“My good girl,” he whispered for only me to hear. Then his hand dropped to my waist, and in a practiced flash, grabbed the gun I had stashed in the back of my waistband. Before I could blink, he spun me around and had one arm around my throat and the other holding the gun to my temple.
“Drop it!” Bray shouted and reached for his holster. I saw a full spectrum of emotion play out on his face when he realized his holster was empty because the gun pointed at my head was his, and I’d taken it when we’d hugged in the car. Guilt tore through me, but it had to be done. He gaped at me before his face bent in pained anger. “God damn it, Erin.”
Simmons had moved in from where he’d been on standby, gun now aimed at my father. Both of the guards had pulled weapons too. All four of them were aimed in my direction.
“Easy,” my father said and pivoted us in a circle. “Everyone just take a breath, now.” The barrel pressing into my temple brought me back to that night in the hotel room. The last time I’d been inches from death, except this time, it was at the hands of the man who’d given me life.
I struggled to breathe against his grip and my pounding heart. Bray continued glaring at me, now with his hands up in a plea not to shoot.
“Let her go,” he commanded and took a step forward.
My father swung the gun out to aim at him and the others, and then pinned it back against my temple. “I’ll let her go, but I’m going with her.” He turned his head inward to kiss mycheek. His beard scratched against my face like sandpaper. “Thank you for this gift, baby. Sorry it had to go down this way, but you’re my ticket out. Always have been.”
“Let hergo!” Bray commanded again.
My father chuckled a sound darker than the night. “This one seems to like you, baby. Is that true? You got a thing for my daughter,Agent Bray?” he taunted with a nod at him.
Bray took another step forward.
“Bray, stop!” I commanded, knowing my father had no qualms over pulling the trigger to get his way.
Bray gave me another anguished look like he wanted to rip the world in half to save me, but he was also reallyreallypissed at me at the same time.
“It’s okay,” I told him.
“How is this okay?” His voice cracked with worry.
I squirmed against my father’s grip, getting him to move right where I wanted him. “I just needed to know,” I said.
Bray’s brow furrowed.
My father turned his head toward me. “What did you need to know, baby?”
I filled my lungs with one last breath before I turned and looked right in his eyes. “What kind of man you really are.” Before my words fully landed, I shoved my elbow into his belly. He doubled over with a grunt, and in a practiced move, I spun and wrenched the gun from his grip. I kicked him between the legs, sending him to his knees, and before he knew it, I had the gun pointed in his face.
“Stand down,” Bray told the guards, and they lowered their weapons.
Everyone—except Bray, who looked equally relieved and pissed—blinked at me in shock. My father looked up at me with watering eyes, holding his crotch in utter disbelief.
I shook my hair out of my face and kept the gun trained onhim. “Yeah, I’ve learned a few new things since the last time you saw me, Dad.”
Through his shock, he had the gall to let a proud grin twitch his lip.
“Now, like Agent Bray said: We have some questions for you.”
His tongue flashed across his lips, and his eyes glinted. “You’re in charge, baby.”
“Stop calling me that,” I commanded and got straight to the point. “Olena Nova is out of prison and knows where I am. She wants to kill me. I need to know where the diamond is from that night.”
He blinked once, immediately catching up. “I don’t know where it is.”
“Bullshit,” I hissed and jabbed the gun in his direction. “Someone has to know, and you’re the only one left. Where is it?”
A chuckle bounced his shoulders. “Baby—”
I racked the gun’s slide to show him I wasn’t messing around.
He flinched. “Sorry.Erin, you think I’d have spent ten years in prison if I had that rock?”
