Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN BESIDE THE KING
Six months after Caprice tore up the documents, the Kelly estate had changed.
Not physically.
The marble was still cold.
The security cameras still watched every corridor.
Armed men still stood at the gates.
And Diamond Kelly still moved through the house in his wheelchair.
But the silence was different.
The estate no longer felt like a prison.
It felt like a home.
Caprice was the reason.
She had stopped wearing the gray uniform Mrs. Higgins once gave her. Diamond had never formally announced the change, but everyone understood.
Caprice was no longer the maid.
She was the woman who walked beside the boss.
And nobody questioned it.
At least, not to her face.
That morning, Diamond sat in his study reviewing financial reports when Caprice entered carrying coffee.
"You've been staring at that page for twenty minutes."
"I'm working."
"You're brooding."
"I'm thinking."
"Same thing with you."
Diamond looked up.
"You've become very confident."
"I live with you."
"Fair."
She placed his coffee on the desk.
Then noticed the tension in his face.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
She stared.
"Diamond."
He sighed.
"One of our warehouses in Newark was hit last night."
Caprice's smile disappeared.
"Anyone hurt?"
"Two guards."
"Dead?"
"No."
She exhaled.
"Good."
Diamond looked toward the window.
"It wasn't random."
"Who?"
"We don't know yet."
Caprice walked around the desk.
"You'll find out."
"I always do."
But she noticed something.
His hands were shaking.
Not from anger.
Pain.
"You haven't taken your medication."
Diamond looked annoyed.
"I hate when you do that."
"Do what?"
"Look at me like you can read everything."
"I can."
She held out his medication.
"Take it."
He stared at her.
Then swallowed the pills.
Caprice smiled.
"Good."
Diamond shook his head.
"You've become bossy."
"I learned from the best."
He smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Levi.
Diamond answered.
"What?"
Levi's voice was unusually serious.
"We found something."
Diamond's expression changed.
"What?"
"A message."
"From whom?"
"Someone who shouldn't be alive."
Diamond went completely still.
"Send it."
A photograph arrived.
Caprice watched his face change.
"What is it?"
Diamond turned the phone toward her.
A photograph.
An old photograph.
Diamond at twenty-three.
Standing beside his father.
And beside them—
a young Gideon Costa.
Caprice frowned.
"That's Costa."
"Yes."
"But he's dead."
Diamond's voice became cold.
"The message says otherwise."
Under the photograph were five words.
YOU KILLED THE WRONG MAN.
Caprice's stomach dropped.
Diamond stared at the screen.
For the first time in months, the king looked afraid.
May you like
Not for himself.
For her.
