told her reflection, “is why I love short hair.”
She stuffed her feet into purple ankle socks, and her green and teal Nike Shocks, then grabbed a denim jacket and her bag—a mini-backpack—on the way to the door. There she paused before going back to grab her travel mug off the night stand. She filled it from the coffee pot, snatched two more pastries and the business card Melina had left her the night before, then headed out the door.
She moved through the hotel’s revolving doors and turned to tell one of the uniformed men who stood there to go get her car, but Belladonna was already there, waiting. She was parked neatly just beyond the curved strip of pavement in front of the hotel’s doors, along the roadside. Had she called down last night and arranged for the car to be there, then forgotten doing it? That didn’t seem likely, but between the drinks she’d had last night and the stress of being in the same city with that ring, much less Vlad, she supposed it was possible.
And that was as far as she allowed that train of thought to travel. She would deal with the burglary now. Just focus on that. The intricate and tangled web of her mind and her memory would only distract her. She had to see Melina Roscova. Because she had to find out what had happened to that ring.
My ring, a little voice whispered deep inside her mind.
It wasn’t Stormy’s voice.
It was a four-hour drive to Athena House, or would have been if she hadn’t gotten lost on the way, and stopped for lunch to boot. Stormy inched Belladonna’s shiny black nose into the first part of the driveway and stopped at the arched, wrought-iron gate that had the word ATHENA spelled out in its scroll work. The gate was closed, but there was a speaker mounted on one of the columns that flanked her on either side.
She got out of the car and headed for the speaker. The big iron gate hung between two towering columns of rust-colored stone blocks. The entire place was surrounded by a ten-foot wall of those same hand hewn stones, and beyond the gate, Stormy could see that the house was built of them, as well.
Giant stone owls carved of glittering, snow-white granite perched on top of each column, standing like black eyed sentries to guard the place. Those glinting onyx eyes gave Stormy a shiver. Too much like Elisabeta’s eyes, she supposed. And the notion of them sparkling from her own face, the way witnesses had said they did, sent a brief wave of nausea washing through her.
A speaker with a button marked Talk was mounted to the front of the left stone column. Stormy poked the button. “Stormy Jones, from SIS, here to see Melina Roscova.”
“Welcome,” a feminine voice said. “Please, come in.”
The gate and swung slowly open. Stormy went back to the car, sat down on her black seat covers with the red Japanese dragons on them, which matched the floor mats and the steering wheel cover, and waited until the gate had opened fully. Then she drove slowly through and followed the driveway, which looped around a big fountain and back on itself again. She stopped near the mansion’s front entrance and shut the car off. Then, stiffening her spine and hoping to God that Melina would admit to having stolen the ring herself, she got out and went up the broad stone steps to a pair of massive, darkly stained doors that looked as if they belonged on a castle, right down to the black iron hinge plates and knobs, and the knocker, which was held in the talons of yet another white owl.
The doors opened before she could knock, and Melina stood there smiling at her. “I know we didn’t discuss a fee before, but I’ll pay whatever you ask. I’m just so glad you changed your mind.”
She continued babbling as Stormy’s stomach churned, and she led the way through the house’s magnificent foyer into a broad and echoing hallway, and along it into a library. As they walked through the place, they passed other women, all busy but curious. All between twenty and fifty, Stormy thought, taking them in with a quick sweep of her well trained eyes. All attractive and fit. Really fit.
“You certainly work fast once you make up your mind,” Melina said, as she closed the library doors, and waved Stormy toward a leather chair. “Did you bring it?”
Stormy walked to the chair but didn’t sit. Instead, she turned to face Melina, her back to the chair, and asked as calmly as she could manage, “Did I bring what?”
Melina’s smile showed the first sign of faltering. “The ring, of course.”
Disappointment dealt her a crushing blow. So much so that Stormy sat down heavily in the chair behind her and lowered her head. Dammit, she’d been hoping, but she didn’t think Melina was acting. She drew a breath. “I don’t have the ring, Melina.”
“Well, what did you do with it?”
“Nothing.” She forced herself to lift her head, to face the woman, who was, even then, sinking into a chair of her own, looking as deflated as Stormy felt. “So it’s safe to say you didn’t break into the museum and steal it last night,” Stormy said.
“I didn’t.” Melina closed her eyes briefly. “I assumed you had. Figured you’d had a change of heart or…something.”
“I didn’t,” Stormy said, echoing Melina’s own denial.
“Then that means—”
“It means someone else has the ring,” Stormy said.
Melina rose slowly, walked to a cabinet and opened it, then poured herself three fingers worth of vodka. Stolichanya. Good shit. She downed it, then turned and held the bottle up.
“No, thanks. I’m driving.”
“Not for a while, I hope.”
“No? Why wouldn’t I be?”
Melina grabbed another glass and poured, then refilled her own. She capped the bottle and put it away, then walked across the room to hand the clean glass to Stormy. “Because I need your help. Now more than ever, Stormy. You have to agree to take the job.”
“The job was to steal the ring,” Stormy said. “Someone’s already done that.”
“Yes. And now the job is to find out who has it and take it from them. Before it’s too late.”
Stormy was pretty sure she knew who had the ring. And she didn’t look forward to going up against him, although it seemed she wasn’t going to have a choice about that. Maybe with the money and resources of this Sisterhood behind her, she would have an edge. A shot, at least. God knew she couldn’t let Vlad decide what to do with the ring. She didn’t know what sort of power the thing possessed, but she sensed, right to her core, that whatever it was, it might very well destroy her.
Melina sighed. “I have to let my Firsts know what’s happened, so we can begin the search.”
“Your Firsts?”
“My…lieutenants, for want of a better term. Not to mention my superiors.” As she said that, she lowered her head and wiped what might have been a bead of sweat from her forehead. “Stay for dinner. As soon as I have things squared away, I’ll tell you everything I know about the ring. Everything, Stormy. Although…”
Stormy lifted her brows, and when Melina didn’t finish, she prompted her. “Although?”
Melina shrugged. “I get the feeling you already know as much as I do,” she said softly. “Why is that, Stormy?”
