge if you’re not distracting her?”

Alissa holds up a hand. “Don’t worry. Chet came down. He’s talking to her.” She glances back at the doorway that leads to Rouge’s armoire. “But he won’t be able to hold her off too long.”

“Got it.” I cross over to the safe, bend down, and pick up the brooch. “We can use this as evidence too.”

She widens her eyes at the safe. “Look at all those rubies! There must be hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of them.”

I shake my head. “No. They’re diamonds. Meaning it’s actually billions of dollars’ worth of them.”

She drops her jaw. “No way.”

I nod. “Yeah.”

Alissa crosses her arms. “But why does she have so many of them? Surely she would want to be wearing them with the rest of her wretched attire. I mean—” She claps a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God. What if these diamonds are being used as some sort of currency?”

I cock my head. “What for?”

“I mean, if Rouge is really doing something terrible—human trafficking would be my guess—maybe she’s getting paid for it.

But if she’s paid in these diamonds, she doesn’t have to worry about money laundering.

She just tosses them in her safe and sells them discreetly whenever she needs money.

” She wrinkles her nose. “And, of course, several end up in her outfits and her gaudy décor.”

“We’ll leave the diamonds for the cops to find.

Maybe they can trace them back to whoever she works with.

” I grab the ledger and the brooch. “But these we’re taking straight to the police.

After I take pictures of every page of the ledger and post it online where everyone can see it.

That way we can make sure that, no matter how much influence Rouge wields, we can see her behind bars. ”

Alissa smiles. “We’ll finally achieve justice for May.”

“We will.” I offer her my hand. “Let’s go.”

She looks toward the wardrobe door. “We’ll have to make a run for it. Get out as quickly as we can.”

“We have Chet on our side, so we should be able to get out pretty easily. But agreed on all counts.”

I quickly throw the diamonds back in the safe and lock it, pocketing what I now know is a diamond-encrusted key. We walk through the armoire back into Rouge’s office when?—

“Miss Wonder. Mr. Hathaway.”

The slow, serpentine drawl of Chet. He’s standing in the doorway.

Never have I been so happy to see the motherfucker.

“Chet,” I say. “We need you to escort us out of here as quickly and discreetly as possible.”

Chet clasps his hands and slowly cranes his neck over his left shoulder, his eyes wide, his grin even wider.

“You might want to see what’s going on in here,” he calls out.

And then the austere figure of Rouge Montrose steps into view. Her lips are curled into a sneer, her eyes fiery and frigid at the same time.

She glares at us. “It looks like you two have been palming an ace.”

I’m frozen, unable to respond.

All I can do is get between Rouge and Alissa.

Rouge raises a scepter coated with the same red diamonds Alissa and I just discovered in her vault. “I’m afraid Aces Underground has a strict policy about cheaters in the Diamonds section. This applies to all patrons, even the King and Queen themselves.”

Alissa shrieks.

I lunge for her, my heart fucking stampeding.

This is it.

Fucking it.

Quick as a flash, Rouge is in front of me, smacking her scepter to the back of my skull.

My legs crumple, and everything is black before I hit the floor.