Page 121 of Diamonds

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 actuallybillionsof 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.