Bradley suddenly enters my mind and a cold sensation flushes through my stomach. “How do you know?”
“How do I know what?”
“That they’re dead—and will you stop tearing up my stuff!” I lunge forward and snatch an ornament out of his rampaging path. “I already told you the car won’t run. It doesn’t even have gas.”
“Fuck!” Peter spins back to me with his fist raised and there’s a single, cold second where I fear he’s about to hurt me. That second passes and he clutches my shoulders instead.
“Harris had people watching the places where they lived, okay, and a group of really scary fucks turned up and started shooting. They’re dead so we have to go, okay? If any of them told those assholes about the diamonds, then we have to move them somewhere else. We have to go and help him.”
My grip tightens on the ornamental dolphin. “No.”
“No?” Peter’s brows dart up. “The fuck you mean, no?”
“How can you even consider helping him after what he did? Fuck him and fuck those diamonds. He kidnapped you and put me through hell trying to save your life, or did you forget that? Harris is a monster, and if some guy is hunting him down, then I say let him be hunted!”
Peter’s hand flies upward suddenly and collides with my face, slapping me so hard that the dolphin slips from my fingers and shatters into a thousand pieces at my feet.
“Are you stupid?” he yells in my face, shaking me by my other shoulder. “Those diamonds are the only money we have! Do you want me to get back into gambling trying to scrape by? Do you want me to fall back into old habits because your pride stops you from accepting millions of dollars? We’re supposed to be in this together, surviving together, and you want the man who helped us to rot?”
“Help?” I yell back as anger surges inside me like a hot wave. I shove both my hands against his chest and push him away as hard as I can. “He had mekillsomeone, Peter!”
“He didn’t force you, did he?”
“He did! He told me if I didn’t then he would kill you!”
“Sounds like you made a choice.” His eyes narrow to slits. “And you’re trying to blame someone else.”
“Hemademe, Peter! Are you even listening to yourself? Fuck Harris and fuck those diamonds!”
“Oh, Zirconia, grow the fuck up, will you?” He lunges toward me so suddenly that I throw myself back against the wall, my heart pounding. “You killed that man. You’re the murderer, not him. No one forced you to do it. You made the choice and it’s not my fault that you’re sothickyou thought he was serious about hurting me.”
“But—”
“No buts! Now where the fuck are the keys?”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing, but it’s too hard to think with Peter yelling in my face. Pulling away from the wall, I duck under his arm and locate the car keys in a small drawer in the kitchen. As I hand them to him, he shoves the Arlecchino mask into my hands and my stomach flips.
“Come on,” he says, his voice gentler. “Enough with the dramatics. Let’s go get our diamonds.”
What little gas is left in my not-fit-for-road-use car scrapes us to the edge of the city and gives a dying wheeze as we pull into the parking lot of an abandoned gas station. Harris is already there looking disgustingly proud of himself but as I climb from the car, I catch a glimpse of the panic in his eyes.
Someone’s hunting him, hunting all of us, and if they were capable of taking out the other four members of this cobbled-together team, then we really don’t stand a chance.
“About time,” Harris snaps. “What took you so long?”
Peter sends me a dark scowl and jerks his thumb toward me. “Princess over here’s got issues.”
“Who would have thought we’d be seeing each other again so soon?” Despite that panic, Harris smirks at me and my stomach rolls.
“I’m not here for you,” I mutter bitterly.
“Right. Listen, we don’t have a lot of time. I’ve split the loot between those two cars.” He points behind him at two black sedans sitting side by side. “It’d be stupid to move everything at the same time, so I’ve cut it in half. Just follow the route already typed into the GPS and call me when you get there, alright?”
“Who’s driving?” Peter asks as the fourth member of our team walks over already wearing a Volto mask.
“Zira can drive one,” Harris says. “I’ll drive the other. Peter, I’m going with your sister because I can’t trust her. You can go with him.” He nods to the other Volto and then motions for Peter to follow. “Come get a mask.”
“Do I get a say in this?” I ask.
