“Well, now that everything’s settled, can I have my watch back?” Johnny said.

I couldn’t believe his nerve. He’d gotten in my way, let the ubervillains escape, and now he wanted his shinies back?

How shallow. Even for a rich, spoiled playboy.

“I don’t think so,” I snapped. “Not after the way you behaved. You can wait. The Fearless Five will get your items back to you in a few days.”

It was standard operating procedure in cases like this. We’d sort through the items, determine what belonged to whom, and mail them back to the rightful owners. It kept people like Joanne James from claiming that certain pieces of jewelry belonged to them when they really didn’t. Johnny’s face hardened, his lips forming a tight line. I tore my gaze away from them and tried not to think about just how firm and warm they’d been earlier.

“Let’s go, Johnny. Now.” Bella’s voice was sharp as a stiletto and twice as pointed.

“Yes, come along, Johnny,” Bobby Bulluci added. “I hardly think Fiera’s going to keep anything for herself. We can get the watch back later.”

I eyed the grandfather. Even though he was over seventy, Bobby Bulluci was still a handsome man. He stood straight and tall, with a trim body. His hair was a burnished silver, 42

J e n n i f e r E s t e p

but his eyes were the same remarkable green that Johnny’s were. If Bobby was what Johnny would look like in another forty years, then the younger Bulluci was one lucky devil. Johnny stared at his sister and grandfather. He turned back to me and took a deep breath. “The watch was my father’s. I’d like it back. Please. It has a lot of sentimental value to me, to my whole family.”

I started to say no, but something in his eyes stopped me. A bright flash of pain I knew all too well. The pain of losing someone you loved. I remembered what Joanne had told me about Bella’s father dying.

I held out the bag. “Take it.”

Johnny reached for the bag. Our fingers brushed, and I felt the need to blow off some steam. A few sparks flew out of my fingertips and landed on Johnny’s torn, dirty tux. He paused and patted them out.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “Job hazard.”

“No problem.”

Johnny dug through the fancy baubles until he found what he was looking for—a simple silver watch. All that decorated the timepiece’s black face were a pair of wings, inlaid in mother-of-pearl. No diamonds, no jewels, nothing fancy. It wasn’t even a Rolex. Odd. Given how much he wanted it back, you’d think the watch would have been made out of solid platinum.

Johnny fastened the timepiece around his left wrist.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

Johnny took his grandfather’s arm, and the Bullucis headed toward the gates, where the rest of the wedding guests milled about, waiting for their stretch limos to come take them home. That left just the six of us. The chief put a concerned hand on my shoulder. “Are you all right, Fiona? That was a pretty nasty fight.”