Precious Gems - Sierra Hill Page 0,51
diamond-encrusted timepiece wristwatch and flutters a hand in the air. “Okay then. Now, I’m off to the Met. I haven’t seen an opera in ages. Ciao, darling.”
Dorian actually has the gall to lean in and press a European-style kiss on both my cheeks. The very one she just slapped in anger and that is now damp from the tears that have fallen.
This woman is crazy insane. I honestly don’t know how the hell I’m going to get myself out of this mess. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place, and once again, I’m being held a prisoner against my will.
My only hope is to find this goddamn gem that’s so precious to everyone involved, and with any luck, gain my freedom back.
Even if the price of my freedom is betrayal.
After she leaves, I remain on the couch, my head buried between my hands, my body racked with sobs, as the two men take care of Dempsey’s dead body. I don’t even bother trying to make a run for it while they are in dispose. Even if I could manage to escape, I have nowhere to go and no one left to turn to.
I’m alone in this world. The world I wanted so badly to escape and gain my freedom.
Laying my head down on the cushion, I tuck my feet under my butt and bring my knees to my chest and fall asleep.
I find the diamond in the second place I looked.
After falling asleep for a good three hours, a sound of a door opening and closing and the whispered grunts of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb wake me up. I lift my head, searching the room to find that Dempsey’s dead body is now gone, and the blood stain has actually been removed.
Progress.
Using the bathroom to wash up, I’m praying the splash of cold water on my face might revive me enough so I can regain momentum and make some headway on locating the jewel. As I stare at my reflection in the mirror, I barely recognize myself with the messy bun and tear stains down my cheeks. Why do I look whole, when the heartache feels like a huge hole punched through my chest? I can’t stand to remember what Faron said to me and the unnecessary cruelty he administered over the phone.
When I told him what Dorian forced me to say, he grew agitated and his breathing accelerated. While I couldn’t see him, I knew his face was screwed tight, his jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed in that menacing glare of his.
The problem, however, was that I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. And his words…oh my god, his words slashed and obliterated everything we’d shared together like lacerations to my soul.
“No, it’s not good news,” I say, my heart pounding so loud I was sure it would wake the dead. “I believe you’re familiar with a woman named Dorian.”
There’s a long silence and I can hear the cap of his pen clicking in the background.
Click, click, click.
“Yes, we’re acquainted. What does she have to do with this?”
I want to scream at him for his choice of words. Acquainted made it sound like they met at a party in passing. Or at a gemstone conference in Switzerland. Not that he had carnal knowledge of her fucking pussy.
But I refrain from any of those remarks, because no matter what, I want to move on. And I want him safe.
My eyes flick to Dorian, who looks like she’s about to come out of her skin with excitement, her face triumphant over my distress.
“Well, as it happens, my father had originally made the deal to sell her the diamond but reneged when he got your offer. And I believe in fulfilling promises, which means once I locate it, I’m selling it to her.”
“Gemma, listen to me. You have no right to do that. We had an agreement. I thought we were in this together?”
I huff out a haughty response. “In this together? How can we be in it together if you walk away with everything and I am left with nothing?”
His voice descends a notch to barely a whisper. “Gemma, come on. Be reasonable.”
I use this moment to twist the knife and see what he’ll do. Will he fight for me or let me go?
“Faron, I think you’ve been using me this entire time. You held me against my will. Made me an accomplice for documents that didn’t belong to you. And you’ve shared me with your brothers.