Precious Gems - Sierra Hill Page 0,49

sighs, leaning over to pat my hand with hers. I pull it back as if her touch is poison. Which it very might well be. “Let’s consider a trade, shall we?”

My head is spinning so fast with a billion possibilities for the reason she’s here. But I can’t connect the dots.

A slew of questions tumbles from my mouth. “Who are you? What do you want? Why the hell are you here? Did you know who I was when we met?”

Under normal circumstances, her laugh would probably sound light and breezy, perhaps even friendly and warm. Instead, it’s menacing and diabolical, a monster the likes of Maleficent.

Dorian crosses her legs, her black pencil skirt stretching tight around her thighs. She’s dressed like a Manhattan socialite and her appearance in my home is marked with contradiction.

She places folded hands on her lap. “Let’s see. Where shall I begin? Ah, how about with your father, Mudd. That bastard conned me and stole from me. Ironically, it was the diamond I paid him to steal for me, and then the double-crossing asshole offered to sell it to the Blake brothers.”

My jaw drops open as I shake my head in disbelief. She knows Faron and his brothers? Oh shit, I need to warn him! I’m about to whip out my phone when I realize that I dropped my bags at the front door and my phone isn’t with me.

It wouldn’t matter anyway, considering I’m surrounded by bad men with guns and one swindled, pissed off woman who are watching my every move and will pounce with little provocation.

Which leads me to wonder if she had anything to do with my father’s murder.

“Did you kill Mudd?”

Dorian feigns innocence with a hand over her heart. “Oh darling, it pains me to think you believe me capable of such heinous behavior.”

I roll my eyes hard. “Cut the shit, Dorian. Enough with the righteous attitude. I know he was murdered by someone who he fucked over. And it stands to reason you fit the bill pretty well.”

She lifts her delicate hands and steeples them under her chin, looking like a saint when in truth, she may be the worst sinner of all.

“It doesn’t appear that I’m the only one, darling. Let’s see, there’s the Blake Brothers…” Her finger taps her chin before pointing toward me. “And speaking of fucked. I hear you’ve become very close to those three delicious men in a very biblical sense. You do realize that they only used you to get their rocks off. They’ll discard you soon enough.”

My face pales and a whoosh of white noise clouds my head. I blink rapidly, trying to tamp down my rage. I want to throw myself over her and gauge her eyes out.

“You bitch,” I seethe. “Did you fucking have me followed? Were you watching me in Belgium?”

She lifts a bony shoulder with indifference. “I really did mean what I said when I dropped you off at their club that day. I warned you to turn around and go home. But you’re either too stubborn or just young and dumb, and you fell for all that bullshit Faron throws on young women.”

Her words are spiked with jealousy. Which can mean only one thing.

“Oh, you poor, sad woman. Now I get it. Faron fucked and dumped you, didn’t he?”

Now I understand all the missing puzzle pieces and know what she wants.

The slap across my face is not expected and reminds me of all the backhands I received as a child from my father’s quick, igniting temper. My head snaps back with the force of her hand, but I laugh at her reaction because now I have something to work with. Now I have a better understanding of who Dorian is and her motive.

Now I know what I have, and that she wants. Neither of which, however, I’m able to give to her. So, this whole situation is one that can’t be easily resolved.

“Don’t you dare speak to me like that, Gemma. And you best be prepared for the moment he turns cruel and callous, because believe me Gemma, that man loves no one except himself and his brothers. He will fuck you, mind, body and heart.”

I almost feel sorry for her. Almost.

On one hand, one woman to another, I can empathize with pain of betrayal and the unreciprocated love from a man. I lived that every day of my childhood until I got to a point where I no longer cared.

And on the other hand, she needs to