The Fortune Teller(72)

How had she missed that? She was about to listen when her phone rang.

Raina was calling her.

Just seeing her number made Semele’s nausea worsen. She answered the call, knowing that, whatever this was, it had to be bad.

“Semele?” Raina’s voice was thick with emotion. She didn’t sound like herself. “Cabe’s been in an accident.”





The Moon

It felt like all the oxygen in the room was gone. Semele couldn’t breathe. She sat in shock in the waiting room of Lenox Hill Hospital. Raina was trying to tell her what she knew.

No one saw the plates. Cabe was outside Kairos when the car had come up right behind his bike. Witnesses said a man wearing a hoodie had taken Cabe’s backpack and run off during the commotion.

Semele closed her eyes. They wanted the cards. She covered her mouth, about to be sick.

Raina was an absolute mess. Mascara ran from her eyes and her hands shook as she crumpled and uncrumpled a ball of Kleenex. “I can’t believe.…” She trailed off.

Semele sat beside her, rigid. Raina seemed truly upset, but Semele could barely look at her. Wild thoughts were filling her head.

Had the man from the library done this?

What if Raina had been the driver?

Just who the hell was this person sitting beside her?

“How did you find out?” she asked Raina in a dull voice. “Were you with him?”

Raina shook her head. “He stopped by my office on his way out. The guard on duty at the front desk heard the accident and ran outside.…” Raina wiped her eyes, unable to continue. Her face was red and blotchy. “He said he was going to see you.” Raina looked her in the eye. “Did Cabe call you before he left the office? Did he say anything?”

Cabe had called her, but Semele had yet to listen to the message. She wasn’t about to tell Raina that.

“Why?” Semele folded her arms. “Why do you want to know?” she asked, unable to keep the anger from her voice. She looked hard at Raina, trying to see past her weepy exterior and glimpse the truth.

Raina was involved.

Semele could feel it in her core. She saw the guilt in Raina’s eyes, along with something that looked like shame. Semele was done pretending. “I saw you outside my apartment that day—with the man who’s been following me.”

Raina locked eyes with Semele, and for a moment, there was a bridge between them.

“Were you a part of this?” Semele gritted out the words.

It looked like Raina was about to answer when her phone beeped and she glanced down at a text. Semele watched her face go hard.

Raina shut off her phone. “I have to go.” She stood up. “I’ll let Mikhail know what’s happened.”

Semele grabbed her arm. “Wait.” Raina turned back, her expression now turned to ice. Semele held her ground, her body quivering with fury and helplessness. “I know you know what’s going on.”

Raina laughed without any humor. “All I know is that someone has taken a personal interest in the Bossard Collection—and doesn’t care who he destroys. Why do you think Mikhail wants you in China?” Raina looked haunted. “I didn’t do this to Cabe. You did. You involved him and he’s paying the price. Now”—Raina wiped her eyes, looking in control again—“I hate you as much as you hate me,” she said and walked off.

Semele sat down in a daze. She listened to the clicking of Raina’s heels and then the sound of the elevator doors as they closed. Raina was gone but her words lingered.

Semele stared at her phone, her mind barely able to function. She called Bren.

He answered on the first ring, a faint sound of hope in his voice. “Semele?”

“Cabe’s been in an accident. We’re at Lenox Hill.” She completely broke down. “They don’t…” She couldn’t finish.

“I’ll be right there.” He hung up.

She needed to let Cabe’s brother know. She had to search her e-mail to find his number. Her hands shook and tears blinded her vision, but she finally found it and got him on the phone. She could hear the panic in Oliver’s voice. He was jumping in his car right away—it would take him two hours to get there from the Hamptons. She promised to call him if anything changed.

Depleted, she made her way to the ladies’ room. She sat inside one of the stalls and bawled her eyes out. When she was finally able, she listened to Cabe’s voice mail. She had to restart the message twice until she could stop crying long enough to hear what he was saying.

His voice bubbled with excitement. “Semcat, you’re not going to believe this. This little family heirloom of yours is from about 45 B.C. And that’s not even the most mind-blowing part. Remember how I ran your DNA? My computer matched your sample to the cards. It’s in the paint! I double-checked the hypervariable control regions, and your DNA matches.” He laughed. “Holy shit, right?” She could hear him getting on his bike. “This is amazing. My mind is blown. I’ll explain everything when I see you.”

She listened to the message again, feeling light-headed.

Her DNA matched the paint?

That didn’t make sense. What was in the paint? Ancient DNA?

God, she needed to talk to Cabe. She never should have let him take the cards.

*