Diamond (Rare Gems #2)(14)
“You know that you will be a part of my pack for the rest of your life. And you’d better come back here. Sapphire will be pissed at me if you don’t come back when we have a baby.” The pang of her sister having a child ran deep in her heart. “Diamond, let me try to fix this, please? You know what will happen to you if you don’t at least talk to him.”
“I may not turn rogue, and we both know it. He didn’t do anything more than kiss me, and I helped his wounds. I’m pretty sure in a few weeks I won’t even remember what he looked like.” Neither of them believed that, and she was sure they both knew it. “Besides, you’ll be rolling in the dough once you get this product off the ground. You and Galloway Industries will be contenders.”
“After he left here, I contacted our attorneys and told them to dump the contract. We can’t do business with him, and I’m pretty sure he would have done the same thing once he got back to his home. Sapphire and I are going to see if we can market it to someone else in six months.” Diamond felt the tears fall. “Don’t cry, baby, it’s for the best. He’ll either come to his senses or not, but either way, we came out ahead on this. We have a product that we know will sell.”
Diamond was just getting into her car when another car pulled into the drive. Two men got out and came toward them. She had a feeling that Galloway Industries wasn’t going to go quietly into the night.
“Mr. Blair Henson of Flair Marketing?” Neither of them said a word as the men looked down at their notes. “We’re here to see Blair Henson. Does he live here or not?”
Blair stood up and let a little of his wolf go. Diamond watched the other man as he took a step back. Before either of them could move, the first man pulled a gun. Blair pushed her behind him.
“We only want to talk to Henson. If you’re not him then I would suggest that you simply say so and we’ll go up to the house.” The click of something had them all turning, and Diamond saw Emerald standing there on the deck with a gun pointed at them all.
“You’ll either lose your dicks or your brains. I’m thinking they’re both in the same general area so it’s entirely up to you two who gets it first.” Sapphire came out on the deck then with her phone to her ear as Emerald continued. “My sister is calling Galloway now, and Grandmother is calling the police. I’m pretty sure that if you were told to pull a gun on my family, you’re all going to jail. But I’m thinking it’ll be just you idiots.”
“He said you’d be pissed off, that we were to protect ourselves if need be.” The man who spoke seemed to be happy at the turn of events, but all she could think about was this was really stupid. She looked at all of them and decided enough was enough, this had to end now. Diamond put out her hand to take the gun from the man, and he jerked back and pointed the gun at her. She heard the shot before she felt the pain. And by then she was falling. What the hell had just happened to her?
~~~
“See if you can get a meeting set up with the foremen at the plant. Tell them that I….” The pain was incredible. Thad doubled over and held his belly in hopes that it would pass, but it only grew more intense. He was sure that he’d been shot, but when he pulled his hand away, there was nothing there but skin. Trying to stand up, he felt the world spinning out of control, and then the floor came up and slapped him in the face. Blackness swallowed him up and he thought of Diamond in those last seconds.
“Don’t move,” his secretary said. Thad sat up anyway and looked at his secretary. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. “Are you all right, sir? You scared me to death.”
Thad had been terrified as well, and when he stood up, he felt weak and out of sorts. Moving to his desk slowly, wondering for a moment how he got in his office, he looked back at Jane. She flushed brightly and stood up from her kneeling position on the floor near his couch.
“You fainted. After you screamed and then fainted I called security and they helped me put you in here. When we couldn’t find anything wrong with you, I called the doctor, and he said you were more than likely exhausted. He said you were sleeping and not hurt.” She moved to his desk and handed him a stack of messages. “Those came in right after you fell. The man, Blair Henson, he said for you to call him as soon as possible the first few times, then…well, then he said never mind when he called the last time. He said it was no longer important.”
Thad almost just tossed the messages in the trash but saw Diamond’s name there. “What happened, did he say? Did he mention Diamond Erickson?”
“Yes. At first, like I said, but then after….” She stopped when he glared. “Mrs. Henson called first and asked about us sending out some goons. I assured her that we didn’t work that way. Then Mr. Henson called back a few minutes later. He was screaming something about her being shot and that you were a…you were a son of a bitch who’d shot her. I told him that you’d been here all morning, and he said something about some henchmen. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, so I hung up. The next time he called back he was calmer but no less abusive. He certainly didn’t seem like the man who called the first time. He was…well hell, he acted like his world was ending. He’s the company you’re doing business with on the veggie containers, right? I can’t wait to get them. I think—”