of the nasty used jewelry store like a puppy with her tail between her legs. I don’t engage in her sulking. She’s a grown-ass woman, for god’s sake.
“You stole it,” Olivia gasps as we climb back into my car.
“I replaced it,” I correct.
Reaching into my sleeve, I extract the necklace and clasp it around my neck.
“No, you stole it.”
God. She’s fucking incredulous.
“The one they have is technically worth seven-fifty, so it’s a fair trade.”
I yank the car in reverse and peel out of the parking lot. I’ll never be back here. Fucking con artists.
“So, your business plan,” I say, redirecting her. “It won’t work.”
“What do you mean? It’s a great plan,” she says in the annoying, high-pitched voice she uses when she’s trying too hard to show her enthusiasm.
“Selling people jewelry, it’s not as easy as you think. People these days question whether it’s real, even if it is. If you don’t have an established storefront and the jewelry store doesn’t appear expensive, your friends, no matter how much they trust you, won’t buy it. Let’s be real. They don’t trust you as much as you think.”
She sighs and begins picking at her nails. Her fucking nails. I want to cut her fingers off.
“The cleaning …” She starts thrumming her nails now, doing her best not to pick. At least she’s aware of her disgusting habit. “It’ll take too long.”
“No shit. I don’t have a lifetime,” I announce. I don’t have six months. Relocate. Restart. Always hide. She’s burning my time. And it seems she’s fresh out of her own.
“How much would I need to pay you to skip this bullshit and get the pieces from you?” I ask. I’m not paying her for my things, but pretending to humor her will be informative.
Her wheels turn. She’s clearly not thought of this idea yet.
“One hundred thousand.” She says it like a question.
“Nope,” I say. No sense in drawing this out longer.
Her shoulders slump. She thought that blackmail would be easy. She chose the wrong woman to mess with.
“We’ll split profits seventy, thirty,” I say. “No, sixty me, forty you. I don’t want this to drag on forever. We offer to repair some of the pieces, like I did with you.”
“And … you replace them?” Her words are shaky.
“Not exactly. That may be too obvious. Not everyone is as naïve as you are,” I say. Not everyone is as fucking dumb when it comes to their prized possessions.
“So then, what, exactly?” Olivia asks.
“I take a stone or two from valuable pieces. It’ll add up for us, and it won’t be obvious to them.”
Her shoulders are erect now.
“We should start soon,” she says, eyes shining. “With the holidays coming, it’ll be ideal.”
“If we’re going to do this, I need you to know some things. It’s important because you’ll need to trust me,” I say. My secrets. Just two of the three things I know to be true. The third isn’t relevant.
“Okay.” Her face loses its glow as she focuses on me.
“People in love are blind. People love their jewelry for so many reasons, which can make them do some odd things. So, just be prepared for that,” I say solemnly. “And, conning is an art. If you stick with me, and do what I say, things should go smoothly. I say this because I know how to study people and how to deceive them.”
She nods in a slow, rhythmic way, absorbing this information.
“Remember, I’m not conning you anymore. I have nothing to hide,” I say, holding up my hands in surrender. “So please, trust me.”
“I trust you,” Olivia says, but she doesn’t sound convinced.
Her uncertainty is expected. Trust takes time, and I just ran my game on her. To be fair, I wouldn’t trust me. I always have something to hide.
Her knee starts bouncing. There’s something else on her mind.
“What?” I ask, knowing that I’ll regret it.
“How will we sell the stones once we get them?” she asks hesitantly.
“Oh, honey.” I laugh. “This isn’t my first rodeo.”