Night Light. Amy Blankenship

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СКАЧАТЬ to Steven, Nick quickly picked up his phone and juggled it for a moment when he almost lost his grip. Finally he caught it on the third ring and flipped it open.

      â€œSpeak,” he growled. His expression melted into one of deep concern before pushing the gas pedal to the floor. Luckily, he had decided to drive the Hummer to take Steven and Jewel back to Night Light.

      He did a quick mental inventory and breathed a small sigh of relief when he remembered that Warren still had some extra sets of clothes in the vehicle from their last camping trip. No one had bothered to remove them and it saved Nick the trip back home. It was a good thing that Warren and Quinn were around the same size… there was nothing worse than trying to squeeze into clothes that were too little.

      Turning on the GPS tracker in his phone, he got Warren’s exact location. Turning the next corner without slowing down, Nick knew he wasn’t going to like what he saw once he got there.

      As an afterthought, Nick took out his cell phone and called Devon to let him know the new developments. Devon may have left the city willingly, but he’d made Nick promise to call him several times a day to keep him up to date on everything.

      *****

      Steven got Jewel inside the club and quickly escorted her upstairs. When they made it to his room, he closed the door but didn’t lock it. He didn’t want her to feel trapped.

      Jewel blinked her eyes and looked around at the room she’d been brought into. The bed was king sized with a deep green comforter spread over it. A couple of decorative pillows sat on the bed and, of all things, a stuffed animal… a cougar. She couldn’t help but smile at that and a nervous giggle escaped before she could stop it.

      The dresser was a black lacquer with a large mirror and in the center was a small bamboo plant. On the other side of the room was a pair of beanbag chairs, a huge flat screen television mounted on the wall, and a game console with numerous games scattered around in front of it.

      Jewel couldn’t understand why she felt so calm but it was slowly fading and being replaced by dread. What the hell did she think she was doing here?

      â€œWhy did you bring me here?” Jewel asked spinning around to face Steven.

      â€œBecause you’ll be safe here,” Steven answered. “You’re not going back to your fiancé or your father.”

      What was left of the calm feeling immediately fled and Jewel shook her head vigorously. “No, I have to go back! If I don’t, Anthony will kill me.”

      â€œHe can’t kill you if he can’t find you,” Steven reasoned in a voice that was so cold it sucked some of the warmth right out of the room.

      â€œWhat about Father Gordon?” Jewel demanded her voice level rising. “If they go to him, they’ll find out where I am.” Jewel started pacing. “Daddy’s gonna be so mad and Anthony… I don’t want to think about what he’ll do.”

      Steven had a flashback of the handprint-sized bruise she had been wearing earlier. “Why the hell would you protect your daddy when he obviously doesn’t protect you!”

      â€œWho gave you the right to give a damn!?” Jewel yelled back more comfortable now that he was yelling at her.

      â€œYou know what? Fine,” Steven opened the bedroom door. “There’s the way out, go back to your fiancé and a marriage you’re being forced into because of Daddy’s inability to take care of business. No real father would ever sacrifice his children to pay off a debt he created.”

      Jewel stared at the door and took an uncertain step forward before backing up and sinking down on the bed. She gazed toward the alarm clock and knew it was too late to sneak back in ether way. Two AM… that’s when the guards changed shifts and that had been the only time she could return without being caught.

      â€œWhat do I do now?” Jewel asked and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Where would I go?”

      Steven shut the door and knelt down in front of her. “How about you start by telling me everything?”

      â€œLike what?” Jewel asked.

      Steven gave her a small smile, “We can start with your last name.”

      Jewel sighed, “My last name is Scott and my father manages a resort in Palm Springs for my… fiancé. God that word leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

      Steven felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders seeing again how much she hated the fact she was being forced to marry this guy… not that he would ever let that happen now. “Okay, calm down and back up. Try starting from the beginning,” he suggested.

      Taking a deep breath, Jewel calmly started talking, just letting it all go. “I was in boarding school when Daddy ran into some trouble at the resort. A government agent had checked in undercover and was trying to uncover all the mafia activity going in and out of the place. When Daddy found out what the man was… he was given orders to kill him.”

      Steven nodded, “What happened?”

      â€œDaddy waited too long to kill him… the agent had already given his superiors all the information. When the agent didn’t check in or whatever it is they do, the FBI sent more agents and Daddy was arrested. Anthony Valachi bailed him out of jail after he did something, probably bribed one of the top officials, and all the charges were dropped.”

      â€œNow Daddy’s in debt to his boss. Not knowing how else to pay off the debt, when I came back from school, Daddy told me I was engaged to Anthony and he was actually happy about it.”

      Jewel took another breath and swiped her hand over her eyes. “I don’t want to be married yet… I wanted to do something with myself, go to college and work for a living, maybe travel a little bit. This man is twice my age. Now I’m a prisoner, a slave to that bastard and my father’s mistake.”

      Steven nodded and fought the urge to get up and pace the room. Losing the battle, he did start pacing. “I can fix this,” he stated firmly but kept pacing. His mind was going a mile a minute.

      â€œYeah right,” Jewel frowned, “you and what army?” She suddenly remembered the angel she had seen at the church and glanced up hopefully.

      Steven recognized the name as the same guy Micah had gotten into a fight with a couple weeks ago before he vanished. Micah had thrown the man out of the club after giving him a face full of his fist, knocking the smart ass right out of his chair. Steven still had trouble not laughing when he thought about it.

      Quinn hadn’t thought it was too funny though. Maybe Quinn had known Anthony was a big wig in the mafia and was trying to just watch out for Micah. As a matter of fact, it was the same night Micah had disappeared.

      He glanced back at Jewel as he passed in front of her. She was right… Anthony Valachi had been twice her age and a self-righteous asshole to boot. There was no way in hell he was going to let her anywhere near that man or her abusive father… father… the priest at the church. Now that man owed him a favor, and with a little help СКАЧАТЬ