Page 24 of Diamond in the Rough (The Diamond Trilogy 1)
I’m close enough to feel her breath, faint and warm on my shoulder. It’s fast. She’s hyping herself up. Or hyperventilating. “If you get to safety—” I force myself to stop. My eyes close. This woman didn’t ask to be involved with criminals. She sure as hell didn’t ask to get locked up with me. “When you get to safety, call Liam North.”
“Who’s that?”
“My brother.” I give her his private phone number and email address.
Her eyes go wide. “Will he be able to help you?”
“Yes.” Probably not. I’m going to die in this hellhole in the north of France. At least this way my brothers will know what happened to me.
She lifts her head to look at me. I can see the reflection in her eyes. “You’re lying to me.”
I have no reason to stop myself. No kindness or humanity left anywhere inside. I bend my head and brush my lips against hers. It’s a light kiss. Light enough that she can jerk away. Slap me. Call me an animal. Instead she freezes again, the little rabbit. She holds very still so I can do it again. And again. I nudge apart her lips. I’m covered in dirt and blood, the most elemental of things. There was nothing beautiful in this hellhole until she came. She turns away, and clean wisps of her hair tickle my cheek. I breathe in deep—smelling warmth and woman, wondering if she’s the last bit of heaven I’ll ever hold.
She contorts her body into almost a sitting position, squeezing her waist into the notch. I hear her suck in a breath, feel her brace herself against the pain.
It’s not enough. The human body has mechanisms to protect itself. It would be like throwing herself into a fire, forcing her body through this too-small place, breaking herself to fit. That’s why it’s my job. I’m the one who places a gentle kiss on her forehead—before I take a good, hard hold of her shoulder and hip. And push.
A cry of pain abruptly ends.
She’s halfway through, and I’m not sure she can make it all the way through. What if it’s too small? What if I truly break her? Her ribs could break and shatter. They could pierce her lungs. She could die trapped in these iron bars. She could die by my hands.
I have killed a lot of people in my lifetime. Never a woman.
She sobs through the next words. “Finish it.”
Taking hold of the iron, I pull with every ounce of strength. It takes more willpower to ignore the animal groan she makes. My muscles tremble with the force of keeping the iron moved even an inch. I use my other hand to push her through. She tumbles to the stone on the other side, making a keening sound. Each high-pitched note is like a knife to my stomach.
“Are you okay?” I ask, which is a stupid question. Will you live? I’m not sure she even knows the answer. “Holland. You’re out. You have to get up now. You have to go.”
There’s panting from the floor. “It hurts.”
I force my voice to remain even. Don’t panic. At least not while she’s still here. “You probably bruised a few ribs. Maybe broke them. You can still walk. Understand?”
“Yes,” she whispers.
I listen to her stand and move cautiously up the stairs. A sliver of light blinds me, and then the door closes again. Shock registers first, even before recognition. That profile. Slimmed of the rounded edges of youth. Made stark from even a few hours of terror.
It’s her. The girl from all those years ago.
Shock wrenches my bones. What the hell? What the hell?
She was here all along.
And now she’s gone.
“Voyages sur,” I whisper. “Safe travels, Holly.”
How did she end up here? Except I know. Didn’t I? Damn me to hell, I know how it happened. I know why it happened. And it’s my fault that she was held captive.
Every second that goes by I imagine her running down the stairs, running through the forest. Running all the way to safety. Only fifteen minutes go by before Adam comes downstairs. It’s still pitch-black. Too dark for him to see that she’s not here.
“Hello, ma petite.”
I need to distract him. “What the hell do you want with her, Bisset?”
“The same thing you want, I imagine. We’re both men.”
That makes me growl. “I don’t force women.”
“But you wouldn’t need to force her, I think. That’s my part in this little game.”
“Jesus. I knew you were a sick fuck, but this is insane. Do you think it’s going to keep a low profile, stealing diamonds and stealing women at the same time?”
“That is where you’re wrong. I’m only stealing women. One woman. And you will tell me where the diamonds are. I think you resist torture very well. What if I hurt the woman instead?”
