"Ladies, please don't look at me like that. I really was just guessing." Quinn Thorne wore an expression of pure innocence, palms raised in surrender as though he hadn't just won forty-two million dollars on raw intuition.
Stella Vane pursed her lips in obvious disbelief. "You expect me to believe you gambled forty-two million on a guess?"
"Well, you know what they say about casinos," Quinn replied with an easy shrug. "First-timers always win. I just got into blind gemstone speculation, so technically I'm still a beginner. The odds were in my favor."
The logic was so absurdly naive that Vivian Sinclair couldn't suppress a quiet laugh, the corner of her mouth curving despite herself.
Over by the heavy-duty stone-cutter, Tristan Blackwood stared down at the four slabs of barren rock spre
