“Ready?” she asked as they climbed the steps.
“Yeah. Are you ready?”
“Yes.” She drew in a deep breath, let it out. And then Chance watched her turn into Calli.
Her step quickened and she slipped her hand into his. “The first thing I’m going to do is demand that you see a doctor.”
“Whoa. That wasn’t part of the plan you just outlined. I don’t need a doctor,” he said. “It’s just a scratch.”
“It’s bleeding. A doctor should look at it.”
She was being mother hen, Chance thought in some disgust. There was a lot of Natalie, the big sister, in Calli.
They stepped into the entrance hall just as Lisa entered from one of the hallways.
“I demand to see Carlo,” Natalie cried. “Someone just tried to kill Steven.”
“This way,” Lisa said, gesturing them into the hallway she’d just stepped out of. “Carlo has already been informed of the incident. He’s talking to the security people right now.”
Chance let Natalie draw him down the hallway. Lisa stopped at a door with a coded keypad. Figuring that this was the same room that Carlo had shown Natalie on her tour, he took a quick survey as he stepped through the door. He spotted the guard right away, just outside the doors that opened onto a patio. Natalie strode forward and placed her hands, palms down, on Carlo’s desk. “What is going on here?”
Carlo glanced at Chance, then back at Natalie. “I’m working on it. My men are searching for the shooter. I hope to hear shortly that they have apprehended him.”
“And why should we trust you?” Natalie asked. “How can we be sure that it wasn’t one of your men who shot Steven?”
For a moment there was silence in the room as Carlo looked from Natalie to Chance and back again. Chance could see the anger in Carlo’s eyes and in the pulse beating in his temple. For a moment, he wondered if Natalie had gone too far.
Finally, Carlo moved around his desk and took one of Natalie’s hands. “You’re upset. Understandably so. Please.” He glanced at Chance and gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk. “Sit down. Lisa? Pour our guests some brandy.”
As Lisa did his bidding, Natalie and Chance sat while Carlo picked up his phone and punched in numbers. “I’m calling my own personal doctor. She lives right here on the estate. You’ll want to have the wound looked at.”
“It’s only a scratch,” Chance said. “Give me some antiseptic and a Band-Aid and I’ll be fine.”
“Thank you. He’ll see a doctor,” Natalie said.
Carlo gave orders over the phone, then hung up and waited for Lisa to distribute the brandy snifters.
He took a quick sip of his before he spoke, and Chance used that moment to study his old enemy more closely. Carlo’s hand wasn’t quite steady as he set his glass down on the desk. He was either rattled or giving a good imitation of it. Of course, Chance was well aware that Carlo was skilled at deception.
But what would be the point of acting rattled? Unless he truly was. Was it possible that Natalie was right and Carlo wasn’t behind the shooting?
Chance had no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“I want to apologize.” Carlo said. “Nothing like this has ever happened on my estate before. In answer to your earlier question, I don’t usually invite people here to shoot them. This villa—” he gestured with a hand “—is a place where I conduct a very lucrative business. And most of my clients are repeat customers. If word got around that something like this could happen here…well, you can imagine the repercussions. That is why you may rest assured that I had nothing to do with this deplorable incident. You can also be certain that I will do everything in my power to get to the bottom of it.”
It was a nice speech, Chance thought. There was a line of tension in Carlo’s shoulders and a bite of fury in his movements as he lifted the glass and took another sip of brandy. It was a superb performance.
“You say the shooter isn’t one of your men. But how could he have gotten past your security?” Natalie asked.
Bull’s-eye, Chance thought as a muscle twitched in Carlo’s jaw. Was that why Carlo was so angry?
“That is an excellent question. I will have the answer soon,” he promised.
On impulse, Chance said, “I want to send Calli home.”
She rounded on him. “No. If we go, we go together. I don’t care about that diamond. I only care about you.”
There were real tears in her eyes. Chance would have staked his life on it. And they hadn’t discussed this scenario. He’d sprung it on her out of the blue.
“No. Please,” Carlo said.
Ignoring him, Chance looked only at Natalie. “I can’t put you in danger.”
She reached for his hand. “I won’t leave you here.”
The phone on Carlo’s desk rang. “Excuse me.” He reached for it. “Yes?… I’ll be there shortly.” After replacing the handset, he said to them, “My security team has apprehended the shooter. I’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise you. In the meantime, I want you to let my personal doctor look at the wound.” He turned to Natalie. “I promise you that you will both be safe here. I don’t want you to leave. I’ll auction the diamond tonight.”
Good, Chance thought. The sooner he got Natalie off the estate, the better.
Natalie kept her grip tight on Chance’s hand. “Will you see the doctor?”
“Yes. All right,” Chance agreed.
“Ah,” Carlo said as a small round woman with gray hair and wire-framed glasses was ushered in. “Dr. Canfield, I’d like you to meet Steven Bradford and his friend Calli. Steven has a bullet wound that I’d like you to take a look at.”
“It’s a scratch,” Chance protested.
The woman stopped short and sent Carlo a stubborn look. “I have to report a bullet wound.” Chance got the impression the outspoken woman wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything.
“By all means,” Carlo said. “I plan on making a report myself just as soon as I speak with my security team and find out why this unacceptable incident occurred.”
“Just so we’re straight.” With a brief nod for Carlo, she bore down on Chance and set her black bag on the edge of the desk. Then she said to Calli, “Is he going to be a baby about this?”
Natalie raised her brows. “He’s a man, so of course, he’s going to be a baby.”
Chance suspected Dr. Canfield was biting back a smile as she turned and opened her bag.
“I’m leaving you in good hands,” Carlo said as he signaled Lisa to follow him out of the room.
“TWO THINGS.” Natalie pitched her voice low, gesturing with the lollipop the doctor had given him as a joke after she’d dressed his wound. She sat cross-legged on the edge of the bathroom sink while he shaved. Behind them, the shower was thundering like Niagara Falls, so they could talk safely.
“First, I think the diamond might be in the safe in Carlo’s office after all.”
Chance let his razor pause in midstroke