Page 92 of Diamond Desire

I frowned. “Why me?”

“Because as nice as she seems, Sapphire is still a Montana. And I can only trust a Montana so much.” She swallowed hard. “And seeing as my sister doesn’t sound like she wants to hurt you; you feel like my best bet.”

It didn’t matter that I was confused about her words, or positive that she had lied about not knowing anything about her sister. I was happy to promise whatever she needed to hear because it was true, anyway. Neither Sapphire, nor I, would hurt the twins or lead them to John or anything so heinous. They were innocent and we wouldn’t bring them into our mess.

“I promise I’ll look out for them.” I whispered.

She smiled sadly, eyes almost burning with tears I couldn’t understand.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Misha. You seem like a nice boy and I’m sorry for how things have played out. It was never meant to go like this.”

And with that she opened the door, bidding us goodbye as we all shuffled out into the street, turning down the path towardthe two cars we’d arrived in, and Widow, Delilah and the friend of Ares who’d been waiting with them.

Except… they weren’t there.

The empty car was parked up like normal, but the car holding the others was gone. Only one thing remained. That instantly told us that Widow and Delilah hadn’t gotten bored and run off for fun. Beni, who was lying on the sidewalk, resting against a garden fence in such a way that I instinctively rushed toward him, Logan following me first. The kid had a bump on his head and droplets of blood dancing down his dark face and though he was breathing; he didn’t look great.

All of the guys pulled their guns out; on high alert.

“What the fuck?” Sapphire glanced around the area as Logan and I bent to the kid, finding nothing that would need a doctor even if he was out cold. “What happened?”

Before any of us could even think of a theory, Sapphire’s borrowed phone rang. She yanked it out of her jacket pocket, frowning harder when she saw the name on the screen and hit the loudspeaker button.

“Widow? Where are you?”

“Saph.” Widow’s voice was rough, his words broken. “I’m sorry – I didn’t have a choice.”

“What are you on abouthermano?” Sapphire snapped. “What’s wrong?”

“I had to help her.” He breathed. “I had no choice but to help her.”

“Help who?” Sapphire asked.

Widow didn’t say a word before a single gunshot echoed throughout the air. The blast of a shotgun – one close enough that we could almost feel it shake our bones, but far enough away that it wasn’t being shot at us even if we all flinched.

It came from inside the house we had just left.

The same house that a blood-curdling scream emanated from a second later. Followed by a single word being sobbed and yelled by a young girl with utter agony and terror in her voice that chilled me to the bone.

Mum.

The End.