Deliver the fucking jewels and take a call…

I texted Diamond.

Where are you?

Home. Finally. Waiting for everything to explode. I’m gonna have to work tomorrow too to try to find some way out of this.

Got a special delivery, I’ll be over in a few if that’s all right?

Shit.

It’s good news.

For me. Maybe. I’m worried about you, dumbass.

See you soon.

Until soon.

Well, actually, before I did that, I cleaned myself up, locked my door, and ate my dinner. Then I texted Diamond that and started to head over. And because I’m a tough guy, I’d failed to realize that the punch to my face was rapidly bruising.

Which meant that when I arrived, Diamond opened the door and fussed over me, producing an ice pack and a kiss that nearly knocked my socks off. Then I gave her the gems and she gave me a kiss which did knock my socks off. So much so that I didn’t hear the retreating footsteps of the offended observer of our little encounter.

She dumped the diamonds on her kitchen table after breaking away and pulled out a small little eyepiece thing and checked out the diamonds. “How’d you get them back?”

“Catwoman delivered them.”

“And punched you in the face?” Her voice suggested payback might be needed for that.

“I may have suggested Batman manipulated her,” I tried to keep the peace.

“She didn’t like that?”

“Nope.”

“So she punched you in the face?”

“And used her claws a bit.” I lifted my neck and showed her the pinpricks and similar ones on my forearm. Okay, maybe I wasn’t trying to keep the peace.

“Bitch.”

I shrugged.

“You know, we do pay for recoveries,” she said.

I shook my head. “No way. No version of this gets out. You got the gems back…somehow, because you are awesome. I was not involved.”

She frowned at that, then I saw a smile break through. “The board is going to shit themselves sideways.”

“Good. They deserve it.”

She paused, considered me carefully.

“And your…meeting?”

“No news yet.”

“Keep me in the loop,” she said, in a tone which promised repercussions if I did not.

I nodded. She gave me another hug, and whispered in my ear, “If my kids weren’t home, I would ride you until you were fucking empty for this…and I will, after I show the fucking board who the real top dog at Gotham Insurance is. So you better fucking survive.”

I smiled as she pulled out her phone and called some of her people. She wasn’t stupid enough to turn them over without verification, so an expert was going to meet her at the office, and a security detail was picking her up, without any information about why she needed an escort.

Twenty minutes later, I was driving back home, a hundred million dollars poorer, but feeling like the biggest man in the world. Until my phone rang. Unlisted number, raspy voice, date, time, and location of where I was supposed to show up to trap Jinx.

Fuck.