Diamonds (Den of Thieves Book 1) (15 page)

“Peter, please. I know you are asking me to trust you but I don’t understand what you are doing.”

“Daria, you are in danger.” As Peter spoke the words her heart sank.

There had always been something in the back of her mind that didn’t seem right and now it was staring her right in the face.

“Who are you?” She whispered her heart hammering in her chest.

“I will explain everything Daria, I promise. And I promise you that I am not the one who is a danger to you. I gave you my word that I would do nothing to hurt you but with that also came a promise to always be there to protect you as well.”

“Protect me from who Peter?”

“I can’t tell you that either. At least not right now, but you have to trust me. Please I am begging you.”

“Did my father send you? Does this have something to do with him? Is someone trying to hurt him by coming after me?” She could hear the panic rising in her voice and hated herself for being so weak.

She wanted to be anywhere but there.

“I will explain. I promise, I will tell--”

Just then the car was jolted from behind. She screamed.

“Peter! Someone just hit us!” She looked back as Peter stepped on the gas and the car lurched forward faster.

A dark car followed them close. It was the same car Peter had been after just a few moments before.

Peter switched lanes to get around a tractor-trailer. She didn’t dare look at the speedometer. She really didn’t want to know how fast they were going.

“Who is that in the car behind us Peter?”

“In all honesty I don’t know, but I have a good guess.”

The car behind them sped up again.

“Hurry Peter! They are gaining on us!”

“Goddammit.” He gritted his teeth and switched lanes again.

The car stayed with them, almost as if the other driver could read their minds and anticipate their next move.

Daria’s breath caught in her throat as the headlights of the other car disappeared and the car once again slammed into the back of Peter’s car.

She screamed. “Peter!”

Their car fishtailed a moment but Peter managed to keep it going in an almost straight line.

“Daria, take my phone. Dial the first number in speed dial. Put it on speaker.”

“O-okay” She fumbled with his phone and did as he asked.

The phone rang and was picked up on the first ring.

“DOT Recovery,” a woman’s voice came through the speaker.

“Gracie, it’s Peter. I need you to get a message to Jake. Tell him that I’m in trouble. I’ve got a tail and I don’t think Ill be able to lose it. Tell him to use the phone’s GPS to find us.”

“You have Daria with you?” The disembodied voice spoke again.

“Yes.”

“Alright Peter. Help is on the way.”

The line went dead.

“Who the hell was that and who the hell are you?”
 

“I am a friend. That’s all you need to know.”

The car was hit from behind a third time and this time the car spun around and out of control.

Daria screamed and reached for anything she could grab a hold of as they spun off the highway and into the ditch, coming to stop in a field on the other side. The black car came to a stop on the shoulder a few meters down.

It slowly started backing up and then it pulled off the shoulder, slowly negotiating the ditch, and driving onto the edge of the field, its engine revved.

“Peter! They are coming at us again.”

Peter worked frantically to get their seat belts undone but they were both jammed after they had been thrown around.

“Working on it sweetheart,” he grunted.

The car started towards them gaining speed as it closed the gap.

“They are going to ram us!”

The black car hit Peter’s car right behind the driver’s side door throwing them sideways.

Daria’s mind went numb as she scrambled to try and free herself from the car. Looking out the window, in the light of the headlights she realized the field dropped off sharply. There was only a small fence between them and the drop.

“Peter---” She patted his shoulder.

“I am trying!” Peters voice was frantic. There was blood dripping from a cut above his eye.

“There is a cliff Peter. They are pushing us off the cliff.”

Peter looked off over her shoulder his eyes widening for a split second before that look of determination set in again.
 

The black car backed up again and Daria felt herself bracing for another hit. Instead of ramming them again the other driver turned off their car and sat there.

“What are they doing?”

“I don’t know Daria, but I’ve almost got you free.” She hadn’t realized that he had somehow found a knife in the car and was cutting them both free.

A mere minute later and they were both free. They sat there for a moment. With the other car’s headlights still on they could not make out what the driver was doing but Daria was not prepared to sit around and wait to find out.

