Hidden Gem Read online

  “Holly!”

  The call pulls me slowly from my languor. I blink into the sunlight, unwilling to let go.

  Someone rounds the corner and comes to a hard halt. My sister. London stares with her dark eyes wide. Elijah looks up. His hands tighten on me, putting his body between us, as if he can keep me to himself or maybe protect me.

  “I’ll buy you a few minutes, but we’re leaving,” London says before disappearing.

  Green eyes meet mine. “You should go,” he says.

  I don’t bother asking about the future. There is no future between an ordinary girl who lives in the suburbs and this diamond thief who’ll be on the run.

  Sometimes there is no happy ending.

  I try to think of something good to say. Something meaningful. Stay safe. Remember me. Don’t get caught. Instead I speak in the language we’re most fluent with. I reach up to place a small kiss on his cheek. It means that I care about him. He’s a stranger to me in every single way, except the most important one—a soul recognizing another soul.

  Then I turn to leave, except he stops me. His eyes are full of something dark and sad. Regret? He tugs at my backpack. Confused, I let it slip from my shoulders. He digs around inside until he pulls out a black velvet pouch. It disappears into his jacket.

  Then he hands back my backpack.

  I stare at it, not sure what I just saw. “Was that the diamond?”

  “They search us going out the employee entrance.” He sounds faintly apologetic. “Every time. I made the switch, but I couldn’t have gotten it outside the museum.”

  “And I walked out the front door.” The champagne has turned to acid in my stomach. He used me. That’s what happened. He must have planted it on me from the beginning.

  “I told you, Holly. I take what I want.”

  I spin around and run out to find my parents.

  They’re already by the SUV, where the tour guide is saying something about war.

  “The cathedral has been threatened many times, damaged during the French Revolution and almost destroyed by the Germans during the first World War.” He points to a green metal statue of a figure on horseback. “Its existence today is in large part credited to Joan of Arc, who turned the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.”

  “I’m hungry,” London says.

  We pile into the SUV, and I look out the back as someone in a black leather jacket with his head down emerges from the stone enclave. He puts his hands into his pockets as he blends into the crowd. I follow him with my gaze until he’s gone. My fingers feel tingly even as the rest of me is numb. That’s why he asked me on a smoke break: so he could sneak the diamond out.

  That’s why he pretended to be interested in me.

  Even pity would have been better than this.

  For a second I think about telling someone, but what would I even say? I had the Regent Diamond in my backpack all the time. I’m an accomplice. And I have no idea where Elijah has gone. Even when I can no longer see him, I keep looking at the space where he was. The SUV pulls into the street. I watch the mill of people—slightly to the right, in the place where I saw him last. The place where the diamond disappeared.

  * * *

  Thank you for reading HIDDEN GEM, the free prologue to my new trilogy. I hope you loved meeting Elijah and Holly. Find out what happens next in DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH.

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  About the Author

  Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of dangerous romance such as the Endgame trilogy. Her books have been featured in Jezebel, Buzzfeed, USA Today Happily Ever After, Glamour, and Elle Magazine. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, sweet dogs, and evil cat.

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  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or use of this work in any part is forbidden without the express written permission of the author.

  Hidden Gem © 2020 by Skye Warren

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