Dead Drop (The Guild #2)(13)
I didn’t respond to her, taking long strides back up toward my bedroom with excitement and anticipation building inside me like a fucking tidal wave. She’d come for Stanley already, and the alarm at her house had only activated less than a day ago. My plan had worked.
Unable to quell my victorious smile, I threw open the doors to my room—the room she’d shared with me for all those glorious nights together. But to my gut-wrenching disappointment, no white-haired siren waited in the armchair beside the window.
Nor, in fact, was Stanley anywhere to be seen.
She hadn’t taken him back herself. I could feel it; she’d hired someone else. Was it too much wishful thinking to assume I knew why she’d outsourced the job? Because she was scared of what she might do if we came face to face once more? I liked to imagine she would crack if I pushed her again. That she would drop her mask and let me see the real version of her… the strong, capable woman that I’d glimpsed beneath the surface. The fearless warrior who’d jumped from a bridge into a speeding boat. That was the woman I was obsessed with and wanted to lure back into my trap.
Disappointment was so bitter I could taste it as I crossed to the window, noting the droplets of water on the sill. Whoever had rescued Stanley had come in that way and was probably long gone already.
A pile of tinsel mocked me from the place where his pot had sat, and a scrap of notepaper rested on the carpet with three words scrawled across it.
Nice try, asshole.
6
Relief washed over me as I glanced down at the photo sent to my phone. Stanley was safe and secure at Carlos’s vacation house in the Bahamas. I couldn’t risk taking him back to my home in Iceland, not now that Kai had found him once. I also didn’t ask about the bow. It seemed festive.
“Thank you,” I murmured to the big man sitting opposite me in the tea shop. “I appreciate you prioritizing this request, I know you’re busy.”
He flashed me a toothy smile, then sipped his tea. The delicate bone china cup looked ridiculous in his huge hand, but he made it work. “How could I resist such a curious task?” He placed his cup down and linked his thick fingers together in front of him, his gaze sharp. “Why did you hire me for this, Danny DeLuna? You could have done it yourself. Easily.”
I gritted my teeth, holding back a grimace. While he was right that I had the skill to make a simple theft—even with the challenges of Kai’s island security—I knew I couldn’t have done it. No way could I step foot back on that island so soon, not if I ever wanted to leave it again.
Nope. I was too weak to face Kai in person just yet, because I’d totally lost myself while playing that meek character. I’d lost myself and left a solid chunk of my heart behind. Which was fine, I could live without it.
“Are you complaining about an easy job, Hermes?” I covered my dark thoughts with a teasing smile. “I figured it would be a welcome break for you. Especially after that Wittenberg diamond theft last year.”
His expression didn’t shift, not even slightly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. However, I did appreciate the simple task of recovering your plant. So much so, I picked you up a present while I was there.”
My brows lifted. “Oh?” Maybe he killed Kai for me and eliminated that worry from my mind. Dammit, why did that idea make me feel murderous?
Hermes inclined his head slightly, reaching into his breast pocket and pulling out a necklace. He held it out, and I opened my palm to receive it. “I thought you might want that back. Those are exceptionally valuable and only going to waste locked in Ares’s dresser drawer.”
I traced my thumb over the intricate key strung on the gold chain as a pendant, inspecting the engraved pattern.
“How’d you know this was mine?” I asked in a cool tone. Hermes was notorious for returning lost items to their owners—usually at an exorbitant fee—but every now and then he did it just because he needed to.
This necklace, however, wasn’t mine.
He finished his cup of tea, then dabbed his full lips with a napkin. “I may not be Guild, Danny DeLuna, but I know a Guild symbol when I see one. That’s an old one but doesn’t make it any less Guild.” He cocked his head to the side. For such a huge man, he was strangely graceful. “Did I make a mistake?”
I closed my fingers around the necklace. “Not at all. Just surprised, though I shouldn’t be with you.”
Another bright smile. It sent a chill down my spine. Hermes—his code name, not his real one—unnerved me like no one else I’d ever met. Even Leon when he showed his crazy didn’t make me as nervous as Hermes smiling.
“Good,” he murmured. “If that concludes our business, I have a big project to plan for.”
“Good luck,” I told him as he stood from his seat. “I have my money on you for the win. Again.” Every four years, there was a very unofficial but very infamous game within the criminal circles of the world. More often than not, the final round of the game was a seemingly impossible theft. Hermes had won every game since he’d appeared in the competitor list as a skinny twelve-year-old.
“I still have no idea what you’re talking about, Danny DeLuna. Stay safe.” With a short nod, he slipped out of the tea house like he was a mouse, not a six-foot-seven mountain of a man. His ability to crowd blend despite his size was beyond impressive.