Page 108 of Diamond Kisses

“To make sure he won’t run again.”

“If you tie him up, he won’t.”

I gathered every shred of energy I had left. “Onemillion euros for a knife and some rope. Do we have a deal or not?”

The men looked at one another.

Victor thrashed and mumbled beneath his imprisonment.

Finally, the bald one nodded.

Without a word, he reached behind his back and yanked free a wickedly sharp blade from its leather sheath. Passing it to me, he marched toward the bullet-shredded curtains and tore off the tiebacks. Bringing them to me, he smirked. “Imagine this is rope.”

“Fine.”

With shaking hands, I accepted both and stepped toward Victor.

The adrenaline and stress that’d granted me such power ebbed and waned.

The strength brought on by the sheer need to stay alive in order to protect the one girl I loved more than myself slowly faded now the end was near.

Not yet.

Please, not yet.

I could collapse the moment I was back with Ily.

The second I knew she and Peter were okay. That we’d won. That the jewels were safe…then I could pass out for weeks.

Sucking in a breath, cursing the unsufferable pain bleeding back into existence, I stood over Victor and commanded, “Put him on his belly.”

Victor’s eyes glowed with fury, his mouth hushed by a guard’s hand.

My lacerated back flushed with agony, already feeling the punishment he’d give me if I didn’t see this through.

He might be a monster but…so was I.

I’d become human thanks to Ily, but there would always be a part of me that was sick and twisted and just as vile as him.

That darkness inside me swirled and slobbered to get free.

I needed to let that beast loose.

I needed tohurthim.

Badly.

If only I was alone, I would take my time. I would extract retribution. I would do things I would never be able to undo.

That would have to wait.

For now, I merely did what was necessary.

I wished I could say that I hesitated.

That I was a better man than this.

But the truth was…

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