Page 60 of The Allure of Ruins

“You know that time you were kidnapped by those guys Gen gave you to, I told him not to bother getting you back, you were damaged goods at that point.”

“Makes sense,” I agreed, not about to argue with him.

“Plus, I was sure you’d never be the same. His spell was broken. You were gullible but not stupid.”

Colton moved toward him, but Erast lifted the Glock 17 and pointed it at him. “Don’t do anything foolish, boyfriend. The past is the past. Who cares?”

“That’s actually right,” I said to Colton, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing my face to his chest.

“Wait, boyfriend?” Colton asked Erast.

“Yeah, of course. As I said to you, Gen and I were here for a week, watching Pax, seeing if he was living life off stolen stones, but he’s not, and all we could see was his assistant job, and we didn’t get it. Then Gen, he goes out by himself and follows you around after work one night, and when he came back to the hotel, he seemed sad. When I asked what was wrong, he said he knew you were happy. He said you looked good, healthy, different, and he went on and on about the spark in your eyes or the spark being back in your eyes. I don’t know. I wasn’t really listening. But I think he was hoping you had the diamonds and that you might consider taking him back if you did.”

“So if Pax had them, Mr. Antonov would’ve considered staying because Pax would be rich. But as Pax doesn’t have them, calling the widow was his best bet.”

“Yeah.”

Colton nodded. “He’s all heart.”

“Gen also suggested that if I wanted to know definitively if you had the diamonds,” he said to me before pointing the gun at Colton, “then I should threaten your boyfriend because you really love him.”

“Your cousin thinks Pax really loves me?” Colton asked Erast.

“What?” Erast sounded annoyed.

“Never mind him,” I said quickly, wanting Erast’s focus on me. “Let’s talk about the diamonds.”

“Yes,” Erast replied, seemingly unsure of Colton, holding the gun on him instead of me. “Gen swore Pax is crazy about you. He said that even before he fucked up, Pax never smiled at him the way he smiles at you.”

Colton was suddenly grinning, clearly so very pleased.

“You are not at all focused on the task at hand,” I assured him.

“I knew you loved me,” he said smugly.

“I told you I loved you,” I reminded him, shaking my head.

“Yes, but outside confirmation is always good.”

“Why are neither of you scared of this gun?” he roared. “I’ve killed people before. Tell him I have!” he demanded, rounding on me.

The second Erast turned his attention to me, Colton grabbed hold of his coat, yanked him off-balance, knocked the gun away, then punched him squarely in the jaw. He went down hard, that fast, out cold.

“Ohmygod, don’t you ever do that again!” I yelled at him.

“Don’t do what? Punch a guy for sharing something horrible that happened to you and then saying yeah, I said you weren’t worth saving because you were damaged goods?”

“You were upset about that?”

“I want to throw him off my balcony for that,” he said, reaching for me, wrapping me in his arms, and holding me tight. “And for the record, you’re not damaged. You’re amazing.”

I smiled into his shoulder. “As long as you think so, I’m happy.”

“Good.”

I cleared my throat. “May I ask though, why you would throw him off the balcony? Why not simply shoot him?”

“Because we’d be cleaning up for hours, and I have other plans.”