Free Demand by Lisa Renée Jones

necklace could be worth that much money.”
    â€œThere’s some history to this one, including the trail of ownership.”
    â€œAnd it was stolen from the British government?”
    â€œFifty years ago. And when I say stolen, I mean, it vanished. There were occasional rumors of its reappearance, each time starting a frenzied search. Interestingly, considering your involvement, none of those rumors placed it in the United States.”
    â€œBut it must have been, if I was used to transport it to Europe.”
    â€œMaybe,” he says. “But I’m not convinced you weren’t wearing a decoy, meant to draw attention away from the real necklace.”
    â€œWhy would you think it was a decoy, if I’ve obviously ended up on Niccolo’s radar?”
    â€œBecause from what I know of the original’s construction, there would be no place to slip a note inside. And you found one.”
    â€œCould the note give the location of the real necklace?”
    â€œMore likely, it was about a payoff for transporting the decoy. But whoever’s behind that transaction knows where the real necklace is located.”
    â€œIn other words, I really need to remember where that necklace is.”
    â€œNot necessarily,” he says. “If the necklace was a decoy, as I suspect, then the important piece of the puzzle is what was on that note.”
    â€œWhich wasn’t in English, so my memory won’t help us. I’d have to find it, and/or the decoy, to be of any help.” I tilt my head to study him. “So I’m the key to what you’re trying to achieve. Why didn’t you just tell me this, Kayden?”
    He leans forward, his hands settling intimately just behind my knees. “I fully intended to tell you, but I wasn’t ready yet.”
    â€œWhat exactly would have made you ready?”
    â€œSome way to prove to you that I wasn’t using you to gain the necklace. I selfishly wasn’t ready for that divide. Which backfired, and delivered us to that shower, with a gun between us.”
    â€œIt could have been worse,” I say with a halfhearted laugh. “I could have shot you.”
    â€œYour distrust is the only bullet I care about dodging right now.” He sits up again, his hands settling back on his knees. “And that’s exactly why I need you to think about that alleyway.”
    â€œI have been. I don’t remember it.”
    â€œI’m not talking about what happened once you were there. I’m talking about what brought us both to that place.”
    â€œOh,” I say flatly, hating where this is going. “The necklace.”
    â€œYes. The necklace and—”
    â€œNiccolo,” I supply, his name ice and fire, and not in good ways. “I am so confused right now. If he’s the man from my flashbacks, I wanted him dead. The last thing I would do is meet him to hand him a necklace that makes him more powerful.”
    â€œUnless you didn’t know it was him.”
    â€œOr he’s not the man from my flashbacks at all, and I’m more deeply involved with Niccolo than I think.” I swallow hard and stand, putting the chair between us. “Is this the real reason you didn’t tell me about this?” I demand, my fingers closing around the wooden back. “Do you think I’m part of that man’s entourage? Were you trying to prove that before you revealed everything else?”
    I blink, and he’s beside me. “Don’t create nightmares that don’t exist. You were running from Niccolo’s men when I found you.”
    â€œI can think of no good reason why I was there to meet him, Kayden. Not one.”
    â€œThen let me help you with three. Blackmail, survival, and revenge.”
    â€œYou think he was blackmailing me?”
    â€œBlackmail is what he does. He threatens people, those they love, or the general public, to get what he wants. And if he doesn’t,