Diamonds (Den of Thieves Book 1) (3 page)

Sebastian opened his mouth to say something but no words came out.

“Enjoy the rest of your evening here,--- Mr. Turcott was it?” Petros turned and walk away.

Now I know where she gets it from
. Sebastian thought watching the man walk away before trying to make his way back through the party and out of the house.

He needed to get out of there. His head was spinning and the air was stuffy. He had never been so backed into a corner as he had been with the Sotirs. He had been so used to being the one to pin his marks down that he found himself feeling completely off balance by the evening’s events.

He left through the front door nodding at the doorman on the way out.

The cool evening air felt good on his face as he walked to his car trying to get his thoughts straightened out.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t found himself in situations like that in the past; he had been raked over the coals before by many a mark, but never right off the bat. Usually the mark wouldn’t see him coming so early in the game and he would have had a chance to get in close before that happened.

This was all new territory for him and his mind was reeling trying to figure out a way to recover from it. He needed to get close to her and he didn’t have time to play around. His partners were not going to like the way things had played out tonight as it was and it wasn’t like she had left him any loophole he could exploit. She had made it clear that she was not even a little interested in him.

“Back to the drawing board,” he mumbled, getting into his car and driving away.

The street was dark, one of the lights had burned out in front of their building and the remaining lights cast eerie shadows on the building as he approached. The cool air that had been welcome when he had left the Sotirs’ but it had turned chilly on the drive across Lake City.

His mood also had not improved in the drive back to the office. He’d experienced a major setback.

He sat in the car for a moment, composing his thoughts, trying to figure out where he was going to go from there. He knew he had to head into the office and update the rest of the team but he also knew the ribbing he was about to endure as a result.

Looking at the single level industrial building in front of him he smiled. How far his life had come in the last few months. (He was just in prison a year ago so I wouldn’t say ‘years’ here.)

A year ago he had just been released from prison after doing two years for conning a woman out of a quarter of a million dollars. It was the first time he had been caught. Although he had been suspected in a few dozen other cases, the authorities had not been able to come up with enough evidence to convict or his marks had refused to press charges believing he either didn’t do what the police suggested or that they were too embarrassed to have been tricked in the first place.

He was couch surfing trying to come up with is next big plan when an old school buddy, Paul Barker, a special agent with the FBI, asked him if he wanted to do something legitimate with his skills. His curiosity had gotten the better of him and he ended up joining his friend in starting DOT Recovery Service, Inc., a business that specializes in retrieving things that may have been lost or stolen, where the law has no grounds to assist.

All of his fellow employees had equally as colorful pasts as him and they each brought something different to the table. It was an interesting mix of specialties and he enjoyed that he for once was operating on the right side of the law.

“So how did it go?” Jake asked looking up from his paperwork as Sebastian entered the room.

“It didn’t,” he said throwing his keys on his desk and collapsing into his chair.

“Really now?” Jake’s eyebrow raised as he peered out beneath a shock of blond hair.

“Yeah. This one is definitely different. Nothing I tried went anywhere near what I had planned.”

“What, did the pretty boy strike out with the ladies tonight?” Cat asked as she entered the room, steaming coffee cup in each hand.

“Don’t even start with me Cat.” Normally Cat’s teasing wouldn’t bother Sebastian but tonight it was different, it was only making him feel more frustrated.

Cat stopped and looked at him for a moment. He probably shouldn’t have snapped at her but he was off his game tonight and it showed.

“Sorry I asked,” she said resuming her walk across the room to Jake before passing him one of the steaming mugs of coffee.

“Didn’t mean to snap at you Cat. Just not having a good night.”

“I can see that. I think you need this more than I do,” she asked walking over to him and handing him the other cup. “What happened?”

“That’s just the thing - I really don’t know what the hell happened tonight,” Sebastian said shaking his head.

“Well did you not get a chance to talk to-- what’s her name again?” Cat asked sitting down on the edge of his desk.

“I did manage to get close enough to talk to her.”

“So what was the problem?”

“Her father was there.”

“That has never been a problem for you before. I have seen you go up against some of the tightest father-daughter relationships and never come back as bummed as you are now. So that isn’t it.”

“I know, that’s what I was thinking about the whole situation myself. It wasn’t a like I did anything differently than I normally would but she wouldn’t bite.”

“Well there is always tomorrow. Maybe she just wasn’t in the mood for love tonight,” Jake returned to his papers.

“No I think you missed what I said. She is not interested in me at all.” Sebastian could hear the frustration rising back in his voice.

