He stopped and looked up and down the mine. The earth here had been good to him. Bill sighed. It didn’t matter how good the ground had been to him. He didn’t have anyone to pass it on to.
Maybe it was time to start thinking about that, too.
Bill figured he’d never retire, not really. He’d just mine until one day the mine was stripped, and he had everything he could possibly want in this world. But he could do some good for others who didn’t have everything, too. He’d talk to his lawyers about setting up a way to give his fortune away to people who could use it.
Bill turned around to head back out, when he noticed a slight glint in the dirt. Not even a shine, just a tiny wink of light caught his attention.
He pulled out the trowel he usually carried with him and carefully carved out a line around the hunk of rock. He scraped away the dirt and then gently pushed the rock back and forth to work it free of the ground. There was more of it below than he’d thought at first, and it took a good half hour of cautious maneuvering to work the gem free.
As soon as he pulled it out of the dirt, he knew. This hunk of compressed carbon was something special, and when it was clean and polished, it would be something spectacular. Something like the world had never seen before.
Bill took his time before showing his find to anyone. He decided this one gem wasn’t going into circulation with his regular inventory—it was unique, and he intended to treat it that way.
He asked one of his closest business associates to cut and polish it, not trusting anyone else. The finished product was exquisite, one of the finest diamonds Bill had ever seen. He never set the diamond, preferring to leave it loose, not wanting to diminish its sparkle with something as mundane as metal wrapped around it.
Eventually, word about his find got out. He refused to sell the diamond, even as the offers got bigger and wilder, knowing that if he ever needed money for something, this diamond would make his fortune again.
For years, he kept the best security on this singular diamond. He eventually stopped showing it to people, and let it pass into legend. Then, he planned to hide it away until it was needed the most.
Bill didn’t think he’d ever need the diamond, but there was someone else who would, sometime in the future. He’d already planned to give most of his fortune away, but it didn’t matter. This one thing would offer as much—if not more—financial security than the rest of his money.
He’d never given a diamond to anyone, had never wanted to, but this diamond…this diamond was meant for his family.
Bill wouldn’t disrupt the little girl’s life. It was clear to him, even from across the yard, that she was happy with her adopted parents. He’d had a private investigator look into the family; they weren’t wealthy, but they would give her a happy, stable life with everything she needed. Certainly much more than a crotchety old man could, even with all his riches.
She didn’t know she had any living relatives, and he was fine with that. He would have adopted her, but she wouldn’t have been happy with him. He wouldn’t upset the girl by making her choose families.
He turned the gift over and over in his hands. She didn’t need to know he existed. She didn’t need to know the story of his estrangement from his family, or that he felt like he needed to make amends.
But one day, she would need something, and that he could provide. It was the one good thing he could do for his great-niece.
Chapter 1
Khizar
Sheikh Khizar Jamshidi read through the file laying on his desk one more time, tapping his long fingers on the paper. Bill Bauer had kept meticulous records about his mine and his business, but the one piece of information Khizar wanted was nowhere to be found.
Khizar had been finalizing the paperwork to buy the famous Bauer mine when Bill died suddenly. Though, Khizar thought, Bill had been 87 years old, so maybe it wasn’t so unexpected. His death had put a stop to the purchase, at least until Bill’s estate was settled.
Khizar’s lawyer had been able to get a copy of Bauer’s will, and after reading through it, Khizar had come to two conclusions: Bauer’s mine had been stripped of anything of value, and Bill himself had very little in the way of possessions.
Most of Bauer’s fortune was going to charitable organizations, which Khizar supposed was a good thing. The man certainly had enough money to do good. And, in all their conversations, Bill had never mentioned any relatives, so it wasn’t like there was family to fight over the fortune.
Bill had also left money to his employees, enough to give each of them a healthy severance package as the mine closed down. What worldly goods he had were designated to be auctioned off or donated.