Page 82 of The Diamond Thief
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Jacob
The first thing I see when I open my eyes is Jade. She sits on the side of a hospital bed, peering down at me.
“Well, Jacob,” she says, “you were wrong about the flesh wound.”
I look down at my body, covered in a sheet. I feel prickly all over. My head aches as if I got hold of some bad whiskey.
“What did they get?” I ask. The words come out croaky and harsh.
“It wasn’t as bad as we thought. Your ribs punctured your lung, not the bullet. You’ll be all right.”
Her hair is long and red. I remember this now. Not just from in the car as we left Club Y. But before. So long before.
She looks away from me, and I realize a man is standing in the doorway.
“That’s my dad, Quincy O’Donnell. He arranged for you to come to our private hospital.”
I try to sit up, but things don’t work quite as I expect them to, and I barely lift my shoulders from the bed.
Jade presses her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t make them sedate you again to keep you still,” she says. “Antony has put a hit out on you, and I have convinced my dad that you should be part of our operation.”
“A hit?”
“Yeah. With the Vigilantes, no less.” She frowns. “We were pretty shocked. But if the Vigilantes wanted you dead, you already would be. I’m not even sure Quincy O’Donnell can stop one of them.” She glances up at her father, and he shrugs.
I’m pretty shocked by this revelation. Antony has the power to put out a hit with the Vigilantes? Of course he doesn’t know that my brother is one. That’s why I had a car. Our mother comes from a Vigilante family. She turned the position down. I did too. But my younger brother, Zaccai—he did not. We haven’t seen him since he left fifteen years ago. That was part of the deal.
I can’t tell Jade this, not yet. It’s the sort of secret you must keep until you have a potential Vigilante of your own. That’s a long way off.
So I simply say, “Thank you.”
Quincy O’Donnell enters the room. “I remember the day I brought my daughter home from Club Y.” I’m amazed that he doesn’t even flinch when he says it. I can’t imagine finding my own daughter in a bondage club. “Something had happened to her. And it’s taken six years for me to figure out what.”
He steps forward and extends a hand. I lift mine, way more shakily than I would like, and accept it.
“You’re welcome here. You’re also free to walk away. At least as soon as you’ve healed up a bit. I have a feeling my daughter will be more than happy to serve as your nursemaid.” He shakes his head. “I began to wonder if I’d ever see a day when someone caught her interest for more than ten minutes. It seems you’re the man.”
He turns on his heel and leaves the room.
Jade shoves aside some of the tubes and wires so she can lie down next to me.
“You’re an easier mark than I thought you would be,” she says. “But I’m happy to continue your training, if you like.”
I shake out a little laugh, wincing when I jiggle something that isn’t ready to be moved. “I just might take you up on that.”
“I’ve been thinking about Ireland,” she says. “I’ll fit right in there. And I’ve never been. Have you?”
“Nope.”
Her glorious hair, half hers, half existing only until she grows out her own, flows across my chest. I lift up a piece of it. I can’t believe she’s Emerald. And I can’t believe I didn’t know her the moment she walked into my room.
Dark hair, red hair. Pale, tan. Brown eyes, green eyes.
And the breasts. Those were definitely new.
Except maybe some part of me did. I knew right off that she was different. I just had no idea she was also exactly the same woman as that vision I never let go of.
