Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

chauffeur was holding the door open. He handed over the next slip of paper, and then looked around again. "Are we being followed by any chance?"
    The expression on the chauffeur's face did not change in the slightest. "Followed, sir? Not that I'm aware of. Is there someone in particular I should be looking out for?"
    "My employer may have gotten himself in a sticky situation with his wife, involving a woman who isn't his wife. There are questions about who owns what and how much of it."
    The chauffeur smiled slightly, and Sebastian became very proud of that lie. "I see, sir. I cannot say that I have noticed anyone with a long lens pointed in your general direction."
    "Thank you. Keep me posted."
    "Of course, sir."
    Sebastian made a mental note to slip the driver a few more hundreds if they got to the end of the day.
    The fourth stop was very much an echo of the first, but with marble floors instead of hardwood. Sebastian handed over the letter requesting access to Mr. Prince's box and was shown to a waiting room with plush silk-covered sofas. The letter was taken and Sebastian waited, and waited. He started looking around for cameras and other exits.
    A small gray man entered the room and hurried towards him, followed by a much younger man. "I'm terribly sorry sir," Sebastian's heart froze in his chest. "Our computer system has been on the fritz most of the day. We are having to check signatures by hand. The same way we did for the last century." The last sentence was directed to a young man who was hovering nearby looking very uncomfortable. "But if you like I will show you to the vault myself."
    Sebastian smiled politely. "Thank you. I am on a bit of a schedule."
    "Of course. If you will follow me?"
    Sebastian was led into another opulent vault, lined in marble, let into a small box, the quickly left alone. Inside the box was a small, soft case with a zip on the side. It was about the size of a small novel. Sebastian knew he should be rushing, but he felt he had to know what was in the case. He opened it and pulled out a heavy silver rectangle. The sticker on one side told him he was holding a one-terabyte solid-state drive.
    More important than the money. Would the dirty deeds of a family fit on a one-terabyte drive? Maybe. Would they kill to get to it? Most definitely. Sebastian wondered if the Delawares even knew the drive existed. The answer was quite possibly no. They'd let their missing heir slip from the news cycle. If they thought this drive existed they would surely be looking for Daren desperately, or at least looking for who killed him in case he had talked before dying.
    He zipped the drive back into the case and left there as quickly as possible. He had the excuse of having been delayed to all but run to the car. He texted 4 as they pulled away from the curb.
    As they slid through traffic Sebastian's heart began to race again. He could see the finish line for the day, but now he also carried something that could bring the wrath of one of the most powerful families in the country down on his head.
    He held his hand out in front of him. It was shaking. He twisted around to look out the back window. City traffic weaved around them and he had no way of knowing if they were being followed.
    The car pulled up in front of an inconspicuous little door a few blocks away from a collection of big banks. It was squeezed between a one-hour dry cleaner and a Vietnamese noodle shop. There was no doorman, but the number over the door was clear. He made sure he had the hard drive in one pocket and the gems in the other.
    He opened the door, went up four cracked marble stairs, and opened another door. The room he found was sort of like the first stop but in a world gone wrong. Everyone turned and looked at him. They all felt like bad people. The room reeked of cigarette smoke, and large men stood by with obvious bulges under their jackets. This was not a place where rich old widows kept their diamonds.
    Sebastian could not imagine Daren ever setting foot in a place like this. Not that he believed Daren was some kind of innocent, but Daren was pretty and wealthy and young and every look from every person in the room was making his skin crawl.
    The man who approached him looked weaselly to the point where Sebastian was half afraid he'd bite. There was no waiting room. The man read over the letter from a Mr. Castaneda and waved Sebastian through without checking the signature against anything. The man who led him to the