Page 57 of Tormented Diamonds
“Why not attack on the way there? Why wait?”
“Because he’s a sadistic fuck. As one, I can tell you, I’d seize the opportunity for intel. He probably figured once Reese got you away from me, you’d tell him something useful.”
I freeze, his flippant delivery taking a sharp turn through my chest.Oh, God.He heard me telling my father to leave Providence, which means he also heard his destination. “You have to get someone to check on my dad,” I plead, panic rising in my throat. “Please, I’m begging you.”
He must see something in my eyes that registers because he doesn’t hesitate. Without a word, he pulls his phone from his pocket, his fingers flying over the keypad as he types. “I’ll have Paulie there in a couple of hours.”
His quick action and calm assurance eases my panic, but there’s still a part of me that’s tired of relying on other people to fight my battles for me.
“You want to stop being a victim? Start thinking like a predator. If you don’t, you’ll never live a moment of peace.”
As my father’s warning filters through my head, I lower my hands into my lap. I hadn’t planned on this. My promise was a placating white lie delivered with crossed fingers and good intentions. But weights keep crashing onto my shoulders, leaving me all but crawling on my hands and knees. “Iwant a gun.”
Gianni’s manic typing comes to a dead stop, and he tilts his chin toward me. “Have you ever shot one before?”
“I’m a cop’s daughter. What do you think?”
He’s silent for a moment, and I prepare myself for another rejection only for him to jerk out a curt nod. “I’ll get you a gun and teach you to shoot on one condition.”
“Gianni, I just said I know how to?—”
His eyes flash. “Firing a bullet at a paper silhouette and firing one at a human are two very different things, Becca. That silhouette isn’t fucking shooting back.”
I’m not winning this battle. Besides, he’s not wrong. Not one of those dead center shots I landed at the shooting range came from a life-or-death situation. It was an ego trip that ended with a selfie next to my “murdered” silhouette.
“Fine. What’s the condition?”
“That you promise there’ll be no more unauthorized field trips. I’m too young for a heart attack, Doc.”
His expression is so unguardedly earnest that my arms slump by my side. “I promise.”
“Good.” Standing, he slides his phone into his pocket. “I’ll be working late tonight, so don’t wait up. Taz will drive you home.”
Frustration has me leaping to my feet. I know I should shut up and take the win, but I seem to have left the ability to do so back in Providence. “After all that, you’re still avoiding me.”
“No,cara mia,” he says, closing the distance between us. “I’m trying to destroy all your monsters.”
I know what he’s doing. Gianni is a master at shifting anger with raw sexuality. I try to fight it, but the moment his hands settle on my hips, the addictive scent of sin and spice slashes holes in my resolve.
I tip my head back and stare up at him. “You’replaying dirty.”
“I don’t hear you complaining.”
Arrogant bastard.
I shove my palms against his chest, only for him to retaliate by tightening his grip and walking me backward until I hit the wall.
Releasing one hand from my hip, he drags it up my ribcage and wraps his fingers around my neck, his thumb tilting my chin up. “What do you need to hear me say to calm this tempest, Becca?”
The three words I know he never will—at least when he thinks I’m conscious.
“I don’t know anymore.”
“I prayed for you, Becca,” he stresses again. “Do you understand what that means? Iprayedfor you.”
Damn him.Just when I think I have this man figured out, he opens a vein and bleeds sentimentality I didn’t think he possessed. Either I’ve shattered more walls, or he’s learned new ways to manipulate me. I choose to believe the former.
Because the way he says,I prayed for you… Maybe those four words mean more than the other three ever could.
