Diamond (Rare Gems #2)(50)

“They were always rich then?” He shook his head. “I thought…I assumed that Thad inherited his money from his family.”

“Oh no, missus, he is a self-made man. When I first came to work for him after he started making money, the first thing he said to me was to not lend or give anything that I valued to his father or brother. I never did, but I saw how they treated him. Mr. Thad worked a great deal, and the more he made the more they wanted. His mother passed when Mr. Thad had been in high school, and his father…his family moved in with him right after, sucking him as dry as he’d let them. Then when the mister died, Mr. Thad set some rules up for the brother, but by then it was too late. He already had a taste for having things his way.”

Diamond got up and poured them both refills of tea and sat down again before she spoke. “Ward was rude to Jade. She said if she ever saw him again she’d murder him. Did you know that he killed that man in Texas?”

“I did, missus. I did. Shame that someone had to die for him to get what he deserved, but the boy has always been bad. I don’t know what would have happened if Mr. Thad had not tossed him out that day. He’d taken so much from him. I think it…I believe Mr. Thad was more hurt by it than he’d ever say.”

Diamond was sure he was right. “Thad said I could take things from the house in Texas that I thought I’d want. Other than his mother’s things, can you think of anything that I should have sent to me?”

When he flushed slightly, she wondered if he knew about Thad’s playroom and decided that if he did he wouldn’t tell her. Instead, he pulled out his phone and showed her several pictures.

“It’s his crib, missus. I had…I unearthed it one day when I was cleaning. I had it put into the attic and made sure that no one but me knew it was there. The last Mrs. Galloway’s brother had given it to his sister as a baby gift. She said that he carved it for her.”

The crib was beautiful and lovingly put together. She enlarged the picture and looked up at Benson, startled. He nodded once and went to the sink to wash up their glasses.

There were animals carved into the headboard as well as the footboard. And when she looked harder, she noticed that they were wolves at play. Most of them were a little hard to see, but she could see clearly what they were. Someone, a long time ago, had carved wolves into the bed. That’s when she remembered that before she’d changed him, Thad had the ability to seal wounds.

“I think his great-grandfather was mated to a wolf. No one ever said, but as a supe I can see things like you can.” Benson never turned as he continued at the sink. “I’ve a feeling that Mr. Thad is more wolf than human. What do you think?”

“I think so too.” And she knew that they were talking more about before he’d been converted. Diamond started to remember a few other things that had startled her about Thad and wondered if what Benson said was true. He really was part wolf.

After they cleaned up the kitchen a little, she went back up to bed. Thad was still sleeping, so she crawled into bed with him, not bothering with finding something to pull on. She was almost asleep before her head hit the pillow.





Chapter 16



Ward was slowly running out of options. His money was all but gone, and he was still staying at the mall after three days. He was sure that soon he’d be caught, and no matter how much he begged them to call Thad to bail him out, he had a feeling that he’d let him rot. He was quickly becoming disappointed in his older brother.

Thad had never been very nice to him. And he only gave in to him when Ward had gone to their dad. Now there was a man who loved him. Dad gave him everything, and never once in all his life did his dad ever tell him no. Thad had been mean to do what he’d done about throwing him out of the house, and it was worse yet that he’d waited until Dad was dead before he’d done it. Ward wandered around the food court, trying to decide if he could get anyone to give him something to eat. It hadn’t worked so far.

But his plan was coming together. Slowly, but it was coming. He sat at one of the tables in the food court and thought about what he’d discovered just last night. There were guns here. He’d been in the shower that was some sort of break room for the guards when he heard someone come in. Luckily, he’d been drying off or the man might have caught him at his bath. As it was, he’d had to jump in a toilet stall and wait for the man to start singing before he moved out.

The man’s clothes had been lying across the bench, and in his open locker was a wallet with only about seventy bucks, as well as a key. Ward took both the cash and the key, wondering if he could figure out where it went. By the time the man had come out and was dressing, Ward had not only discovered what it unlocked but had also found the lost and found, where there was even more cash.

But that hadn’t lasted long. After he’d bought himself a new shirt and nice watch that told the time in five countries, he was broke again. He felt as if he was never going to get anything the way money seemed to just disappear on him. But he’d taken a knife, as well as put the gun where he could find it. And now he was thinking it was time to take care of things.

His plan was to borrow some money from one of the drawers in the busiest restaurant here. He’d already discovered that none of the stores, especially the bigger ones, had any cash around. But he figured that someone would have cash at the register. It was only until he could get Thad to pay up.