Chapter 4 - The Dangerous BargainEvelyn backed up until her lower back hit the heavy oak bookshelf behind her. She was trapped between rows of centuries-old text and a man who treated human lives like chess pieces.
“Your thug is harassing me,” she said, her voice shaking slightly despite her best efforts. “I am a private citizen. I appraise jewels. I don’t care about your ports, your syndicates, or your turf wars.”
Adrian set the pearl necklace down with a soft click. He stepped closer, invading her personal space until she could see the tiny, faint golden flecks in his gray eyes.
“If I wanted to harass you, Evelyn, you wouldn't be standing,” he said, his voice a low, gravelly hum. “Noah gave you the trailer for a movie. I’m here to offer you the script.”
“I don’t want to be in your movie.”
“You already have a starring role,” Adrian countered, leaning one hand against the bookshelf beside her head, trapping her. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a single, heavy object, placing it gently on the edge of her desk.
Evelyn looked down.
It was an antique silver pocket watch, heavily engraved with intertwined serpents—the crest of the historic Rossi crime family, a syndicate that had vanished from New York twenty years ago in a bloody night of betrayal and fire.
“Recognize it?” Adrian asked, his eyes locking onto hers.
“No,” she lied instantly. Too instantly.
Adrian’s mouth curved into a humorless smile. “A bad lie, Evelyn. Especially for someone who appraised the Rossi estate liquidation last month for a private anonymous buyer.”
Evelyn’s stomach plummeted into an abyss. That private buyer had used three layers of shell companies. She had thought her tracks were completely covered.
“The Rossi family didn't just vanish,” Adrian continued, his voice turning cold as ice. “They left behind a vault. A multi-billion-dollar inheritance hidden somewhere in the five boroughs, locked behind an intricate mechanical cipher that only a master appraiser with deep knowledge of Victorian and Renaissance artifacts could open.”
“I don’t know anything about a vault—”
“Don't insult my intelligence,” Adrian interrupted sharply. “Someone is systematically murdering every surviving member of the Rossi bloodline. Two nights ago, the last known heir was found dead in his apartment in Brooklyn. And yesterday morning, a secure digital ledger containing the exact location of the vault was routed through an IP address registered to your home wifi.”
Silence crashed down on the office.
Evelyn stared at him, her mind racing wildly. The digital ledger. She hadn't downloaded it. Someone had planted it on her network. Someone was trying to frame her.
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“I’m being set up,” she whispered, the horrifying realization dawning on her.
“I know,” Adrian said quietly. “Which is why you have two choices. You can let the police—who are currently on their payroll—arrest you for conspiracy to commit murder and grand larceny, or… you can work for me.”
