Page 56 of Uncharted

“Yes, it’s a named stone. It went up for auction last year. Candy was all excited about it. She drove Emily crazy with it, sending her texts and articles about the sale. It was predicted to go for between 55 to 65 million.”

“Shit,” Zane grits out.

“That’s high, but not unheard of for that kind of stone.”

“That kind?” Zane tilts his head.

“The Pink Phoenix is a pink 51 carat diamond from a mine in Western Australia. A mine that’s no longer in operation. Pink diamonds have been skyrocketing ever since the mine closed.”

“Are you into the diamond market, Rockwell?”

“Only when the chief financial officer of my family’s company calls me and alerts me that the new girlfriend has expensive taste. I’d been thinking about turning my father down on helping run the family business. I was still training. The Pink Phoenix got me on a plane from the training facility in Colorado Springs. So yeah, I know a bit about diamonds.” I hadn’t beforehand. It was also when I decided that if I ever did trust a girl enough to marry her, I wouldn’t be putting a diamond on her hand. “My dad promised he wasn’t going to buy it. The auction came and went. It went to an anonymous buyer for 55 million dollars. The day of the auction, I even went into the Rockwell offices just kind of to make sure my dad wasn’t going to bid on it. But it sold, and when I joined them at dinner that night, I expected Candy to be sulking around the mansion. She was anything but upset. She was bouncing like a kid. I asked her about it. She said she had a new horse coming to the barn.” She did. I checked, but my gut said it was more than that. I should have listened to my gut.

“A large pink necklace?” Haley says.

“Yes, did she show it to you?” Part of me wants to be wrong. But so much of this is falling into place.

“Well, yes and no. She was trying to take jewelry with her when I woke them up the night of the wreck. I told her to drop it, and your dad backed me up. She dropped the jewelry bags. I didn’t get a good look at any of them. There might have been something pink. I was thinking about other things at the time.” Her blue eyes glisten.

“Yes, thank you for saving my life.” Without her opening my door, I might have died. Or I guess I would have spent a good long time with Sam.

“But she didn’t take any jewelry bag with her. She left one on the dresser. I think the others were on the floor.”

“My dad didn’t pick it up?”

“No.” Haley shakes her head.

My stomach goes cold.

“Are you okay?” Haley grips my arm.

“I’m not sure. Someone did this to us.” And now I can’t help but wonder if it was my own father.

“He was just trying to keep Candy safe. Every second counts.” Haley rubs my arms, and I can’t help but lean into it. Has she come to the same conclusion as me? That there’s a chance my dad had something to do with this?

“Right, but if you had a small bag you could fit in your pocket lying at your feet? Wouldn’t it be human nature to grab it? That’s a lot of money, 55 million. No offense to your family, but that’s crazy.” Zane circles around the table. “I get safety and all, Haley, but 55 million dollars, for one second to scoop down and pick something up?” Zane drops a napkin and snatches it from the ground. He has a point. I don’t care about money, but that’s a lot of money.

I stare at Zane, and his brow furrows. I shake it off—there’s no way my dad planned this out. “I get it, but that’s not how my dad operates. If he bought the Pink Phoenix, he did it because he thought it would make Candy happy. Against the advisement of his CFO, his daughter, I’m sure his best friend, and me. He loves making people happy. It’s the reason he started buying yachts in the first place. Susan, his ex-wife, loved boating. So he bought her one, then a bigger one, and a bigger one after that. Granted, he loved yachting, too. He used to laugh at me and say he’d rather be on the water than in it any day.” I hate this. “Someone on board did this, right?”

There’re nods from around the deck.

“It’s not Rocky,” I say.

Haley gasps. “Wait! What? I’m coming in late. Are you trying to say that Rocky set this whole thing up?” Haley’s got her hand on her hip, and her eyes are focusing on Sam.

Sam peers back at her. “Right, I think you were still in the galley when I said I searched the primary suite and there weren’t any jewelry bags in the room.”

“There have to be. Easton and I were the last ones up. Well, I guess technically Dante and I were the last ones out.”

Sam shakes his head. “I searched. There’s nothing there.”

“That can’t be. I took Rocky and Candy to the stairs. That’s when I met Emily and Brick in the hallway. I told them I would get Easton out, and they all left.” Haley takes my hand in hers and squeezes. “They went up.” She pinches her lips together. “But...”

“But?” Sam raises his eyebrows at her.

“My back was turned when I was working on getting Easton’s door open. And there is the back staircase.”

“It’s like a damn poltergeist made its way around the ship,” Sam growls.

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