Second Debt

But my heart argued just as loudly. Encouraging me to believe in what I’d found with Jethro. To trust that I had the power to change our fate. To give us a bit more time.

I didn’t know how yet, but there could be a happy ending.

There has to be.

Hawksridge Hall was quiet—more so than normal. Most of the Black Diamond brothers, including the Hawks, were busy with a large shipment that I’d heard held a pink diamond weighing in excess of eighteen carats.

I’d lingered in the dining room long enough to know that such a stone was almost priceless and would fetch untold millions on the black market.

At night, I slept in my luxurious bed and pondered all things Jethro. I became self-absorbed—completely wrapped up in my feelings for him.

A small part of me hated the woman I’d become. The old Nila would never have removed herself so completely from her family—especially Vaughn.

But at the same time—they removed me.

And Jethro had taken me in.

However, there was no denying that my soul was torn and bruised.

Jethro had given me everything beneath the grandstand that day, and by doing so, he robbed me of my hate and the power of injustice that kept me fighting every day.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t right.

But there was no changing the will of a Weaver’s heart.

I was alone now. More so than when I’d first arrived.

I would never be welcomed back with my family, never be able to return home.

Jethro had successfully torn me from my past, stripped me of my mind, and abducted my heart.

I wasn’t okay with that.

I couldn’t be.

And that was why I had to do the same to him.

I stroked the diamonds around my neck. I’d come here believing I would never be strong enough to fight. But unbeknownst to Cut, he’d brought a disease into his home. Day-by-day, I undermined his foundations, stealing what was his from beneath him.

I had the tools to continue to wreak havoc…all but one, that is.

I needed one last thing to make my arsenal complete.

It was time to know where Jethro disappeared to.

It’s time to find out what exists behind the door on the second floor.

I looked at the clock above the fish tank in my room. Just past midnight.

I’d heard the men rumble off in a smog of motorcycle smoke an hour ago. If there were any night to investigate—tonight was it.

The corridors would be empty, and Daniel would be far away from delivering his threats of harm.

Resolution filled my veins. I sat up in bed and swung my legs over the side.

It took me two minutes to pull on a pair of yoga pants and slip into an old hoody before collecting my ruby-encrusted dirk and shoving it down my waistband.

With my heart thundering, I slipped out the door and padded down the corridor.

My ears strained for night prowlers. I tiptoed to every corner and dashed quickly past cameras blinking above the large tapestries.

Hawksridge Hall breathed deep and dreamless—vacant of its usual inhabitations, letting me slink beneath the moonlight undisturbed.

I found the spiral staircase where Jethro had dragged me up and scurried to the top as fast as I could. If I stood at the bottom and deliberated, my bravery might desert me.

My fingertip itched, almost as if it knew this was the floor where Jethro had etched his initials into my skin.

I peered above the paintings, locking onto the flashing red lights of yet more cameras. There seemed to be more on this level…protecting something. Protecting what?

I did my best to walk beneath them, to try to stay out of range, but I didn’t know the first thing about dodging a security feed.

Jethro would know where I’d been.

He’d be able to watch my every recorded movement. And even though I feared the retribution I might face, it didn’t stop me from sneaking to the door he’d knocked on.

The moment I stood outside, my heart switched from pounding to frantic.

What the hell are you doing?

What did I think I would do? Knock and ask politely why Jethro came up here when he ran from me? Did I perhaps think I could turn invisible and snoop around a room while the woman I’d heard slumbered?

You’re an idiot.

I stood there dumbstruck. I should never have come.

My lungs stuck together as something rustled on the other side of the door. A soft light seeped through the crack below, bathing the carpet in a warm glow.

I swallowed my yelp as a shadow interrupted the light, pausing the same way I had.

I took a step back. Stupid. So stupid, Nila.

No one in this house was safe to go visiting on my own late at night. I wanted to slap myself for being so stupid. I’d put myself in moronic danger.

My fingers reached for my pilfered knife.

I turned to leave, fear dousing my blood with ice.

The sooner I was back in my quarters, the safer I would be.

“You can come in, you know,” a quiet feminine voice said.

I froze.

No one spoke, waiting for the other.

A never-ending minute ticked past before the voice came again. “I won’t tell and I won’t hurt you. I can see you lurking outside my door. I have a camera mounted outside, so unless you want to run and pretend this never happened, I suggest you come in before my brothers or father find you up here.”

My stomach rolled; a sickening wave of vertigo crippled me. I stumbled forward, grasping at the wall.

I sucked in large breaths, repeating Vaughn’s poem for me.

Find an anchor, hold on tight.

Do that and you’ll be alright.