Page 44 of Claimed Gem

She nodded. Then she walked out of the building, and out of Ries’ life.

She didn’t have a destination in mind. She just started walking, up one street and down another. She headed toward the beach at one point, but tears and sand were a bad combination, so she only looked at the beautiful view from a hillside.

She continued to walk, crying so hard at times she was forced to stop and just hold herself until the wave of grief passed and she could continue. She ended up outside the bar where she’d first met Ries, a fresh wave of sorrow filling her as she watched the lights go out and everyone leave for the night.

She hated the idea of having to go back to work as a waitress in a place like that. Flirting with rich men for a living was totally abhorrent to her, but what other line of work was there for her to do here? She was a useless waitress whose skills and knowledge had no value to anyone. Even Ries had dropped her aside the moment there was something real on the line.

The thought of having to pander to rich men who only saw her as an object again made her feel sick to her stomach. Ries had shown her that men like him couldn’t be trusted, no matter howdifferent they seemed.

He’d made her believe he truly cared for her, and that their feelings were shared and real. But it had been nothing more than a lie, designed to gain her compliance, her acceptance of his control.

She sat down on a small planter and pulled her knees to her chest as she cried for what she’d lost.

Even though she no longer believed it had been real, the idea that what she and Ries had appeared to have truly existed, and that she’d now lost, was heartbreaking. She wanted that dream, but Ries had shown her that her dreams didn’t matter.

For a brief moment, she’d thought that what she and Ries had would last and not just be an illusion. She wanted it to be real. She wanted them to be permanent.

She wasn’t going to get what she wanted. She never had.

It was the story of Stephanie’s life. The things she most yearned for always seemed to be taken away from her, or she discovered they never truly existed to begin with. Either way, she was always left wanting something she couldn’t have because it didn’t exist.

Just like now. Her heart wanted the closeness she’d felt when being held in Ries’ arms, but that wasn’t a reality. She might as well get used to the idea of being alone.

That had to be better than this devastating pain she was feeling right now.

20

The next morning…

Ries heardhis computer ding and blinked his eyes, realizing the crick in his neck was because he’d fallen asleep at his desk in the wee hours of the morning.

He’d been afraid to go to sleep, in case Stephanie had decided to come back home, and he’d spent hours poring over the information his men had gathered about Angelo, hoping to find some way of ending this situation and winning Stephanie back at the same time.

He yawned and reached toward the ceiling, tipping his head back as his neck popped and dreading the video call, he was sure was coming from Damon. With reluctance, he opened up the computer and moved the mouse of the correct icon.

When Carlos’s face appeared on the screen as the sender, all traces of sleepiness faded away. Carlos had been his driver for the last several months and also doubled as a security guard. Ries glanced at the clock and a frown marred his forehead. Why was Carlos sending him video voicemails when he should be on duty in the lobby of the apartment building?

He clicked play and felt his heart stop. The screen opened up to show Stephanie bound and gagged, lying on a bare mattress with a bare light bulb dangling above head. The walls behind her belonged to a warehouse, and she looked terrified as she gazed into the screen.

As he watched, a masked man – the mask did nothing to hide Carlos’ body language - stepped to the screen and issued his demands.

“As you can see, I have something very important to you. I realize you must be puzzled as to why I’m doing this, and I don’t mind telling you. Money and power. You treated me like a chauffeur. Angelo promised a promotion to managing my own security team in the near future.”

“As for the shootout, I organized that. I couldn’t let Angelo have all of the fun. I, of course, made sure that I was stationed conveniently out of the way, and honestly, when you took that bullet, I thought I might have secured my position in Angelo’s team. Then Stephanie came running to your rescue and I knew I was going to have to work harder to take you down.

“See, Angelo pays much better than you. To be truthful, you should have died quite a while ago, but Chris and Stephanie kept interfering.”

Carlos paused and glanced behind him at the bound woman on the mattress.

“See, I’ve been trying to poison you. It’s such a painful way to die, but I enjoy watching people suffer, so it’s my method of choice. Stephanie kept intercepting your drinks and replacing them. It seems she doesn’t like you imbibing too frequently. You probably haven’t even noticed, but she switches your alcohol out for water whenever she can get away with it.”

Ries paused and realized that what Carlos was saying was true. There was a reason he’d felt more clear-minded around Stephanie. More present.

“Then Chris prevented you from drinking some of the liquor I intended for you. Everyone wants to take care of you. God knows why. But they couldn’t win in the end.

“Angelo is tired of waiting for you to die so I had to up the ante. Her life for yours.”

Ries watched Stephanie begin to struggle at Carlos’ words. When Carlos turned around and slapped her hard across the face, cursing at her in Greek, Ries could almost feel the man’s throat between his hands.