I close my eyes, because my mother has never asked for my help before. “I’ll talk to him.”
“It’s bad enough that we have to stoop to dealing with someone like Sergio De Fiore, but it would be even worse to get stuck with a bunch of diamonds we can’t fence.”
A little gasp escapes me. She’s never spoken this frankly to me. “You know about it?”
“Of course I know about it. You do, too. We don’t like to talk about it because it’s messy. But your father can be… well, you understand. He can be rash.”
I learned exactly how rash he could be when I saw him shoot his business partner in the parlor downstairs. He conducts his business in this house; of course my mother knows about it. Which means she knew I didn’t lie all along. I could never be sure if she really believed my diagnosis.
It shouldn’t hurt worse to have confirmation that she’s known I didn’t lie all along. It shouldn’t hurt worse, except for the knife that’s between my ribs, stealing my breath. Hot tears sting my eyes.
“I have all day at the spa and then a charity benefit tonight. If I don’t go everyone will be asking about it for months. And if anything goes wrong with the deal it will be even more conspicuous. Which means I need you to handle it.”
It’s something I’ve wanted almost as much as her love. For her to need me. And now I’ll have to fail her, just like she’s failed me. “I understand.”
“And Emily? Be careful.”
The sweetness of those words collides with the dread building inside. For my mother to care enough about what happens to me to warn me… but still to send me to deal with my father, knowing that he’s a violent man. Knowing that he might expend that violence on me.
My father’s rage doesn’t happen with kicks and punches. It happens with a gun.
As soon as the phone clicks I’m out of my room and down the stairs. I’m through the back kitchens and outside. “Niko,” I call out to the man by the shed, his back toward me.
Except when he turns to me, I see that he isn’t Niko.
He’s Niko’s uncle. The one who’s been planning this theft for a long time.
The one who won’t let anyone get in the way of it.
He smiles when he sees me. It’s not a nice smile. “What do you want, little girl?”
“Where’s Niko?”
“He’ll be along shortly, don’t worry. He told me about your little deal.”
My blood goes cold, realizing that this man has the perfect opportunity to get rid of me. Wouldn’t he rather do that than deal with someone who knows about his plan? “Oh.”
He takes a step toward me. “We haven’t been introduced properly. My name is Pattin.”
“I’m Emily.”
Another step. “I know.”
“Something’s happening,” I blurt out, my hand forced by that small, latent sense of self-preservation that’s kept me safe in these walls for so long. I would rather tell this to Niko. That’s what I came here to do. But I have the dark sense that if I don’t tell the truth now I won’t live to see him again.
He stops, his dark eyes narrowing. “Is there a problem?”
Those eyes are so like Niko’s and yet so different. Instead of mystery they’re filled with menace. Instead of an endless pool there’s a hard surface. “Daddy thinks someone’s 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.”
