Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
He grins. “Yep. The next one will be diamonds.”
Stacia smirks when she pulls back. “You always thought I was the nice one. The funny one.” Her eyes gleam. “But I’m also the one with the brain, and we weren’t going anywhere with my mother, you, and the Beathachs in our way.”
What assholes. I try to make sense of any of this. “Wait a minute. The guy who tried to kill me in my safe house? That couldn’t have been you. You were outside and you saved me from him.”
“Yeah, I hired that guy,” Wynd said. “He was supposed to bring you here to charge the citrines as well as the gems I stole from Justice. I have a couple of beautiful alexandrites for you to try.” He glares. “I felt Sylveria’s guy behind me, so I had to shoot my friend and get hit in the head. Just to keep my cover. It’s your fault.”
Wow. I actually thought he was a decent guy. “You two haven’t thought this out. Charging the gems isn’t that easy. If you somehow take out Justice and Thorn, you won’t be able to handle the garnets, Wynd.” How stupid is he?
He shrugs. “I can charge them for a few years, and we’ll have a bunch of kids. Some of them will charge garnets, some the diamonds.”
Stacia’s smile is thin. “We can make it until then. If we have to keep good old Corinda with a chain around her ankle for the rest of her life to charge diamonds, we will.”
I look at Corinda and can see that she’s more devastated than exhausted now. Her lashes are wet, and there’s a smear of dirt along her jaw that makes her look young and fragile. She’s still out, head rolling to the side. I press my palms to the arms of the chair until my knuckles go white. “How could you kill your own mother?” I rasp again.
“Oh, please.” Stacia waves a hand like she’s shooing a fly. “That bitch didn’t want anything to do with me. She thought Corinda was her ticket to a billionaire. I don’t need either one of them.” She snorts. “You know that mother is the one who tried to kidnap you with the big firefight on main street, right?”
“I wondered,” I mumble. “But she wanted me to charge the citrines, so she didn’t send the missile into Justice’s penthouse.”
Wynd smiles. “That was me. I thought to take Justice out first and Thorn later.”
I can’t breathe. “So why send a missile into Alexei’s home?” That doesn’t make sense.
Stacia looks at me like I’m a moron. “Mother did that. She figured Alexei would blame Justice, and they’d kill each other. Or at least, one of them would die. Same thing with the gunman at the courthouse. She truly wanted to take them all out.”
Wynd slides an arm around Stacia’s waist and pulls her into him. “You’re so smart, baby.”
The pet name makes bile rise in my mouth. “Murderers don’t get to be called baby,” I spit.
Stacia laughs, all sharp edges. “I wish we could keep you locked away here like Corinda, but Justice will never stop looking for you, so you have to die.” Walking across the room, she opens a cupboard. “After you do me a favor, of course.”
She pulls out a fat citrine the size of a bowling ball and places it on the desk next to Corinda. The gem throws back a mellow, honey light that makes my vision swim. The sound of the servers thrums underfoot, a slow, steady throb that seems to sync with the gem’s pulse.
The citrine calls to me. How am I going to get Corinda out of here? If someone told me two days ago I’d be trying to save my stepsister, I’d have told them they were nuts.
Stacia grabs a broom from the corner and, without touching the diamond herself, shoves the pedestal hard. The gem tips, slides, and clanks off the stand, landing with a dull thud on the console. Dust lifts. Corinda coughs, her lashes fluttering.
“Our system is clear of the virus,” Stacia says, voice flat. “But apparently it lives in my dear sister. She can’t charge a diamond without infecting it.”
Wynd nods. “Everyone else is safe. It appears that when you destroyed the virus in the system last time, you created firewalls. Our servers are fine.”
Damn it.
Stacia stares at me. “Can you take the virus out of Corinda like you did the servers?”
“Most viruses aren’t curable,” I say. My jaw hurts where I hit the trunk. Alana had cured Thorn, but they have a connection that’s beyond this world. I can’t duplicate that with Corinda. However, I don’t want to die right now. “But I can try. I’ll need time within the system.” Maybe I can contact Justice somehow.
“I’ll think about it. For now, it’s time for you to charge this little puppy,” Stacia says cheerfully, eyes bright as knives as she fetches the citrine and turns to place it on the pedestal.