Precious Gems - Sierra Hill Page 0,50
grow the fuck up. Even I know that sometimes love can hurt worse than the betrayal.
The sting of her slap rages red over my cheekbone, as I rub away the ache.
“Okay, Dorian. You warned me, I get it. But where does that leave us now? And for the record, I couldn’t care less if you did kill Mudd. He may have been considered my father, but what he really was, was a monster. One that I wanted the hell away from.”
Dorian leans over, jabbing her fingernail into chest above my heart.
“I want that diamond.”
Join the club.
“I honestly don’t know where it is, Dorian. And look at this place,” I gesture around the room. “If you couldn’t uncover it, how the hell do you think I will?”
“Because you’ll have extra incentive.”
I don’t know what she means by this, until she twists around and flicks her gaze to the man holding the gun on Dempsey. She gives an infinitesimal nod of her chin.
There’s a popping sound, like a cork being freed from a bottle, and then a grave thump as Dempsey lands in a heap on the floor. Blood drains from his head, pooling around the killer’s feet, as he steps over it just as casually as he would a puddle of rain.
“Holy fuck,” I gasp, my gaze floating between Dempsey and Dorian. And then back to Dempsey.
Oh my God, they just killed him. My stomach roils and threatens to spill its contents, which isn’t much since we haven’t eaten in hours. Swallowing hard, I turn back around toward Dorian, every muscle in my body tensing and ready to go to war.
“You crazy, fucking bitch.”
She actually smiles at this. “It serves me well. Now, here’s what we’re going to do.”
With a snap of her fingers, the big dude by the front door hands over my purse. She fishes around inside until she comes up with my phone. Handing it out to me, she says, “If you care about Faron and don’t want the same fate to be his, you’re going to call him and tell him that the deal he had with Mudd has been rescinded, and that you’ve decided to sell it to me. And then, you’ll tell him it was fun, but it’s over between you two.”
There’s a fissure of pain that slices through my heart. “No.”
She gives me a patronizing look. “Ah, sweetie. You really do love him. Well, that’s just sad, because I can guarantee you this. He won’t put up a fight. He’ll let you go faster than you can say the word diamond. Once he learns he can’t get his product from you, there’s no reason for him to keep you around.”
“No,” I repeat, the phone shaking violently in my hand. “I won’t deceive him like that.”
A gun to my head suggests otherwise.
“Oh honey, you can, and you will. And then you have 24 hours to get me that diamond. Now call the fucking man now before I really lose my temper.”
My mind and body revolts with opposition as I pull up the number he’d programmed into my contacts before I left. With an arid mouth, I swallow, cringing at how I will possibly make this sound convincing. And praying that Dorian is dead wrong about the way he’ll respond.
He answers on the second ring, and the sound of his voice nearly sends me to my knees.
“Hello, Gemma. Are you calling with good news, I hope?”
Pause.
Pause.
Pause.
“Gem? Everything okay, little girl?”
The use of nickname stabs me in the heart and makes me feel sick to my stomach for what I have to do.
“No. It’s not good news.”
Chapter 26
After the call ends, and the tears begin flowing down my cheeks, Dorian stands and wipes off her palms, a victorious grin covering her face.
“Darling, it was bound to happen. I’m saving you from the harsh reality of what would inevitably come later.”
I hate her more than anyone I’ve ever hated in my life. Because Faron proved Dorian right.
He responded in the exact way she said he would.
He betrayed me. Manipulated me into thinking he cared about me, when in the end, he was only using me to get his fucking precious gem. I was simply a means to an end.
Even after I gave him everything. I think my love for him hurt worse than his betrayal.
Dorian interrupts my mini-pity party. “Clive here will stay with you, so don’t get any hairbrained ideas about leaving. I’ll pay you another visit tomorrow, shall we say seven p.m.?”
She glances down at her