Diamonds (Den of Thieves Book 1)

by Cosgrove, A. M.

  A glance around a corner showed him the end of a quick embrace between father and daughter before her father turned to head back the way he came.

  Sebastian ducked into an open doorway just as Petros walked by.

  He held his breath for a few moments not daring to make a sound. A little too close for comfort. He stepped out of the room after he was sure the other man had disappeared back across the house to tend to his guests.

  It certainly was going to be interesting now that Daria had retired for the night and her father had dismissed him so openly. He was going to have to find another way to get a tour of the house.

  It was his job to get a lay of the land and even after two hours of mingling with the other guests and a futile attempt to gain favor with Daria he was no further ahead in his quest than when he started out.

  He glanced around; nobody to be seen. A maid or a butler, hired hand of some sort would really come in handy right about now.

  Quietly he started walking down the hallway. He was going to have to take the tour of the place all on his own.

  He hadn’t made it far when a woman’s voice came from behind him.

  “Are you always in the habit of wandering around your hosts’ houses?”

  He spun around to face the voice and came face to face with Daria.

  Words stumbled out of his mouth as he fumbled to straighten the thoughts in his mind.

  “I’m sorry, I was just looking for the bathroom.” He smiled

  “You would have passed two on your way to get here.”

  Sebastian tried to look innocent.

  “Try again,” she said her eyes narrowing at him.

  “Truthfully I wanted to speak to you.” He smiled taking a half step closer. He could smell the faint smell of her perfume. Roses and vanilla.

  “Really? I thought you had already done that this evening.” She crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back.

  “I did, didn’t I?” His mind raced. He needed to find a way to salvage this situation before he found himself escorted off the property.

  “Yes you did. And I could swear I made it clear that I did not want to speak with you any further.”

  “I know. I felt bad and wanted to apologize for my behavior.”

  “So you thought it would be a good idea to follow me around my house and corner me?” Her eyes narrowed again.

  “I don’t know what I was thinking. I just knew that I didn’t want to leave you with a bad impression of me.”

  “And why would you care what I think of you?”

  He was about to answer and then stopped. Why would he?

  “I don’t really have an answer for you to be completely honest but I do know that I upset you and I wanted to apologize.”

  “Great. You’ve apologized. You can leave now.” She turned away, effectively dismissing him.

  “That’s it?” he asked before he even realized the words had come out of his mouth.

  She turned back to him.

  “What did you think would happen?”

  “I don’t know, I--” he stumbled again on his words, not for a second liking the turn that this conversation was taking.

  “Did you think that I would just simply accept your apology, swoon and fall into your arms?”

  “I--”

  “If that is what you thought then you are very much mistaken Mr. Turcott.” The ire in her voice was clear. “I am simply not that kind of woman.”

  “I never thought you were!”

  “Good then it is settled. You have said what you needed to say. I have listened to you. You go your way and I’ll go mine. Have a nice evening Mr. Turcott.” She turned and left him standing there with his mouth open wondering what in the hell just happened.

  He turned and started back towards the party, his mind still playing back the conversation he but he soon found himself face to face with Daria’s father.

  “Can I help you?” the older man said putting his hand on Sebastian’s arm.

  Lady Luck was certainly not on his side today.

  “I’m sorry, I got lost looking for the bathroom.” He smiled weakly.

  “Young man I am not a fool.”

  “I am sorry sir. I did not wish to imply that you were anything of the sort.”

  “I saw the way you looked at my daughter earlier.”

  Sebastian sighed. Was it that bloody obvious? He was certainly not on his game tonight.

  “She is very beautiful, sir.”

  Petros smiled for the first time since Sebastian had met him.

  “Yes she is that.”

  “I just wanted to apologize to her for the way our conversation went earlier. I hadn’t meant to be rude to her in any way. I did not want her to think poorly of me.” He lowered his head avoiding the other mans gaze.

  “She is a tough one - a force to be reckoned with for sure.”

  “I gathered that sir.”

  “She will not put up with any nonsense.”

  “I understand.” He felt his stomach squirm. He was not used to being raked over the coals the way that both Daria and now her father were doing.

  “Neither will I.”

  Sebastian nodded.

  “Good now that we are clear on that, I would like to know what your intentions are towards my daughter.”

  “Sir?”

  “I want to know what you think you are doing? Because if she is just going to be another conquest in your pursuit of life, you can forget it.”

  “I can assure you that I --” His head was starting to pound. How on earth had things gotten so far out of his control in such a short time?

  “Many men have tried to woo my daughter. All have failed. I can tell you right now by the way you stumbled that you will as well.”

  Sebastian opened his mouth to say something but no words came out.

  “Enjoy the rest of your evening here,--- Mr. Turcott was it?” Petros turned and walk away.

