“Hey, no. No, baby.”
“You don’t want me.” Her voice is so damn small, just the way it was in the beginning, and it fuckinghurts.
“I want you more than anything in the world, and I’m never letting you go again. You will be wherever I am, always.”
“You said that before.”
My eyes close at the truth of that. I did make promises to her that I blew apart.
“I’ll show you,” I whisper. “Go to sleep, baby. We’ll talk more later.”
“Julian?”
“Hmm.”
“My father said that you’ll eventually get tired of me and get rid of me?—”
“Don’t you ever listen to another fucking thing that man says, Natasha Stavros.”
She smiles up at me, and then her smile falls and more tears fill her pretty eyes.
“What is it?”
“My ring is gone.”
With a frown, I look down at her hand and realize for the first time that the diamond is missing from her finger.
“What happened?”
She presses her lips together. “I don’t want to tell you. You’ll get mad.”
“It’s okay. You can tell me anything.”
“I had to sell it. I didn’t have any money.”
“If you sold it, you should have been in a much better place than where I found you.”
“I only got twenty-five hundred for it.”
I stare down at her, and for the first time since I’ve had her back safe and sound, I feel hot anger pulse through me.
But not at her.
“Who did you sell it to, Angel?”
“I went to a pawn shop. She said it didn’t matter what it was worth, it only mattered what she was willing to pay for it. And then she said that I couldn’t have it back unless I paid her ten grand.”
“When you’re better, you’re going to tell me which shop that was. And I’ll get your ring back. Unless you want something else?”
“I want my ring.”
“Then you’ll have it.”
Thirty-Three
NATASHA
I’ve been staringat the book in my hands for an hour but haven’t actually read a word of it. It’s nice out today. Winter in Vegas means that it’s not too hot, and I can be outside without having a heatstroke within ten minutes, so I’m sitting by the pool, under the shade of an umbrella, breathing in the fresh air and the scent of the flowers nearby.
