open with my utility knife. I pick up the silver canister of fireplace ash and shake my head. “Well, Dad,” I tell the container, “Does this finally make you happy? That I’m chasing your dream?”
I think back to all the nights that I had to tuck Caleb in or when it was just Grant who would go to school events. Even when Dad was home, he wasn’t home. His mind was somewhere else.
“The stories about it, Nathan . . . they say whoever has that diamond is invincible,” Dad says as I sit in his study with him. He’s been back three days, but it’s the first time we’ve actually been able to talk.
And of course, the conversation is gems. THAT gem, in particular.
“Dad, there’s no way a stone can make someone invincible. This isn’t a comic book.”
His eyes tell me he’s hearing me but not caring. “The legends are pretty telling. They say that the stone isn’t even Brazilian but was mined in Mexico. The Mayans found it, thousands of years ago, but the Mayan Emperor lost it to what became the Aztecs.”
“Let me guess,” I reply snidely. “And Montezuma just happened to misplace it as well?”
“He was a war leader, not a bank clerk,” Dad says with a laugh. “Legend says that the last of the Aztec emperors tasked his brother with hiding the gem from the Spaniards. When the brother reached caves, he was met by natives so fierce, so untamed, that even his warrior’s heart trembled in fear and he knew he’d found the stone’s hiding place.”
I shake my head, remembering how that night, I’d wanted to tell Dad about the college scholarship offer I’d received. His lack of caring, his utter mad devotion to the gem, told me the truth of his priorities, and as soon as I finished high school, I joined the Marines instead.
“You didn’t even care then,” I whisper, looking at the urn. “But here’s something you will care about, you son of a bitch. I vow that I’ll hold the gem in my hand. I’m going to look at the one thing in life you cared about more than anything, more than your wife, your sons, your business . . . and then I’ll destroy it, just like it destroyed you.”
Setting the ashes aside, I pull out one of the few pieces of electronics I brought, a sat phone that’ll reach the States. Turning it on, I wait a moment to get a good signal before calling Caleb to check in.
I’m worried, of course, about Emma. I need to know she’s okay, even if she hates me.
But instead of connecting, the phone goes straight to voicemail. After listening to a very Caleb-like tongue-in-cheek fifteen-second cut from Celine Dion’s Ashes, his voice cuts in. “Leave a message, dumbass.”
I hang up, tempted to call Emma, but I’ll be strong.
For her sake, she has to think I walked away without caring about her.
Chapter 30
Carly
I wake up in a cheap motel room.
Even with my eyes closed, I can tell from the scratchy sheets and musty smell.
It’s far from the worst place I’ve slept, considering that one hostel I stayed in during a stay in Portugal, but far from the best too.
I learned long ago to wake slowly, keep my eyes closed and breathing steady as my awareness scans the room, another lesson learned after staying in hostels and shared rooms. Usually in hostels, it’s to protect me from roommates rubbing one off in their bunks, although one time, I woke up to find out just exactly what a ‘devil’s triangle’ looked like.
But even as a kid, it let me avoid my parents and their stressful bullshit for a few more precious moments. Growing up, those moments were like gems to be hoarded and treasured, never to be given up lightly.
Seems my luck runs out as I hear a deep voice chuckle from a few feet away. “I know you’re awake, Carly. Your breathing changed.”
Shit.
Kyle. Just thinking his name brings the last twenty-four hours rushing back to me.
Robert pulling me into the hallway, saying cruel and filthy things that turned my stomach and made my heart race in terror. I remember fighting him, but it was useless. He was so close to raping me, and I couldn’t stop him.
And then Kyle saved me, like some hero from a mythical story, rushing in and breaking Robert into pieces as he hauled me out.
And the kiss.
That kiss was everything, burning up my entire being with one unspoken promise