  Now I know where she gets it from. Sebastian thought watching the man walk away before trying to make his way back through the party and out of the house.

  He needed to get out of there. His head was spinning and the air was stuffy. He had never been so backed into a corner as he had been with the Sotirs. He had been so used to being the one to pin his marks down that he found himself feeling completely off balance by the evening’s events.

  He left through the front door nodding at the doorman on the way out.

  The cool evening air felt good on his face as he walked to his car trying to get his thoughts straightened out.

  It wasn’t as if he hadn’t found himself in situations like that in the past; he had been raked over the coals before by many a mark, but never right off the bat. Usually the mark wouldn’t see him coming so early in the game and he would have had a chance to get in close before that happened.

  This was all new territory for him and his mind was reeling trying to figure out a way to recover from it. He needed to get close to her and he didn’t have time to play around. His partners were not going to like the way things had played out tonight as it was and it wasn’t like she had left him any loophole he could exploit. She had made it clear that she was not even a little interested in him.

  “Back to the drawing board,” he mumbled, getting into his car and driving away.

  The street was dark, one of the lights had burned out in front of their building and the remaining lights cast eerie shadows on the building as he approached. The cool air that had been welcome when he had left the Sotirs’ but it had turned chilly on the drive across Lake City.

  His mood also had not improved in the drive back to the office. He’d experienced a major setback.

  He sat in the car for a moment, composing his thoughts, trying to figure out where he was going to go from there. He knew he had to head into the office and update the rest of the team but he also knew the ribbing he was about to endure as a result.

  Looking at the single level industrial building in front of him he
smiled. How far his life had come in the last few months. (He was just in prison a year ago so I wouldn’t say ‘years’ here.)

  A year ago he had just been released from prison after doing two years for conning a woman out of a quarter of a million dollars. It was the first time he had been caught. Although he had been suspected in a few dozen other cases, the authorities had not been able to come up with enough evidence to convict or his marks had refused to press charges believing he either didn’t do what the police suggested or that they were too embarrassed to have been tricked in the first place.

  He was couch surfing trying to come up with is next big plan when an old school buddy, Paul Barker, a special agent with the FBI, asked him if he wanted to do something legitimate with his skills. His curiosity had gotten the better of him and he ended up joining his friend in starting DOT Recovery Service, Inc., a business that specializes in retrieving things that may have been lost or stolen, where the law has no grounds to assist.

  All of his fellow employees had equally as colorful pasts as him and they each brought something different to the table. It was an interesting mix of specialties and he enjoyed that he for once was operating on the right side of the law.

  “So how did it go?” Jake asked looking up from his paperwork as Sebastian entered the room.

  “It didn’t,” he said throwing his keys on his desk and collapsing into his chair.

  “Really now?” Jake’s eyebrow raised as he peered out beneath a shock of blond hair.

  “Yeah. This one is definitely different. Nothing I tried went anywhere near what I had planned.”

  “What, did the pretty boy strike out with the ladies tonight?” Cat asked as she entered the room, steaming coffee cup in each hand.

  “Don’t even start with me Cat.” Normally Cat’s teasing wouldn’t bother Sebastian but tonight it was different, it was only making him feel more frustrated.

  Cat stopped and looked at him for a moment. He probably shouldn’t have snapped at her but he was off his game tonight and it showed.

  “Sorry I asked,” she said resuming her walk across the room to Jake before passing him one of the steaming mugs of coffee.

  “Didn’t mean to snap at you Cat. Just not having a good night.”

  “I can see that. I think you need this more than I do,” she asked walking over to him and handing him the other cup. “What happened?”

  “That’s just the thing - I really don’t know what the hell happened tonight,” Sebastian said shaking his head.

  “Well did you not get a chance to talk to-- what’s her name again?” Cat asked sitting down on the edge of his desk.

  “I did manage to get close enough to talk to her.”

  “So what was the problem?”

  “Her father was there.”

  “That has never been a problem for you before. I have seen you go up against some of the tightest father-daughter relationships and never come back as bummed as you are now. So that isn’t it.”

  “I know, that’s what I was thinking about the whole situation myself. It wasn’t a like I did anything differently than I normally would but she wouldn’t bite.”

  “Well there is always tomorrow. Maybe she just wasn’t in the mood for love tonight,” Jake returned to his papers.

  “No I think you missed what I said. She is not interested in me at all.” Sebastian could hear the frustration rising back in his voice.

  “Easy buddy,” Jake said.

  Sebastian said nothing and picked up the file on his desk.

  Opening it up he came face to face with a picture of Daria. It was one of the recon photos Bo had taken the week before. Her long dark hair flowing in the breeze and olive complexion in the mid day sunshine gave her an exotic look. She could easily be on the cover of any woman’s magazine.

  She was young, only twenty-seven years old and was the daughter of a rich businessman. She had worked alongside her father for the last three years. She enjoyed the finer things in life but wasn’t afraid to work for them.

