Who Will Save Your Soul - Skye Warren Page 0,15
stealing the diamonds. But not you. The person who’s buying them.”
“De Fiore?”
The sound of the front gate rattling reaches around the back of the house. “That’s Daddy. He’s coming home early.”
“He’s moving the diamonds.” There’s tension in Pattin’s large body, and I realize it’s not only my safety I need to worry about. It’s Daddy’s. I may not like him, but I don’t want him hurt.
“I’m going to convince him to keep them here.”
A harsh laugh. “You don’t have any control over your Daddy, little girl.”
Of course he’s right, but my safety depends on doing this. My freedom depends on doing this. “I will. I’ll figure out a way.” Pattin still looks ready to storm into the house, where he’ll meet my Dad and… what? Nothing good. “I’m sure Daddy’s armed. And on his guard. This is the only way.”
Pattin gives me a hard look. “You aren’t stalling so that you can tell him about me, are you?”
My blood turns cold, and I desperately wish Niko were here. But he isn’t here to save me. Even if he helps me escape, if he drops me off fifty miles from here, he won’t be around to save me forever.
I have to save myself.
My chin rises. “To be totally honest, I don’t like you.”
That earns me a thin smile. “Is that so?”
“But I’m going to help you, because it’s in my best interests. Now, you can either believe me and let me go inside to talk to my dad. Or you don’t.”
* * *
Before, the plan was for me to look the other way.
Not I have to actively help steal from my parents. They’ve stolen my childhood, my sense of safety. They’ve stolen my voice, so maybe it’s only fair. But I still feel guilt churn inside me as I head inside the house.
Daddy has the diamonds laid out on the coffee table, sifting through them and muttering to himself. He swears when he sees me, his eyes blue eyes flashing. Blue eyes like mine. It makes me wonder if we look the same to an outsider. Or if maybe we’re wildly different, the way Niko is from his uncle.
“You,” Daddy says, his eyes hard as ice. Impenetrable.
“Mom called,” I say, carefully. Always carefully.
He laughs. “I bet she did. She wants the new Benz.”
“She said I should try and calm you down.”
His expression turns dark. “Sit down, Emily. You seem to know a lot about what’s going on.”
I take a seat on the sofa where De Fiore and his wife sat on their visit. Opposite my father. “You’re the one who brought me into this. You’re the one who had me sit in on that meeting.”
“No, that was your mother. I wouldn’t have trusted you.”
No, I think bitterly. You never did trust me, because I tell the truth.
Only when that thought flits through my mind do I realize it’s true. I’ve always told the truth. Not the whole truth, especially once I realized no one was listening.
No one wanted to listen.
“I didn’t lie about seeing you kill that man.” I point to the rug, which is plush and beautiful and different from the one that was there years ago. “You shot him. He landed right there. And there was blood, so much blood it wouldn’t come out.”
Daddy gives me a hard smile, like a diamond. “You always were a stupid girl. So what was the first thing you did? Run and tell your teacher, as if she could fucking help you.”
“Yes,” I say sadly. “That was stupid. I was young and trusting and stupid, but not anymore.”
His voice is quiet now. “No? Are you sure you’re not trusting someone you shouldn’t?”
My heartbeat thumps harder, faster. Does he know about Niko? And I realize that I have my way out right now. My way out of this betrayal. I can live in my castle tower forever, if I tell Daddy what I know.
Maybe then he would trust me. “I don’t know.”
“You think just because Anastasia is your age that you can trust her? That Sergio will keep you around once you’ve served your purpose?”
He thinks I’ve made a deal with Sergio De Fiore.
Of course he does. Because that’s the kind of thing that Sergio De Fiore would do. And it’s the kind of thing a trapped daughter would do. He’s right, but not about the specifics.
“Did you expect me to stay here forever?” I ask softly. “What’s even the plan after I graduate from college? To keep me locked in the attic, like