Gary is still groaning on the floor, and Jeff shifts uncomfortably next to him, eyes bouncing everywhere else, avoiding my stare.
Taking a deep breath, I try to focus back on the situation. “Doesn’t look like we hit the femoral arteries, so he’s going to have a very slow death. We’ll let him suffer there in the corner for now.”
Michael nods and grabs Jeff by the arm and hauls him in front of us.
“Tie me up, Baron,” Addie says to my mercenary, who’s been leaning against the wall to my right. She’s smirking because she knows damn well how suggestive that sounded.
“Are you trying to get me killed?” Baron asks, his deep baritone voice pitching higher.
Addie rolls her eyes. “I won’t let him kill you.”
She shouldn’t be so sure about that. But I keep my mouth shut and my stare sharp when he gives in, knowing that him or Michael are the only options to tie her up, considering she already bound my hands.
Baron makes quick work of the rope, stepping away before I can find a reason to cut his hands off. Who am I kidding? I don’t need a reason.
Michael turns to Jeff. “Give me your phone,” he demands, then rudely snatches the device from the old man’s hand the second he pulls it from his pocket.
“All right, kids, look like your asses just got kicked by two old men that throw their backs out just from lifting their small dicks to piss.”
He could’ve just said, say cheese and had the same outcome.
I glare at him, and Addie turns her head away, squeezing her eyes shut like she’s too ashamed to have her picture taken.
“Make it a little shaky with a shitty angle, and voila, a typical picture taken by a degenerate,” Michael says, smiling in victory after he snaps the photo. Then he turns the phone to Jeff.
“What would you typically say if you took a picture like that?”
Jeff glances at the image. “That we wasted money on all the other stupid fucks and should’ve done it ourselves from the start,” he spits. Once he realizes that he helped Michael’s message appear authentic by literally taking the words out of his mouth, his eyes darken with rage.
Michael’s fingers fly over the keyboard, mouthing the words aloud as he types them just to piss Jeff off. Then he pauses and looks to the old man with a shit-eating grin.
“Hey, how do you spell ‘stupid’？”
A vein pulses on Jeff’s forehead, giving Michael an, are you fucking kidding me? look. Michael just stares, intent on making him spell the word. Snarling, he spits each letter through gritted teeth.
When finished typing, Michael slaps him on the back of the shoulder roughly and says, “Thanks, man. Would be lost without you.”
Addie snickers, and now I’m going to have to cut Michael, too, just for making my girl laugh.
“Z has officially been captured,” he announces, clicking the Send button with triumph. “And now… we wait.”
“I hope you’re not stupid enough to tell Claire they kicked our asses,” I tell Michael, nodding towards Jeff.
He waves a hand. “Don’t worry, princess, she’ll know it took the entire military to bring down the big bad wolf. Your reputation won’t be tarnished.”
“I’m not worried about my rep. It’s simply just not believable.”
Chapter 42
The Diamond
My equilibrium teeters as my feet dangle over the cliff. I’m sitting on the very edge and I’m just waiting for the earth to give beneath me and send me crashing into the rocks below.
I’m balancing on the edge of life and death, and the thrill it gives me is undeniable. My heart is in my stomach, and even though it’d take putting my head between my legs for me to fall over the ledge, it feels like one inch forward, and my life is done for.
I love it.
The sun begins to dip in the cotton candy sky, a beautiful array of colors stretching toward me. I’m not sure if it’s the beauty before me or my precarious game with death that makes me feel alive.
Though both have the power to make me feel insignificant.
“So I see today is the day we both die,” Zade announces from behind me, causing me to jump.
“Why would we both die?”
Stupid question. I know what he’s going to say the moment the last word leaves my mouth.
“Because if you fall, I’ll follow after you.”
“Claire would be happy about that,” I say, kicking my feet against the rock. “Your death would be the best thing to ever happen to her.”
To no one’s surprise, she asked a million questions before she believed that Jeff and Gary actually captured Zade and me. He had to explain how he found Z. On their way to L.A., they received intel that Zade would come after an auction house in Washington, so they quickly set up a coup and captured him. Of course, I came running when I found out he was being held hostage, and voila. Z and the diamond have been captured.