The Sapphire Affair (Jewel #1)

“That’d be great,” he said, reaching into his pocket to remove the gem. “My sister’s husband gave her a diamond to try to win her back after he broke her heart. But he did it again, and we’re just trying to figure out how much this pretty little number is worth, even though nothing’s worth the cost of the heartache he gave her.”


The woman shot him a sympathetic smile. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Diamonds are a wonderful gift, but so much more wonderful when it’s a true expression of love.”

“Couldn’t agree more. And she just wants to donate the money to charity now. She doesn’t plan on keeping it. She wants something good to come of that bastard’s cheating ways.”

“I completely understand. Let’s see what you have,” she said, spreading out a velvet cloth on the counter. Jake laid the diamond on it.

“Oh my,” the woman said under her breath. She looked up at Jake. “He really did mess up.”

Jake laughed lightly. “He sure did.”

Using a tweezers-like object, the woman carefully plucked the diamond from the cloth, raised it to her face, then peered at it through a small magnifying glass. “This is gorgeous,” she said as she regarded the stone.

Jake waited as she considered it from all angles.

Once she set it down, she fixed on a closed smile, then spoke in a crisp tone. “This is watermarked.”

A bolt of nerves crashed into him. Shit. Watermarked had to be bad. Was that like trying to use counterfeit money? Was she going to press a button behind the counter, shutter the metal blinds, and set off alarms to keep him caged in?

“Is that so?” he asked, keeping his tone as even as it could be. “Where does it come from?”

“Not all diamonds are watermarked. But some are, and a watermarked diamond means it comes from a particular mine. This is from the Frayer mine in the Northwest Territories in Canada, which specializes in conflict-free, politically correct diamonds mined from the subarctic north.”

Jake nodded and released his breath. Whew. “Well, at least the ex has that point in his favor,” he said, though his mind leaped several steps ahead to Eli “The Thief” Thompson. Was he a thief with a politically correct conscience?

“Yes, this is one of the best-regarded diamond mines in the entire world. And these diamonds with the blue tint are highly valuable. At this size and carat, I would estimate this is worth at least ten thousand dollars.”

He nearly bit his tongue, holding in the whoop of both shock and triumph he was tempted to unleash as the amount registered, and he added up numbers. “That so?”

“It is indeed,” she said, her dark eyes fixed on him, as if she were studying him. “I can handle the transaction for you if you’d like. We have handled a few of these diamonds recently. Every time we receive a new one, we can easily find buyers all over the world. I can give you full value today, sir. Are you ready to get started?” she asked, sounding way more eager than he’d expected for someone forking over cash, rather than being on the receiving end. Her gaze remained locked on his, and her stare was intense.

And, admittedly, a little odd. Like she was ready to pounce on him if he said yes.

“Let me talk to my sister, and we’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Excellent. I look forward to seeing you. I’m Monica. You can ask for me. I’ll be looking forward to helping you.”

He saluted her as he pocketed the gem with his other hand. “Great talking to you, Monica.”

Two minutes later, he climbed inside Steph’s Jeep and handed her the five-figure gem. “Your stepdad is generous. That bad boy is worth ten K. You’re going to change the combination on your safe tonight, Ariel.”

Her eyes widened to the size of moons. “Are you kidding me?”

He shook his head. “I assure you I’m not,” he said, then told her the details of the mine as they stayed parked on the side of the road, the afternoon sun shining through the window. “So Eli gets them from this Canadian mine, from a merchant who sources from there, probably through Constantine Trevino. That’s the guy he was in contact with back when he was still at the fund. He gets all the diamonds while he’s still in the United States working with this guy,” he said, though the part that worried Jake was what Eli was doing with the stones now that he was here in the land of do-whatever-you-want-with-money. Was he selling them all off and converting them back into cash? Was he selling them in small chunks? Wilder had said someone had brought a small batch of these blue diamonds into International Diamonds recently. Did that mean Eli had already turned a few stones into greenbacks?

Jake doubted it. Eli was cunning. He was probably cashing them in bit by bit, stone by stone, so as not to draw undue attention. Time was of the essence.