Clyde shrugged. “One of my cousins up in West Virginia was good buddies with Raymond. They used to go hunting together. Sometimes I would tag along with them.”
A memory of Raymond gutting a rabbit in the middle of the kitchen floor filled my mind, and the phantom stench of blood flooded my nose, making my stomach churn. Renaldo had loved to hunt and fish, and Raymond had been so eager to please our father that he had thoroughly embraced those activities too. Hunting for food was one thing, but my father and my brother had always been far more interested in killing than eating. They had both reveled in being cruel, whether it was to me, my mother, or the defenseless animals they stalked through the woods around our house.
“Raymond used to talk about you all the time,” Clyde continued. “About how he was going to track down his long-lost sister and kill her. Of course, back then, I didn’t realizeyouwere that sister. But when Raymond found out that you were in Ashland, he reached out to me. I gave him the lay of the land, so to speak, and told him all about you and Mallory. Raymond was so grateful for the information that he promised me a hefty reward.”
“But then I killed Raymond instead of the other way around, and you got nothing,” I replied. “So now you’re going to kill me and steal my shipping yard as your supposed reward.”
“Nah,” Clyde said. “I don’t want the shipping yard. I just want the diamonds inside.”
I frowned, thoroughly confused. “What diamonds?”
“A couple of weeks before he died, Dimitri Barkov and his crew robbed a fancy jewelry store over in Cypress Mountain. They got away with millions in diamonds.” Clyde’s eyes gleamed with greed. “Over drinks one night, Dimitri bragged to me that he still had the stones hidden in his office. I was going to steal them, but then Gin Blanco came along and killed him a couple of days later. That was even better, as far as I was concerned, until you swooped in and took over the shipping yard before I could get inside and find the diamonds.”
And just like that, Clyde’s obsession with buying my shipping yard made perfect sense. “And once I upped security, there was no way you could sneak into the warehouse, much less Dimitri’s office, and look for the diamonds.”
He nodded. “A problem that I’m planning to rectify tonight. We’re going to take a little ride over to your shipping yard, and you’re going to let me and my men inside.”
He didn’t say anything about letting me go once he found the diamonds. We all knew he’d put a bullet in my head and be done with things.
Despite the threat of my own impending death, my gaze darted back over to Tucker, who was standing apart from both Clyde and me. Had he known about the diamonds? Was that why he’d shown me so much…attention over the past few days? Working for Clyde O’Neal was a waste of his skills, but fucking over both Clydeandme so he could claim the diamonds for himself… Now,thatsort of twisty scheme was most definitely worthy of Hugh Tucker’s time and talents.
Hurt shot through me at the thought that he would betray me, that he would use my obvious attraction to score himself a hefty payday. It took some effort, but I iced it out, freezing the emotional roller coaster that had been rising and falling in the pit of my stomach with each new ugly revelation about Clyde, Raymond, and the stolen diamonds.
“Now,” Clyde rumbled, “according to my sources, you haven’t started remodeling Dimitri’s office yet, which means that the diamonds are most likely still inside. So why don’t you make things easy on yourself, Lorelei, and tell me where you think the stones are hidden?”
My hands balled into fists again, and I stalked over and stopped right in front of him. Then I tipped my chin up so I could look into his eyes. “Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you a damn thing.”
“I thought you might say something like that. Maybe this will change your mind.”
Faster than a snake striking, Clyde whipped his hand out and slapped me. Pain exploded in my face, and the force of the blow sent me staggering to the side, but the worst part was the harshcrackof his hand hitting my cheek. That one sound opened a floodgate, and memories erupted out of the dark dam of my mind and spilled out into the light.
My father slapping my mother whenever she did something he didn’t like, even if it was as inconsequential as buying the wrong bread at the grocery store, even though it had been his favorite kind just the week before. All the times Raymond had pinched or punched or kicked me, claiming that I had taken one of his toys without permission, when he had offered it to me in the first place. My father and my brother taking turns hitting my mother and me, even as she tried to shield us both from their vicious blows…
The pain of Clyde’s slap slowly receded, burned away by my memories and the hot, caustic rage they always brought along with them. I’d promised myself a long, long time ago that no one was ever going to hurt me like my father and my brother had. So far, I’d killed every person who’d tried—just like I was going to kill Clyde.
Tucker sidled closer to me, as silent as a ghost. His black gaze lingered on my cheek, which was still throbbing, and a muscle twitched in his own jaw, as though he was grinding his teeth to keep from snarling or maybe even sinking his fangs into Clyde’s neck.
Clyde sneered at me, as did the three giants. He probably expected me to start crying, or some such nonsense, but I’d cried myself dry years ago, and he wasn’t worth such precious emotion.
So I bared my teeth at him, despite the continued ache in my face. “If you really did know Raymond, then you know what a heartless bastard he was.”
“So what?”
“So your petty threats are amateur hour compared to him,” I snapped. “And you’re going to have to hit me a whole lot harder than that to even come close to matching Raymond’s cruelty.”
Anger flared in Clyde’s eyes, and he drew his hand back to slap me again. In an instant, Tucker moved forward, stepping up beside me.
“If you’re going to implement your original plan, then I suggest you get on with things,” Tucker said in a smooth voice. “You never know who might decide to come to the party. Why, Gin Blanco herself could show up out of the blue and ruin things for you.”
Clyde kept glaring at me, clearly wanting to hit me again, but he slowly reined in his temper. “You’re right. Getting access to the shipping yard is the most important thing right now. Maybe Lorelei will be a little more cooperative when we drag her sweet little grandma out of the party.” He jerked his head at the three giants. “Go inside, find the old woman, and tell her that Lorelei is sick in the bathroom. The second you get her alone, bring her out here.”
Even more rage flooded my body, along with a healthy amount of dread. “Leave Mallory out of this.”
Malice filled Clyde’s face. “Nope. Everyone knows how much you love that old woman. You might be able to take a few slaps, but I doubt you’ll be so cavalier when I start hitting her.”
He was right. I would do anything to protect my grandmother, even give Clyde exactly what he wanted. I opened my mouth to tell him that—
“Besides, you know how things work in Ashland. You killed one of my guys, so now I need to kill one of yours in return to save face,” he continued. “Tell me. How did you get the drop on Walter Butler? He was supposed to be one of the best hit men money could buy.”