  It was in that moment that he realized the mistake he had made. She was far too independent for him to use his usual tactics.

  “Fuck,” he cursed under his breath, threw the file on the desk and rubbed his eyes.

  “Figure it out?” Jake looked up again.

  “Yeah. I went about it as if she was one of the regular rich princess types. I figured she was a pretty face and not actually as independent as she apparently is.”

  “Well we could always send in someone else to --” Jake started.

  “No. I am going to fix this.”

  “Sebastian this isn’t about your ability to do your job,” Jake started.

  “I know it’s not, but someone else coming up to her out of the blue at this point will seem suspicious. At least with me she knows who I am to some extent.”

  “Makes sense. Let me know if you want me to take over. I don’t mind doing it if you think your cover has been blown.”

  “It hasn’t been. I will get around it,” Sebastian replied before downing the last of his coffee and getting up.

  “Headed home?” Cat asked reaching for his empty mug.

  “Yeah I think I need a good night’s rest before I take another run at this.”

  He was embarrassed having to admit to anyone that he had not made it past first base tonight, let alone to his partners. He grabbed the file off his desk and his jacket before heading towards the front door.

  “Hey Sebastian--” Jake stopped him on his way out.

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t let it get to you.”

  “Yeah yeah yeah.” Sebastian waved him off and left, hoping that a good night’s sleep would fix the sour mood he found himself in.

  Chapter 3

  The sun was creeping across the floor of the room when Sebastian opened his eyes. His bedroom was large but sparingly furnished. He had everything he needed but there was nothing that was overly personal. It was modern and comfortable.

  He had never had a stable home before he went to prison. He was always on the move trying to stay one step ahead of the women he was conning. He had always needed to be able to get up and leave at a moment’s notice when it got too hot.

  Old habits died hard and even when he had come out and started to get back on his feet he had stuck with the same things he had always known.

  Lying there he was thankful again for the way things had changed. He no longer needed to be on the move. He had job he enjoyed and did well.

  Most of the time.

  He groaned and winced as he remembered the night before. It was not one of his most shining moments but today was going to be different. Today he was going to take it at a different angle today. He had it all worked out.

  Now all he had to do was put his plan in motion.

  He rolled out of bed. As he walked across the room to the bathroom he slipped out of his pajama pants, tossing them in the hamper as he went.

  Turning on the water he stepped into the steaming hot stream. Water lengthened his hair around his ears and across his eyes. He stood there a moment letting the water wash away the fog away from his mind before tilting his head back and pushing his hair off his face. Streams of water caught in his eyebrows and rolled off his nose.

  He lathered his chest and down past his stomach, the soap sliding slowly down his body as the water washed it away. As the water washed down his body, his mind made its way back to Daria.

  Tall and strong, she was beautiful. He felt a stirring in his loins as he watched her in his mind’s eye, walking away from him as she had the night before. Every thing about her was perfection right down to her perfectly shaped ass.

  He let his mind wander, thoughts drifting to the things he would do to her given half the chance. He wondered what her lips would taste like and how her breasts would feel in his hands.

  She however was headstrong. Her eyes had a fire that drew his attention and held it. She was certainly a force to be reckoned with – and one that did no
t want anything to do with him.

  Truthfully he was glad she was something more than the average woman he saw every day. He was tired of the drama and the trouble those sorts of woman brought to his world. Working with Daria would not be easy.

  He turned the shower off, grabbed a fluffy towel off the rack and quickly toweled off.

  Wrapping the towel around his waist he padded off out of his room and across his apartment to the kitchen to brew a pot coffee.

  Daria’s file sat on the island in the middle of his kitchen. He flipped through it again after pouring himself a mug of coffee. He could recite the entire file by heart if he was asked. There was nothing more that he expected to find there but he wanted to have one more look at it before he headed out the door.

  He was going to play into her independent nature and lure her out from behind her wall. He had to let her think that she was in control of the situation and the way things were going to go. All the while he would lead her to the path he needed her on. It would take a lot of work but he would build up the trust he needed her to have in him so that he could get close enough to find the piece he was looking for.

  It was definitely going to be a challenge. One he found himself looking forward to.

  Quickly he picked a clean white button down and linen pants from his wardrobe. A pair of loafers finished off the look as he locked up and got into the elevator to head to Daria’s house.

  Daria watched as the black sports car pulled in past the gates and up the driveway. She watched it slowly made its way up to the front of the house and stopped.

  She looked at her watch. Eleven thirty in the morning. Who would be bothering them at this time of day? Most of the people who came to see her father were there in the late afternoon for a drink in the den. They didn’t usually show up in the middle of the morning. And they certainly didn’t drive flashy sports cars.

  She watched as a tall man got out and looked around.

  What was he doing?