He cupped my face now with both hands. “Me for you too, Amelia. From the minute I first saw you. I love that you can switch into this angelic being of purity and everything amazing to create something so beautiful. But your strength is like nothing I’ve ever seen too.”
“I don’t feel strong, Luc.” My lips trembled.
“You think you don’t feel it, but it’s there, deep inside you. Goddess, amore mio.” He leaned in closer and pressed his head to mine, brushing his nose against mine.
Amore mio…
“Luc…” I said breathlessly.
“Goddess, I need you to do me a favor, please.”
“Of course.”
“I need you to be strong. I need you to be a cop, Taylor.”
He’d never called me that, not even when I'd insisted after our first meeting. Taylor was the badass cop persona I’d created for myself all these long years. She was a ruthless, no-nonsense woman who was a warrior.
“Taylor.”
“Yes, remember our game… being whoever we want to be.”
“I remember.”
“You need to be her, just for a little longer. It will help you deal with the loss of your friends in whatever way you lost them. I… I killed Jefferson.”
“You had to.”
“I still killed him. Blood on my hands.”
A tear ran down my cheek, and he caught it. “Luc, please, don’t blame yourself.”
“Let’s focus on you. Amelia, there’s someone here we can’t trust, so until we find out who that is, don’t trust anyone. Don’t speak to anyone, at all. You understand me?” His jaw set and a wrinkle furrowed his brows.
“Yes.” I couldn’t begin to imagine who the person could be. I broke eye contact and started picking at the frays on the gold tassels of the pillow case.
“I mean it, Amelia. You have to suspect everyone.”
I raised my gaze back to his. The hard look in his blue gaze, lethal and stony displayed the wealth of his seriousness.
I knew he was right. It was just hard.
Who the hell could it be?It was only Dad and me who had known where the key would be.
We hadn’t spoken to anyone about it. We’d sat in the garden talking after the meeting yesterday, and he gave me the key, along with the password for the diamonds at the facility in Rockford. It was just us, then…
Millicent came. Millicent had come with a tray of food…
Millicent…
No... She’d caught the end of our conversation. We were talking about doing something for the day.
Instantly, I felt terrible for even considering her. Millicent was like a mother to me, and a good friend to Dad.
“Luc, I don’t know who it is.” I shook my head.
“Someone knew exactly where you put the key, and they contacted the other guys. This is getting too far out of hand.”
“Who could it be, Luc?”