“Easy buddy,” Jake said.

Sebastian said nothing and picked up the file on his desk.

Opening it up he came face to face with a picture of Daria. It was one of the recon photos Bo had taken the week before. Her long dark hair flowing in the breeze and olive complexion in the mid day sunshine gave her an exotic look. She could easily be on the cover of any woman’s magazine.

She was young, only twenty-seven years old and was the daughter of a rich businessman. She had worked alongside her father for the last three years. She enjoyed the finer things in life but wasn’t afraid to work for them.

It was in that moment that he realized the mistake he had made. She was far too independent for him to use his usual tactics.

“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath, threw the file on the desk and rubbed his eyes.

“Figure it out?” Jake looked up again.

“Yeah. I went about it as if she was one of the regular rich princess types. I figured she was a pretty face and not actually as independent as she apparently is.”

“Well we could always send in someone else to --” Jake started.

“No. I am going to fix this.”

“Sebastian this isn’t about your ability to do your job,” Jake started.

“I know it’s not, but someone else coming up to her out of the blue at this point will seem suspicious. At least with me she knows who I am to some extent.”

“Makes sense. Let me know if you want me to take over. I don’t mind doing it if you think your cover has been blown.”

“It hasn’t been. I will get around it,” Sebastian replied before downing the last of his coffee and getting up.

“Headed home?” Cat asked reaching for his empty mug.

“Yeah I think I need a good night’s rest before I take another run at this.”

He was embarrassed having to admit to anyone that he had not made it past first base tonight, let alone to his partners. He grabbed the file off his desk and his jacket before heading towards the front door.

“Hey Sebastian--” Jake stopped him on his way out.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let it get to you.”

“Yeah yeah yeah.” Sebastian waved him off and left, hoping that a good night’s sleep would fix the sour mood he found himself in.

Chapter 3

The sun was creeping across the floor of the room when Sebastian opened his eyes. His bedroom was large but sparingly furnished. He had everything he needed but there was nothing that was overly personal. It was modern and comfortable.

He had never had a stable home before he went to prison. He was always on the move trying to stay one step ahead of the women he was conning. He had always needed to be able to get up and leave at a moment’s notice when it got too hot.

Old habits died hard and even when he had come out and started to get back on his feet he had stuck with the same things he had always known.

Lying there he was thankful again for the way things had changed. He no longer needed to be on the move. He had job he enjoyed and did well.

Most of the time.

He groaned and winced as he remembered the night before. It was not one of his most shining moments but today was going to be different. Today he was going to take it at a different angle today. He had it all worked out.

Now all he had to do was put his plan in motion.

He rolled out of bed. As he walked across the room to the bathroom he slipped out of his pajama pants, tossing them in the hamper as he went.

Turning on the water he stepped into the steaming hot stream. Water lengthened his hair around his ears and across his eyes. He stood there a moment letting the water wash away the fog away from his mind before tilting his head back and pushing his hair off his face. Streams of water caught in his eyebrows and rolled off his nose.

He lathered his chest and down past his stomach, the soap sliding slowly down his body as the water washed it away. As the water washed down his body, his mind made its way back to Daria.

Tall and strong, she was beautiful. He felt a stirring in his loins as he watched her in his mind’s eye, walking away from him as she had the night before. Every thing about her was perfection right down to her perfectly shaped ass.

He let his mind wander, thoughts drifting to the things he would do to her given half the chance. He wondered what her lips would taste like and how her breasts would feel in his hands.

She however was headstrong. Her eyes had a fire that drew his attention and held it. She was certainly a force to be reckoned with – and one that did not want anything to do with him.

Truthfully he was glad she was something more than the average woman he saw every day. He was tired of the drama and the trouble those sorts of woman brought to his world. Working with Daria would not be easy.

He turned the shower off, grabbed a fluffy towel off the rack and quickly toweled off.

Wrapping the towel around his waist he padded off out of his room and across his apartment to the kitchen to brew a pot coffee.

Daria’s file sat on the island in the middle of his kitchen. He flipped through it again after pouring himself a mug of coffee. He could recite the entire file by heart if he was asked. There was nothing more that he expected to find there but he wanted to have one more look at it before he headed out the door.

He was going to play into her independent nature and lure her out from behind her wall. He had to let her think that she was in control of the situation and the way things were going to go. All the while he would lead her to the path he needed her on. It would take a lot of work but he would build up the trust he needed her to have in him so that he could get close enough to find the piece he was looking for.

It was definitely going to be a challenge. One he found himself looking forward to.