Page 74 of Desire Me
And then she lunged.
In no more than a blink, the bag was in her hand. Rae grasped it to her desperately, turning to run.
A shot rang out behind her. Expecting pain, death, she instead felt nothing. A quick glance over her shoulder showed Vinny reaching out a hand to pull her back, stop her, but he was falling, blood splattered across his chest, spitting from his mouth.
She didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop. If she did, she’d be dead too.
So she ran.
Saint had gathered her against him, his body the only warmth that existed in her world. She was cold, so cold. Nothing would ever make her warm again—except Saint.
A sob shook her. Saint rocked her gently.
Luka’s voice came from over her head. “You know he’s going to call Conté. Probably already has.”
The words managed to register somehow, and as she slowly made sense of them, she knew he was right. Her uncle was probably already on his way.
And he wouldn’t be the only one.
Muffled against Saint’s chest, she said, “I have the feeling my uncle is going to call Di Angelo before he gets here.”
Saint eased her away from him. She didn’t want to let go, but she had a job to do, and now she had the information to do it, so she didn’t protest. Instead she shook herself and forced her legs to straighten, to hold her upright when her world felt like it was caving in.
Saint studied her intently for a minute. She let him look. Let him see. “What do you remember?”
Her laugh was strained. “Caught that, did you?”
“I catch everything when it comes to you, cariño.”
Her stomach flipped, and a curious melting sensation settled in her chest. “I know you do.” She cleared the hoarseness from her voice. “I know why we’re here.” The memory came tumbling out of her, somehow managing to stay coherent in the midst of her heaving emotions. When she finished, everyone seemed stunned.
“I have to assume Vinny died if they’ve got someone else in here,” she murmured at the end. Irrelevant, but no matter what the man had done behind her back, she’d gone to high school with him, known him and his family since she was a young child. Losing him hurt even deeper than his betrayal.
But not deeper than her uncle’s. That was the ultimate sin.
“Do you know what was in the bag?”
Trust Luka to cut to the heart of the matter. It was official: the giant had zero emotions. She sighed. “After I ran, I managed to open it.” She met Saint’s eyes. “It was diamonds.”
Saint jolted in shock. “Fucking diamonds? How big was the bag?”
She cupped her hands. Every single one of them whistled at the size.
“That might be as much as a million bucks,” Luka guessed.
“One million in diamonds?” Elliot’s voice dripped with awe. “No wonder they’re after you.”
“Yeah.” Luka again. “Good thing you have us; otherwise you’d be fucked.”
Saint squeezed her hand. “You hid them, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“Do you remember where?”
She swallowed hard. “I do.” She headed toward the rear of the warehouse, knowing the team had her back.
Chapter Thirty-Four
