Page 35 of Lunar Diamonds

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So that’s what’d been in that purple candy.

“That still makes no sense,” April said.

“Distraction. Confusion. Surprise. She expected me to take Riley west. But I went north. Maybe it’s a tad convoluted.”

“More than a tad,” Aaron countered.

“That’s desperation for you.”

Desperation?

“Why were you working with her?” Aaron questioned.

A beat of silence. “I’ll explain once you get me to the mansion.”

Aaron snarled. “Don’t start making demands. You’re lucky your head’s not on the side of the road.”

Yikes.

“You can’t kill me,” Drake rebutted. “And you can’t kill Rhianna Kingwood. Yet.”

“What’s protecting you both?” Alice asked.

“Get me to Erin and I’ll explain everything. I promise.”

Alice punched the back seat. “Fucker. Now shut up, I’m?—”

A shade landed in the road, sending the vehicles into a mad spin.

Oh. Crap.

Chapter 9

RILEY

Igot thrown to the side, my shoulder connecting with the window painfully hard.

At least it wasn’t my head.

The car came to a stop, my insides shaken like a cocktail shaker in an aggressive tumble dryer. A nasty surge of nausea threatened to send the contents of my stomach up my throat.

“Pissing hell!” Aaron yelled.

The shade jumped onto the hood, red eyes blazing rubies in the night. I yelped, panic constricting my breathing.

Not again. Not again. Not again.

“What’s happening?” Drake called.

“You will…die…” The shade collapsed, its body twitching. “I will… I will…” It exploded in a puff of shadows, dark spirals vanishing into the sky.

I rubbed my shoulder, pain pulsing in the bone. Broken? That’d be the real cherry on top.

Screw cherries. They were the worst part of a Bakewell tart.

“Anticlimactic,” April said. “Bloody hell. I think a bit of pee came out.”

“Same,” Aaron echoed.

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