The woman pulls out a sandwich bag full of diamond rings, and plucks Natasha’s out and holds it up, just out of my reach.
I should break her fucking fingers.
“I want fifty grand for it.” She raises her chin defiantly. “If you paid a million, you can afford it.”
“You’re under the impression that we’re negotiating.” I take a step closer, and she swallows thickly, takes a step back. “That’s not what’s happening here.”
My hand snatches the ring from hers faster than she can react, and I slide it into my pocket, then walk away.
“Hey! You owe me money, asshole.”
Jack lifts an eyebrow as I come out of the back. He heard every word, of course.
“She thinks I’m an asshole,” I tell him.
“Well, there are days . . .”
I smirk and then turn back and scowl at Britney as I pull the cash out of my pocket and drop it on the smudged glass of her countertop.
Without another word, I walk out to the car, and Jack and I climb in.
“Home?” he asks.
“No, we need to see Malis. I need a new setting for my wife’s ring. That bitch touched it.”
Jack nods and heads toward my jeweler’s office.
Thirty-Five
NATASHA
“This pool area isnice,”Scarlett says with a sigh, leaning back on her shaded lounge chair. Lulu’s on the other side of me.
I’m sandwiched between them.
“I haven’t been able to read your texts,” I tell them quietly. “I just got my phone back today.”
“He took yourphoneaway?” Lulu demands, staring at me incredulously.
“No, I had it with me, but I didn’t have a charger, so it died early on. I never bothered to find a way to plug it in.”
I shrug a shoulder, and the girls continue to watch me.
“You could have called us,” Scarlett says.
“No, I couldn’t.” I shake my head and take a deep breath. “You’re Julian’s family, not mine. And he made it clear that I wasn’t welcome when he kicked me out.”
“Jesus,” Lulu mutters. “Hereallyfucked up. We haven’t seen him since before it all went down. He kind of became a hermit. Rome said that he didn’t live here, he moved into a shitty apartment in his building.”
“Luke said that Julian went a little mad,” Scarlett adds. “He was beside himself. So angry and frustrated.”
“Sad,” Lulu adds. “Rome said he was grieving and hurt. He felt betrayed by you, Natasha.”
“That’s what he told me. That he doesn’t live with traitors. But I swear to you, I didn’tdo anything. I wouldn’t do that.”
Lulu shakes her head with sympathy. When the girls first got here, I was convinced that they came because Julian had to run errands, but he still wanted me to be watched, so he brought in my friends to keep an eye on me.
But the more we’ve talked, the more I realize that they really missed me.
