Shouting from the building behind Jayson along with the sudden end of the shooting suggested that Powell was done for—and that he would be too if he didn’t get the hell out of there. He stopped trying to be careful and ran along the pipe instead. Bullets buzzed past him, making him duck.
Jayson tried to remember how far this building had been from the river. How far had he run? Was he over the aqueduct now or not even close?
He had to be almost there, right?
He was still wondering that when a bullet clipped him in the right thigh. The impact twisted his body, and he felt himself start to fall.
Oh shit.
Jayson was still praying he’d come down on something that wouldn’t kill him and bracing for one hell of a hard landing at the same time when he plunged into the river. It might not be concrete, but water was still fucking hard when you hit it from three stories up. He had just enough time to suck in some air before the cold, dark water closed in over his head.
* * *
“Why the hell did you tell me about the diamond if you didn’t want me to steal it?”
Dreya’s words came out as something close to a growl as she glared at Rory from across the small office in the back of the shop. She’d come into his jewelry store expecting him to tell her he’d find her a buyer for Thorn’s diamond in no time and that she’d make a nice chunk of change in the process. Instead, he’d taken one look at the gem and told her she’d made a mistake by stealing it.
Rory didn’t bat an eye at the strange sound she had made. He simply leaned back against the front of the big, ugly, antique desk that occupied way too much of his small office and regarded her thoughtfully. Then again, he’d known she was different for a long time.
“I tend to recall we talked about a lot of things that night.” He chuckled. “Though it’s hard to remember everything considering we’d put a good dent in that bottle of El Tesoro.”
Maybe so, but she wasn’t going to let him off the hook just because he didn’t have a problem with her being a freak.
“Don’t try and blame this on tequila,” she snapped, remembering back to that night a couple weeks ago when they’d hung out at a trendy little bar in Foggy Bottom and talked shop. “You were stone-cold sober and had to know that if you mentioned some guy right here in DC had a diamond that big, I’d go after it.”
Rory eyed the diamond nestled comfortably in the palm of her hand. “Actually, I didn’t know that. Color me stupid for thinking someone as smart as you would have the sense not to steal something from a man as rich and powerful as Thomas Thorn. I didn’t tell you that story so you’d go after him. I told you so you’d stay away.”
Dreya frowned and dropped the big diamond in the center of his desk, practically knocking a dent in the dark mahogany wood. “So you’re saying you can’t fence this diamond for me?”
Rory shook his head of salt-and-pepper hair. “I didn’t say I couldn’t fence it for you. I’m saying that no one can fence it for you. No one is going to go near that gem with a ten-foot pole. It’s unsellable even to a private collector. Everyone on the planet knows that diamond belongs to Thomas Thorn. You’re not going to find anyone willing to cross him, no matter how valuable it is or how badly they might want it.”
Dreya swore, not even caring if it came out as a full growl this time. “Can’t you…I don’t know…find somebody who could cut it down into smaller stones, so it wouldn’t be recognizable?”
Rory looked at her like he thought she was insane. “Right. I just told you that no one would be dumb enough to even consider buying Thorn’s diamond, and you think I’ll be able to find someone willing to take a cutting tool to it? Not going to happen.”
Dreya flopped down hard in the seat in front of the desk and sighed, waiting impatiently for the tingle in her gums to away. That was all she needed, a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. That would make her day just about complete.
She supposed she couldn’t blame Rory. It had only been a little over seventy-two hours since she’d broken into Thorn’s place, and already the world she and Rory lived in was buzzing with the news that the former senator had brought in some heavy hitters to find the person who’d stolen his stuff. Rory had every right to be scared. He was one of the better-known fences along the northeast corridor. If someone was going to start hunting for a jewel thief, there was a good chance they’d start with him.
She leaned forward and picked up the diamond pendant by its chain, watching the lights in the office twinkle off the facets. “What the hell am I going to do with this thing, then? Should I just hold on to it for a while, until it cools off a bit?”
Rory pushed away from the desk, then walked around behind it and sat down in a monstrous chair that matched the desk perfectly. They both looked like they’d be more at home in an English manor than a custom design jewelry shop in DC.
He leaned back and met her gaze, his hazel eyes serious. “You could hold on to this thing for ten years and it would still be too hot to move. You want my honest opinion about what you should do with it?”
Even though they came from two completely different worlds and Rory was fifteen years older than she was, he’d been the only one she could talk to back when her whole life had turned upside down a decade ago. He’d been making some custom jewelry for her mother at the time, so she had come into the shop on a regular basis. He’d let her try on whatever jewelry she wanted and even listened to her when she offered suggestions on how some of his designs could be improved. Not only did he take her opinions seriously, but he also let her use his bench and tools, so she could try out some of her ideas with real metal and gemstones.
When she’d come in one day after the freaky stuff had started happening, exhausted and a complete wreck, he’d immediately picked up on it. The next thing Dreya knew, she was in this very office, crying her eyes out and telling him about all the crazy stuff that was going on with her. He’d never flipped out or called her mom and informed her that Dreya was in need of a few Xanax and serious therapy. Instead, he’d just listened as she told him what she was turning into. She’d even shown him her claws and fangs. From that day forward, he’d stayed calm enough for both of them and had helped her learn how to deal with these things. Without Rory, she probably would have fallen completely apart.
Of course, she probably would have ended up in prison as well. Because in addition to teaching her how to design and make jewelry, Rory had also taught her how to be a thief—an extremely good one.
There were people in their circle of business acquaintances who believed Rory had taken advantage of a teenage girl and manipulated her into stealing for him. That was crap. Rory was the older brother Dreya never had and her best friend. If there’d been anyone using someone, it was her.
In the beginning, Rory had only wanted to teach her about the legit side of the jewelry business. These days, she ran a very exclusive jewelry boutique over in Foggy Bottom catering to people who had more than enough money to pay for the pieces she designed. The work was creative and rewarding and fed a very critical part of her soul. The pay was nothing to complain about either. But she’d realized a long time ago that she had another half, one that wasn’t interested in making jewelry—or money. That part belonged to the beast inside her with the fangs and the claws. The thing that growled and seemed happiest when she was way up in the air, doing incredibly dangerous and foolhardy stuff. She’d talked Rory into teaching her how to be a thief to keep that part of herself content. The thrill of climbing high-rises, breaking into places, and stealing things gave a purpose to the animal inside her that used to scare her so much.
None of that would have been possible without Rory and all he’d taught her. She owed him everything. So if he had something he wanted to tell her, she’d listen. She might not necessarily take his advice, but she’d always listen to it.
That said, the serious look on his face made her a little nervous. Rory was rarely serious, even when things were at their worst.
