The All-Seeing Security Guard

Chapter 006

Beck didn't waste time with words. He called over the two young laborers at his side without hesitation.

One of them braced the rough jade in place. The other kept a bucket of water ready. Beck himself took the saw, and the moment the blade whined to life, the scattered guests across the hall turned as one and began drifting toward the table.

The party had barely gotten underway, and most people had still been hanging back, sizing up the room. But now the first stone of the night was already under the blade, and that was reason enough to come closer.

The saw bit into stone with a steady grinding hiss. A corner fell away in seconds. When the water washed the mud from the fresh cut, a ripple of gasps broke out among the onlookers.

"No way. It's showing color!"

"That's real jadeite, and on the very first cut. This batch must be solid."

"Look at that tone, so clean. That's water-grade jadeite if I've ever seen it."

Julian listened to the murmurs around him and let a slow, satisfied smile curl at the corner of his mouth. He shot a meaningful glance toward Mr. Pike standing nearby.

Mr. Pike caught the cue instantly. "Only Julian could pull color on the very first try," he said, loud enough for the crowd to hear. "Pick any stone off the table and strike gold. I don't know how you do it. My eye for jade doesn't come close to yours."

The rest of the guests, all sharp enough to read the room, jumped in with their own praise.

"Only a few minutes in and he's already up nearly a hundred and forty thousand. That's Julian for you."

"A true connoisseur, no question."

Julian waved a hand, affecting modesty. "Just luck, that's all." Then he turned toward Lila, his smile widening. "My apologies, Ms. Sinclair. This stone was yours to begin with. If you'd like it back, I'm happy to hand it over."

"No need," Lila said, smiling pleasantly as she declined.

Julian nodded to Beck. "Keep cutting. Open another corner."

"You got it," Beck said, and he and the two laborers set back to work.

The sound of jadeite being revealed drew more and more guests toward the table, the crowd thickening by the second. Soon a second corner came away under the blade, and when the water rinsed the dust clear, green shimmered through the stone once more.

"Unbelievable, it's showing color again."

"That's not coming in under four hundred and twenty thousand now."

"Had to be. One window showed green, now two windows both show it, and the color's light and even all the way through. I'd bet two thirds of this stone is solid jadeite."

From the edge of the crowd, a man called out toward Julian.

"Julian! Seven hundred thousand!"

"Marcus Dunne will pay seven hundred thousand for that stone right now!"

The hall erupted into murmurs. Everyone recognized the voice. Marcus was the man behind Dunne & Co. Jewelers here in town, and his eye for jade was nothing to scoff at. A bid of seven hundred thousand meant he saw real value in that rock.

Julian turned to Lila, whose expression had gone tight, and smiled.

"Well? Having second thoughts, Ms. Sinclair? Now's your chance to back out."

Lila's face darkened at the jab. Cade, standing beside her, spoke up before she could answer.

"No need for that. Ours might end up worth more than his anyway." He tilted his head toward the stone still on the table. "Besides, his piece isn't even fully opened. Could be nothing waiting on the other side."

Julian barked out a laugh. "Then I'll be waiting to see you two pull something worth more than this. And if you can't," his eyes glinted with something ugly, "I'll be waiting to hear you bark like a dog."

Cade only smiled, giving nothing away.

Julian turned and gave a mock bow toward Marcus across the room. "My apologies, Mr. Dunne. I appreciate the generous offer, truly, but I think I'll hold onto this one myself." Then, swinging back toward Beck, his voice rose. "Open the rest. All of it. Let's show certain people here what real skill looks like."

Beck gave a short nod and signaled the two laborers back into position. The saw whined to life again, and the hall fell into a tense, expectant hush, every eye locked on the stone.

The third corner came away cleanly. Water hit the surface, washing the grit aside.

Nothing at all, not a trace of green.

The stone was a bust.

A wave of dead silence swept the room. Not a single guest dared speak. Marcus, who had offered seven hundred thousand only minutes earlier, let out a long, quiet breath of relief, grateful now that Julian had never taken him up on it.

Beck glanced up at Julian, uncertain. "Mr. Ashford? Should we..."

Julian hesitated, jaw tight, staring at the last uncut corner. Before he could decide, Cade spoke.

"Julian, maybe it's time to quit while you're ahead. That stone's probably still worth something, if you stop now."

Beside him, Lila pressed a hand to her mouth to hide her smile.

Julian's jaw clenched hard enough to show the muscle. "Cut it," he snapped. "Open the whole thing."

Beck didn't argue. His hands moved with practiced ease, and the blade sliced through the final corner in moments. Water sluiced over the fresh cut, and faint green began to bleed through the stone.

Color at last.

Julian's fist closed tight at the sight of it. A piece of icy jadeite this size could be carved into dozens of bracelets. It had to be worth at least five hundred and sixty thousand, easily.

He cut a sharp glance toward Cade and Lila. Let's see either of you pull something worth more than that.

But as the saw kept grinding, carving the stone open fully, the color drained out of Julian's face bit by bit. Beneath that thin cap of icy jadeite on top, nearly eighty percent of the stone turned out to be nothing but common rice-grain jadeite, the cheapest grade there was.

The hall went dead quiet for a few seconds. Then the murmurs started, low at first, then rippling outward with muffled laughter.

"Forget seven hundred thousand. At this point even forty-two thousand feels generous."

"Marcus dodged a bullet there."

"Julian really misjudged this one."

"Young and greedy. That's exactly what this is."

The comments kept coming, nobody bold enough to mock him outright given who he was, but the smirks and sidelong glances cut just as deep. Julian's face burned red, his eyes dark with humiliation, and for one wild moment he wished the floor would simply open up and swallow him whole.

None of this surprised Cade in the slightest. He'd already used his x-ray vision to study every stone on the table the moment they'd walked in, and he'd known exactly what was waiting inside each one. When Marcus had offered seven hundred thousand, Cade's heart had jumped straight into his throat, and he'd thrown out that provocation specifically to keep Julian from taking the deal. Lucky for him, Julian's arrogance had done the rest of the work.

A faint smile tugged at Cade's mouth. He took the rough jade back from Lila's hands and said, deliberately loud enough for the room to hear, "Ms. Sinclair, maybe we shouldn't even bother opening ours here."

Julian seized on the words like a drowning man grabbing a rope. His own stone had dropped to maybe forty-two thousand, which still counted as decent for unopened rough jade, but if he wanted to climb out of this humiliation, he needed someone else to fall harder. He stepped forward fast, blocking Cade's path.

"Thinking of running?" Julian sneered. "You haven't even opened yours yet. If you want to leave, you can crawl out of here on your hands and knees, barking like the dog you are."

Cade glanced down at the stone in his hands, then back up at Julian, a sly edge creeping into his expression.

"I was just worried about costing you too much money," he said. "Because if mine turns out worth more than yours, you're paying me ten times what it's worth."

The words landed like a thunderclap. Every guest in the hall drew in a sharp breath at once.