Read The Wives of Beverly Row 6: Lust Has a New Address for Free Online Page B

Hank understood that the entire deal was a sting, that its purpose was to set Jake up. Hank was as interested in helping out Zola as any of them.
    “So are you buying the painting from Gabe?” Hank said to Jake. He knew the answer but he was playing along with the plan.
    “No, no,” Jake said. “I’m going to sell the painting for Gabe.”
    “I see,” Hank said. “But forgive me, Gabe, don’t you own an art gallery?”
    “Yes I do,” Gabe said.
    “So why don’t you sell the painting yourself?” Hank said.
    Gabe laughed. Everyone was playing their part to perfection. Ariel was so impressed with the way it was going that she thought she might have even fallen for it herself.
    “It’s not that kind of painting,” Gabe said. “It’s a Rembrandt.”
    There was silence around the table. While Hank and Veronica and Zola, all of them, knew the painting was a forgery, they all acted as if they were surprised at the news.
    “How the hell did you get your hands on a Rembrandt?” Hank said. Everything was for Jake’s benefit.
    “How is not important.”
    “It’s important to me,” Hank said. “I have to know it hasn’t been stolen.”
    Gabe was prepared. He took some documents out of a briefcase. “These are the plans to a building I own in Amsterdam. The painting was recovered from a safe in the building that hadn’t been opened in years.”
    Ariel was beginning to see that if Gabe had been trying to sell the painting to a museum, as had been his original intention, this story would have been subjected to such intense scrutiny that she wasn’t sure it would hold up. She would not have liked to be at the meeting where she and Gabe tried to convince the curators of the top art museums in the world that the painting was for real. They might never have gotten away with it.
    This was a lot easier. Jake wasn’t nearly as inquisitive as he would have needed to be to avoid being duped in this situation. Perhaps all of the sex had fogged his thinking on the issue.
    All the same, Jake spoke up at this point. “So how do you know it’s the real thing?” he said.
    “Because I’ve had it tested. It’s the original. I’m certain of it.”
    “So what are you going to do with it?” Hank said.
    “That’s the thing,” Gabe said. “I don’t know. Jake told me he knew some internet guys who might be willing to make a big investment in some art.”
    “So he’s going to introduce them to you?”
    “I think so,” Gabe said. “Is that right, Jake?”
    Ariel was looking directly at Jake, giving him the most seductive, tempting look she possibly could. She was lucky Jake knew so little about art. Anyone with even the slightest idea of what was going on would have known that the painting was a world famous Rembrandt the moment they saw it. They’d also know that the painting had been stolen in one of the most famous art robberies of recent history. The only possible money they could make from it would be by returning it to its original museum for the reward. Jake knew none of that. Ariel knew though that it was only a matter of time before he found out.
    “That’s right,” Jake said. “I’ll find a buyer.”
    “And take a commission, I assume?” Hank said.
    Jake looked at Gabe. It was a tense moment for Ariel. She knew that Jake was trying to rip off Gabe, and that Gabe was trying to rip off Jake. She prayed she knew the situation well enough to make sure it was Gabe who came out ahead.
    Suddenly she began to feel very worried. What if this plan didn’t work? What if Jake found out what the painting was, what it was really worth, that it was stolen? If he started showing it to his investor friends around the city it wouldn’t be long at all till someone did a little research. No one bought art at this price without doing research.
    She had to talk to Gabe. They had to change the plan. This wasn’t going to work. Her heart was fluttering. She was breathless. How could she have been so stupid? No one was