chapter one Part one

'I don't care if he's on a conference call, this is urgent!'

The voice outside his office belonged to this lawyer and Alekos paused in mid-sentence as the door bust open

Dmitri stood there, papers in his hand,his face a strange shade of scarlet.

'i'll call you back,' Alekos drawled and hit the button to disconnect himself from his team in New York and London. 'Given that I've never seen you run anywhere in the ten years you've worked for me, I assume you're the bearer of bad tidings. A tanker has sunk?'

'Quickly'.The normally calm,steady Dmitri sprinted across the spacious office, banged into the desk and spilled the papers over the floor. 'switch on your computer.'

'I'm already online.' intrigued Alekos shifted his gaze to his computer screen. 'What am I supposed to be looking at?'

'Go to eBay,' Dmitri said in a strangled voice.'Right now. we have three minutes left to bid.'

Alekos didn't waste time pointing out that placing bid with an online auction house didn't usually form part of his working day. Instead he accessed the site with a few taps of his fingers.

'Diamond,' Dmitri croaked. 'type in "Large, white diamond".'