Hidden Legacy Read Free

tornado, scattering bits and pieces of painful debris across her mind. She was twelve. She was twenty-two. She was losing her mother. She was losing Lucas.
    … Sun spilled through the window, shining on the jewels spread on the black velvet cloth, making them appear like a pirate’s newfound booty. One by one, the man examined them through a loupe and pronounced a price. Then the pile was gone and her mother slipped the aquamarine off her finger.
    “No, Mom, not your wedding ring.”
    “You’re my most precious angel. Your welfare and that of your brothers’ means more to me than any jewel.”…
    …Lucas, dark savage looks and heart-stopping smile, daring her with a tilt of his head across a crowded university library reading room. She resisted, but not for long. He swept her off her feet and showed her how much love she had to give….
    …A handful of dirt on her mother’s grave. “Come back, Mom. Come back.”…
    …Lucas lifting her high in the air, whirling her around, laughing after cracking his latest case. “This means a promotion for me, my perfect Jewel.” Lucas kissing her, holding her, loving her…
    …The doctor’s office. Him telling her that her genes carried the same disease that had killed her father, erasing all hope for happiness…
    …Setting Lucas free…
    …Lucas leaving. Never looking back…
    …Giving birth to Briana alone, without her mother, without her lover…
    …The phone call. I have your daughter…
    …I have your daughter…
    …your daughter…
    …My precious angel…
    …My perfect jewel…
    …Mommy Mine…
    …Mom…
    …Lucas…
    …Briana…
    …All gone…
    …All gone…
    The phone shrilled, knocking her out of the whirlwind of memories. She answered, pressing the record button.
    “Did you find the packet?” the voice asked.
    Juliana had no energy left. She lay limply on the bed. “Do you know what Lucas Vassilovich is?”
    “Apart from a bastard, you mean. Yes, which only makes this sweeter.”
    “He’s FBI. Police. If I get caught in his house—”
    “Then you’ll have to make sure you aren’t. Now I’ve determined the best time to find the house empty is during the day. He leaves the house precisely at six-thirty every morning and usually returns between six and nine every evening. Here’s what you’ll do. Tomorrow morning…”
    She listened to his instructions, swallowing hard as each step sounded more impossible than the next to carry out.
    “Do you think you can do that?” he asked finally.
    “I don’t have much of a choice.”
    “No, no, I’m afraid you don’t.”
    Her gaze caught the angel-shaped night light in the corner of the room. It had come on as daylight had died, throwing soft yellow light into the room. Her chest tightened. “Briana, she doesn’t like the dark. She needs a night light.”
    “I know.”
    “How could you?”
    “Because, my dear, I have nothing but time.”
    “What kind of answer is that?”
    He laughed. “An honest one.”
    The glow-in-the-dark stars came alive on Briana’s pale blue wall, and the prickle of tears burned her eyes. “Once I have the Nadyenka Sapphire, how do I get Briana back?”
    “After you take the piece into your possession, I want you to promptly return home. I’ll call you with further instructions.”
    “No, wait, that’s not going to work!” Juliana sat up, knocking the envelope and its contents to the rainbow-colored carpet.
    “We’ll set up a meeting place for the exchange,” he reassured her. “It could all be over by tomorrow night.”
    She hung on to the phone with both hands. “She needs help brushing her teeth. She tries to get away with just a swish. She likes at least two stories. She—”
    “I’ll take good care of her.”
    Juliana closed her eyes, squeezing out the brimming tears. Her lips trembled. She wanted to end the connection. She wanted to hang on to it. Briana, my baby, my baby …. “Let me talk to her, please .”
    “That would only prove