Page 167 of Diamond Kisses

“I…” I sat taller and gathered all my courage. “I-I’m a friend of your son.”

Both parents froze and shot each other a look.

“Paavak?” his dad asked. “But he’s been gone for—”

“H-He saved my life.” Touching my chest that would always have a small indentation from where the bullet had shot me, I spoke through my tears. “Your son protected me without any hesitation. He stepped in front of me and…” I clung to his mother’s hand. “He…he died last month saving me and…” I hung my head and couldn’t continue.

His mother started to cry.

His father got up and paced the lounge.

I didn’t know how much time passed but eventually my tears dried up, and I accepted a hot tea that his father placed into my hands.

“It’s been five and a half years,” he murmured, crouching on his heels before me. “We’ve missed him every day. Yet you tell us he’s been alive this entire time? Can you...can you tell us what happened?”

I clutched the warm mug and winced. “It’s not an easy story to hear. But…I’ll tell it if you want.”

“I’d like to know,” his father said. “If you can share it with us.”

“What do you want to know?”

His mother dabbed at her tears with a pretty mandala handkerchief but her smile revealed she was far stronger than me. “Everything. We want to know everything.”

And so I told them…

Everything.

Chapter Thirty

………………………….

Henri

I BOLTED FROM THE SLAUGHTER.

Blood dripped down the walls from where I’d slashed my way through the mansion.

Bodies lay where they’d landed. Four guards and seven bastards. Some I’d shot. Some I’d stabbed. All of them wiped off my brother’s dwindling list.

Spotlights flicked on, scanning the swimming pool deck as I barged through the patio doors and headed toward the fence I’d climbed over.

The two guards patrolling the perimeter hadn’t been enough to stop me.

However, the dogs almost did.

Scowling at my shredded arm, I cursed the two Dobermans that’d decided to dine on me tonight.

They’d taken a decent bite.

I felt a pang of guilt for shooting them.

They weren’t at fault.

I hadn’t wanted to kill them.

But they’d been brainwashed by their Masters, just like I’d been brainwashed by Victor for a time. I didn’t have long enough to recondition them to see the error of their ways.

“There!” The spotlight arrowed on me. “Shoot him!”

---