Peter’s door was jammed shut so they both climbed out Daria’s side. Still the other driver did nothing. Peter took her by the hand. Even though she had no idea what was going on the very act of him holding her hand made her feel safe if only for that split second.

It wasn’t until they had rounded the nose of Peter’s car that the other driver opened their door and a woman stepped out.

Chapter 10

The woman approached but in the glaring light of the haze of smoke in the headlights she could only make out the other woman’s silhouette.

“Who are you?” Daria screamed.

“Why don’t you ask the man standing beside you,“ the woman’s voice came through

the smoke.

She looked at Peter and then back to the woman.

“Well?” the woman stepped closer. “Are you going to tell her, Sebastian or am I? Hurry up boy and make up your mind. I don’t have all night. I have things to do.”

“What is she talking about Peter? And who is Sebastian?” She could feel the panic rising up in her throat.

Peter said nothing.
 

“Well since you don’t seem to want to tell her then I will. Daria, darling, I am your mother.”  The woman stepped into the light and Daria could see the woman’s face.

She was smiling at them.

“That’s impossible! My mother died when I was just a baby!”  Daria’s head spun.

What on earth was this woman talking about? She had to have her confused with someone else. The other woman just laughed.

“Look! I don’t know who you are but you cant be my mother. My mother died after she was attacked by a mugger.”

“No child. I was not attacked. I am very much alive.”

Daria searched the other woman’s features in the dim light, straining to see any sort of resemblance. Anything she could pull from memory. There were traces of familiarity but nothing definitive she could pin down.

“If you are my mother, where have you been my entire life?” A spark of anger ignited deep within her. Why was she trying to hurt her now?

“I was not allowed to be in your life. Your father would not allow me to see you.”

“That is bullshit! My father loved my mother! When she died his heart broke! He never married another woman, never even went on a date! So you can’t sit there and pretend to be my mother and not know how much he loved her!” The fire in her voice only seemed to amuse the woman further.

“Oh my child. You don’t know how untrue that is.”

“Well I suppose you are here to enlighten me?” Daria crossed her arms as she spoke.

“I should really. It is pathetic how you behave like you know everything and really I am about to crush that little fantasy world you have grown up in. I find no pleasure in it really, but it wasn’t my fault.”

Daria glared at the woman. Who did she think she was?

“Your father was a good man, but his way of showing affection was not as it should have been. He bought things for people instead of spending time with them.”

Daria thought back to her childhood, her father had done a lot of that when she was smaller. She could remember him being gone for months at a time on business and then returning with an armload or two of trinkets and toys for her from wherever in the world he had been.

“I can see that hasn’t changed much since I have been gone.”

“That doesn’t mean anything to me. My father is a businessman and he had to travel a lot. That doesn’t mean he didn’t know how to love.”

“Ah but I want you to tell me how many times you can remember him giving you a hug. Or reading you a bedtime story?”

Daria thought about it. She was right. Her father had not been overly affectionate to her as a child. She had simply assumed that he was busy with his businesses and didn’t have the time for her.

“Daria, do you remember a necklace? Black diamond in the center?”

Daria knew the necklace she was talking about. It had been in the family for generations. Was that what this was all about? She looked at Peter who was watching the other woman intently but saying nothing.

“I can tell from the look on your face you do. It is mine. And I would like to have it back.”

“That necklace is not yours! It stays in the family, passed on from woman to woman. It belongs to me.” The confusion fading, regardless of who this woman was or claimed she was, she was not getting the necklace.

“See that is the problem my dear Sebastian here was supposed to fix for me.” The woman gestured over at Peter who glared back but said nothing.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Well let me tell you. Your loving boyfriend here and his friends were sent by me to retrieve that pretty little bauble.”

Daria looked at Peter and then back at the woman.

“You see child, had you not been born it would have been me who had that necklace. And then you were born and your father refused to give it to me. And well that was all I wanted from him.”

“You used him!” Daria’s blood flared.

“Everyone uses everyone. Just ask your boy there. He knows all about that.”  The woman laughed.

Daria’s stomach churned. She didn’t know what to believe.

“But since you now know what I am up to, you can’t live.” The woman took a step forward.