“Can’t keep doing what?”
“I can’t keep doingthis.” He pushed me away, holding up the dark stone. “A black diamond is completely different to a white one.”
I struggled to switch topics.
Why is he changing the subject?
“They have a different crystalline structure. They don’t sparkle because they don’t refract light.” His eyes glittered. “They absorb it.”
Where is he going with this?
“Like you? Absorbing Weaver lives.”
He didn’t answer, sadness darkening his face. “White diamonds are windows for light to bounce and reflect. Black diamonds are souls—sucking ineverything, ingesting their environment and giving nothing in return.”
His voice bristled with depth—it wasn’t just about the stone.He’s trying to tell me something...
My hands twitched to grab him. My lips burned to connect with his.
Tell me!
He couldn’t look at me. He couldn’t even admit what he revealed. However, the diamond was no longer an innate object—but him.
Heabsorbed and ingested.Hewas a direct product of his surroundings.
“You’ve absorbed me...” I breathed.
My voice shattered Jethro’s confession, snapping him into ice. “Time to go.” Slipping the mysterious black diamond back into its home, he locked the safety deposit box and took my hand.
I never mentioned the stone again.
Not during the long drive home with Kes.
Not lying in bed that night.
Jethro had finally admitted the truth.
And I had no idea what it meant.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jethro
TWO DAYS PASSED.
Two days where I avoided Nila, took copious amount of drugs, and tried my utmost to swim back into numbing fog.
The meeting at Diamond Alley with Killian and Nila in an enclosed space had been sheer fucking hell.
Both of them were so opinionated and strong willed. When Kill asked Nila if she loved me and Nila had fractured into pieces of grief, I’d almost snapped.
Almost.
She must’ve guessed what I was by now.
I couldn’t seem to keep it a secret.
I was at the point where if she asked me again, I would tell her. I would spill every sordid detail and bullshit diagnosis. I couldn’t hide it anymore.
