Diana swallowed. “I wanted to find out who killed my father.” She glanced at Rafe and then back down to her hands. “I learned everything I could about that night, pieced together everything I could. Hired people to learn more. For months I watched you.”
Rafe swallowed hard but said nothing.
She had no choice but to continue. “I figured that if I got close to you, I would have a chance to recover the diamond. So I devised a plan. You were supposed to find me along the side of the road, needing help. I assumed you’d take me to a hotel or something. Once we’d met, I planned to run into you in the city later and strike up a friendship. Only that’s not what happened. You took me home. My plan had worked far better than I’d ever dreamed.” She waited for him to say something. He didn’t, but the muscle in his jaw clenched.
The redheaded agent rolled her eyes. “So you figured you’d flirt with him and that he’d just tell you everything?”
Diana glowered at her. “No. I didn’t expect him to tell me anything, actually. My plan was to get close to him and see if I could access his safe.”
She could almost feel Rafe’s stillness. This was hard. Too hard. But he knew the story already. So she just needed to get it out. Ignoring the other two in the room, she turned toward Rafe.
“You were different than I thought. And at the beginning, the whole plan was information. Find out who killed my father. But the more I got to know you, the harder it was to imagine your killing someone for no good reason. And of course then there was the safe.”
He frowned. “Yes, the flash drive you took.”
She inhaled deeply. “That wasn’t what I was after. I was looking for my mother’s diamond. The Jewel of the Sea. Twenty-five carats. Practically priceless. It used to be in my father’s study. The night before he died was the last time anyone saw it. And then that night. After…” Her voice trailed. She took another deep breath before continuing. “After I was told to get in the closet, I saw the person who killed him, running across the lawn. I thought maybe that person had taken it. Then I opened your safe, and it wasn’t there.”
He frowned. “I never took that diamond. And I sure as shit didn’t make my egress across the lawn. It was too exposed. I took the tunnels to a checkpoint about half a mile away and drove out.”
She shook her head. “I don?
??t know. That’s what I remember. It was a long time ago. At any rate, I started to put the pieces together. While I’ve been watching you, apparently my brothers have been watching me. They want the diamond even though it was willed to me by our mother. Every woman in my family has given it to her daughter on the eve of her wedding night as a sort of dowry. Apparently, my brothers have promised it to Boris. Along with me.”
The redhead leaned forward. “Boris Klinkov?”
“Yes. That’s him. After I saw the files in Rafe’s safe, that’s when I started to realize what was going on. I saw the files Rafe had on them. My father, his business, the trafficking, my brother’s roles in it all. I knew too much at that point. Once they found out I didn’t have the diamond, I knew they’d kill Rafe and me. I figured if I ran, they would come after me and leave him alone.”
“Convenient,” muttered Emilie.
“It’s the truth. There were other files that I stole.” She slid her gaze to Rafe. “Those files, I realized, were really dangerous. I knew I shouldn’t have them. I knew if anyone ever saw them, people might die. So I brought them back to Rafe. I told him as much as I could while trying to not implicate him or get him killed.” She glanced up at the middle-aged man. “I had no idea what my brothers intended. I had no idea how many people they are willing to kill or willing to hurt. But I knew I had to do something. That’s why I told Rafe I wanted to come in and tell you what I knew.”
The older man stared at Rafe. “You already had her in here?”
Rafe smirked and shrugged. “I asked for immunity. I just neglected to tell you that she was already here.”
The redhead stared at him with a mixture of hunger and fury. Diana didn’t like her. Matter of fact, Diana was feeling awfully violent toward her. She wanted Rafe, and the other woman was irritated that Rafe didn’t want her. Yeah bitch, he’s mine.
The old man shook his head. “I swear to fucking God, DeMarco.”
Rafe glared at him. “She has immunity. She was going to tell her story regardless. Now I just prevented that one”—he pointed at the redhead—“from using her as bait. That’s all. And this was the only way that was going to happen. I know how things work here. How you use people. I’m trying to keep her alive because she worked hard to keep me alive.”
“We need to discuss this. In the meantime, neither one of you leaves here.”
Rafe stared at him. “Are you fucking serious right now? She has immunity. I’m a fucking special agent.”
“You’re retired,” Alan countered.
“Apparently not yet.” Rafe smirked. “I’m running an informant as I see fit. You can’t keep me here.”
Emilie gave him an evil smile. “Watch us.” And she sauntered out, leaving Diana with a fuming Rafe.
Chapter Ten
Rafe could still see Emilie out in the hallway. She smirked at him when she saw him looking. Inside, Rafe seethed. Had she always been so self-serving? There had been a point when she’d fought for the greater good, right? Or was she yet another woman he’d misread?
This situation was going from shit show to a sea of endless floating shit. The last thing he wanted was to be back here. He didn’t want to get yanked back down into the bureaucracy. He’d already given one life to the FBI. Wasn’t that enough?
And now this shit with Interpol. The FBI needed to work with other governments to get things done sometimes, that was just part of the job, but he wasn’t FBI anymore. Why did no one get that he was fucking retired? He was doing them a fucking favor. His willingness to help didn’t involve an overly pushy, hypersexual female breathing down his neck.