Hard As Ice (Fortis Series 1) by Raven Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

so. They hung out together on the weekends, and stuff. Emma too.”
    Nia looked down at her desk, trying to hide the surprise and alarm on her face. His innocent words had planted a seed in her brain that was rapidly growing. There was no doubt in her mind that Matt had been the inside man for the robbery. He must have provided access to the premises. Did Chris know anything about what Matt was into? Emma? Were they also involved?
    Even if they were, it didn’t explain how they knew the security code for the safe. Only she and Edward knew it.
    “I didn’t know that,” she finally replied softly. “What does Chris think happened?”
    “He has no clue. He just said that Matt was a stand-up guy, really easygoing. No one would want to hurt him.”
    Nia nodded. She wanted to ask more questions, but was concerned Adam would think it was odd. She was usually the last person to stir up office gossip.
    “Listen, I have a new client contract that needs to go out this morning,” she told him, changing the subject. “Can you take care of it for me? I’ll send you all the details.”
    “That walk-in from yesterday. DaCosta?”
    “Yeah, how did you know?”
    Adam shrugged.
    “Emma,” they both said at the same time, then smiled at each other.
    “Apparently, he made quite the impression on her,” he added.
    Nia just shook her head. A receptionist really should be more discreet.
    “Anyway, I had a meeting with him yesterday evening and he’s agreed to have us take care of his collection.”
    Adam sat down in the chair in front of her desk.
    “What’s involved?”
    “Mostly art and a few antique artifacts from around the world. He recently inherited his dad’s full collection, but only wants to keep a few pieces. So we’ll need to do a catalog and appraisal of the items, then recommend the best approach,” Nia explained.
    “Estimated values?”
    “He wasn’t sure, but he showed me a couple of pictures of contemporary pieces. One was by Etienne Blanc, and if it’s an original, could be worth over five hundred thousand at auction. So, it sounds like a pretty valuable collection, maybe worth several million? But we won’t know for sure until it’s all appraised.”
    “Nice,” Adam stated, his eyes glittering with excitement.
    As an art major at the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts, this was just the type of account he enjoyed working on.
    “The only complication is that Mr. DaCosta is based in Virginia, near D.C., so we’ll have to do the work there,” she added.
    “Are you going to manage it?” he asked.
    “I’m not sure. It depends on how things progress with the August auction.”
    “I can work on it with you,” he offered.
    Nia nodded.
    “That would make it easier,” she agreed. “Let’s get all the paperwork done, then we can confirm the details over the next few days.”
    “Cool. Send me the specifics and I’ll take care of it this morning.”
    “Thanks, Adam. I’ll be in a meeting until about eleven o’clock.”
    “Sure, boss.”
    Nia smiled as he strode out of her office. There couldn’t be more than five to six years between them, but Adam made her feel old.
    At eight fifty-eight, Nia left her office to walk to the conference room in the far right end of the loft floor. She had worn her favorite dress, using it like armor to feel more confident and self-assured. It was a black sleeveless sheath with a square neck and white exposed zipper from neck to hem down the back. A thin white belt accentuated her waist, and matched her black-and-white four-inch pumps. A light pink-and-turquoise silk scarf was wrapped loosely around her neck to soften the look and cover her cleavage.
    She took a deep breath before pushing open the boardroom doors. There were two men inside standing next to the long, oval table. God, they were big. Almost as big as Evan.
    “Ms. James?” one of them asked as they approached her. “I’m Michael Thorpe, a security consultant with Fortis. This is my