Page 83 of Torched

I take another ominous step toward Cristina, but Jeremy holds me back. “If she gets hurt in any kind of way, you’re next.”

Callie doesn’t take the news any better, because as soon as we get back to the house without Imogen, she’s launching herself on top of Cristina. She punches the girl in the face, hard enough to see the bruises paint her skin within a minute, and I feel a sense of pride knowing Callie’s my family now. She hits her in all the right places I stopped myself from attacking, the sole reason because she’s a woman.

Kane yanks his wife from the bane of my existence with a scowl.

“Callie, stop!”

Blood drips from Cristina’s mouth, her chest moving slowly up and down as she glares at Callie from the ground.

Given the temperament that she has, Callie just spits past Kane’s hard chest.

“If anything happens to Imogen, I will make you vanish as we did with Junior! Don’t think I’m playing with you.”

“Okay, everybody needs to calm down!” Jeremy holds his hands up. “We need to get Gen back, we need to get Babushka back, and in order for us to do that, we need that goddamn diamond!”

“Jer is right,” Kane agrees. “Did you get any leads from the house?”

I shake my head while Cristina gets back on her feet, wiping the blood from her chin with the back of her hand. “Nothing that could lead us to the location of the diamond.”

Callie lifts her hands before she lets them drop against her thighs with a thud. “Great, so Gen is taken, and we didn’t even get a clue that makes it worth it.”

“We got this.” Cristina’s voice is a little hoarse from the beating she just got. She pulls the photo albums from the car and holds them up in the air.

“What are those?” Callie raises her eyebrows.

“Don’t know, but your precious cousin thought it was worth it to bring along.”

“Keep your snarky tongue to yourself.” Callie snatches the albums from her grasp. “I’ll take these.”

She doesn’t wait for her reply before she disappears into the house with the albums tucked under her arm. Kane and Jeremy follow behind her, and I’m standing with a fixed expression on Cristina.

She asked me to trust her yesterday. She asked again this morning when we were at Loranne’s house. But I’ve tried to trust this girl a few times now, and the outcome is always the same. I don’t mind playing a game, as long as we’re all playing the same one. But Cristina makes it clear every single time that she’s playing a different game. I feel like it’s a missing link that I need to figure out before anything else goes awry.

“Why are you here, Cristina?”

“What do you mean, Liam?” she snarls. “I thought that was clear by now.”

“Because you want me back.” I scoff.

“Well, I at least hoped you and I could get some closure, yes,” she says, her glare softening a bit. “But I’m here for the diamond, Liam. When Frank and Junior died, I was left with nothing. They used me my entire life and as soon as they took their last breath, I thought I would be free. That I finally could do whatever the fuck I wanted. But being poor isn’t free. You know that. I need money to survive.”

“So get a job.”

“As what? A professional thief.”

“Real estate.” I pause. “Unless that was a lie too.” The guilty look in her eyes is answer enough. “Of course it was.”

“I was born into this, Liam.” Her tone has turned pleading. “I don’t know anything else.”

I relax my features, shooting her a coy smile. “I know it’s hard,” I concede. “Life is never easy for a criminal and getting out of it is even harder.” She smiles, but as quickly as the corners of her bloody lips rise, the faster they fall down again when I narrow my eyes. “But we both know you don’t want to get out. You want more. You always want more. But you know what they say, don’t you?” Her lips pinch as she lifts an eyebrow.

“The more you ask, the less you get, sweetheart.” I don’t wait for her reply, and get in the house, feeling her eyes burn into my back like lasers. I’m tempted to flip her off, but I decide against it, fueled by the knowledge that she doesn’t drive any more of my attention.

“Did you find anything?” I ask Callie when I find them all in the kitchen. Callie’s going through the albums on the kitchen table, while Jeremy and Kane are both protectively planted in a corner like the soldiers that they are.

“Maybe.” She keeps going through the book, carefully searching for anything that could help.

“Is that Frank?” I point at a picture of him standing with his arms wrapped around Loranne. His face was still youthful, his wrinkles limited even though they are clearly there, half of them covered by his black hair.

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