The French Detective's Woman Read Online Free PDF

cop. What he’d done at the club with her did not exactly put him in the best light. Would he have stopped if she’d told him no in that storage closet? Maybe. But maybe not.
    “Okay, you’re right,” she reluctantly said to Hugo. “We take care of this ourselves.” To the others she said, “We need a plan to make Beck leave Sophie alone. Everyone think about what we can do. In the meantime there’s little option. We must pay him off.”
    “But how?” Sofie whispered. “It’s so much money.”
    “Same way I always do. Speaking of which...” She pulled the diamond bracelet from its hidden pouch at her waist. “This must be worth several thousand. That’s a start.”
    “Oh, Ciara!” CoCo exclaimed, taking it from her. “It’s gorgeous! Did you slip it right off the princess’s wrist?”
    She made a face. “Yep. While I was dancing with my cop, too.”
    All five jaws dropped. Even Hugo’s eyes widened before narrowing. “ That’s how you met the flic ? While you were robbing the princess? Didn’t he get suspicious?”
    She shook her head. “No. I’m good at what I do.” She sighed. “And luckily for us, there are plenty more rich people out there with jewels and paintings and silver that other people want. I’ve been doing this for almost ten years. Another few robberies isn’t going to make much of a difference.”
    She knew her lifestyle was wrong. She’d known it from the start. But she’d been so young when her mother had kicked her out...she hadn’t seen any option—other than selling herself on the streets, which she refused to do. She’d seen what a few years of that had done to her mother.
    Then when Etienne had found her and swept her off her feet...well, Etienne was a thief. It wouldn’t have done to question how he made a living. Besides, back then the seamier side of life was all she knew.
    But that had been fourteen long years ago, and with Etienne she’d discovered there was more to life than simply fighting for survival any way you could. Etienne was dead now but she was still stealing. Each month she told herself, just a little while longer... But months had turned to years. And now...it was too late.
    She sighed and shoved aside her fruitless thoughts. “Sofie, I’ll get Beck’s money, never you worry. We’re not letting you go anywhere.”
    “Or letting that blackmailing pig touch you, either,” CoCo added firmly, her eyes blazing.
    “That’s right.” Davie and Ricardo both gave her hugs, and Davie turned to Ciara. “I just heard something that might come in handy. The Countess Michaud is having a big end-of-summer soiree next week. Everyone who’s anyone will be there.”
    Ciara smiled. Outcast aristocrat Davie was her pipeline to the pampered and privileged upper-class world where she currently made her living. Although his father had kicked him out at thirteen, to society, monsieur le Compte de Figeac pretended all was well in the family. Without Davie’s tips, her life would be much more complicated and difficult. Ciara had the skills, but Davie had the info and the entrée to the jobs that paid well. Even his coursework in portrait photography had brought in useful contacts.
    “There, you see? Everything will be fine,” she said, smiling reassuringly at all five of them.
    These kids were all the family she had, all she would ever have. She’d do anything for her Orphans. To see they got the chances she had been denied.
    And if that meant she had to steal more to pay off that bastard Beck, so be it.
    ♥♥♥
     
    “Ah! The most famous bracelet in France,” monsieur Victor Valois said with a grin as he took the diamonds from Ciara.
    It was the next morning, and she was visiting her friend and mentor in his fashionably shabby antique store, Valois Vieilli .
    Standing behind a glass and gilt Louis XV jewelry display case, he winked. “And the most famous thief, as well. Congratulations! I saw the papers this morning. I was expecting you.”
    “Are you