Concede (The Diamond Empire Book 1) by Kathy Coopmans (bts book recommendations .TXT) 📕

on The Diamonds is a mystery. Threats and warnings and, once again, greed. People desperate for more. Not caring who they have to kill or hurt to fill up that bank account.

Going after a couple of women in a cemetery is a bold and warped move. One that could have ended in death again, the death of my woman. The death of Alina, which would have indeed crippled Roan and the Empire.

Tumbling straight to the ground.

Guilt dampens my skin with a sheen of sweat. If I’d sent a text to Theo the minute Mikhail brought up Victoria’s name, then we’d all be safe in our homes right now. He’d have gotten them out of there.

I had no sooner stepped out of the shower at the arena and changed into the spare clothes I keep in my truck when a distraught Alina called Roan, filling him in on what happened.

We all tore out of there like bats out of hell. Everyone white as a ghost. I didn’t have the patience to drive, so I jumped in Aaron’s vehicle.

Dumbest thing I could have done. If I had a lick of patience left, it’s sure as shit is gone now. Aaron had to wait for the security tapes from the cemetery. Watching the one on the attack had me losing my mind when I saw someone pluck Victoria off the ground and slam her against a tree. The whole attack on her, on all of them, keeps playing through my mind.

A never-ending reel.

If it weren’t for Alina getting her hands on a gun and pumping a round of bullets into the body of the fucker who had Victoria in his arms, rushing toward the exit, Lord knows where she’d be right now.

Dead, raped. Nowhere to be found.

I suppose it wouldn’t have mattered if anyone of us had contacted Theo or one of the other guards because the attack had to have been planned. Someone must have been waiting in the shadows, ready to go after the first person that came to the cemetery. That’s the only answer as to how Maxim could pull off an ambush like that.

Fumes of hatred rise from the pit of my stomach, smoldering through my body as my beast reawakens. Shades of red clouding my vision, and my mind plaguing with all kinds of vengeance. Once we find Maxim, I will string him up like a slab of meat and beat him to death until his blood soaks the ground beneath my feet right after I rip out his intestines and shove them down his throat until he chokes.

Blocking Aaron out, I shift to look out the window, strumming my fingers on the armrest when I hear him change his tone to that of concern as he fills in his brother Alex telling him there’s no need to fly out here from Idaho where he lives.

Suddenly, an urge to tip back a bottle of whiskey to calm my nerves works through me as I watch the bright lights of New York diminish the deeper we pull away from the city and into a neighborhood where mansions line the street.

Alcohol understood what made me tick and controlled me like a remote-control car. It begged and taunted just like it’s doing now. It teased and dangled the illusion that one more sip was all I needed. But I don’t need it, not like I do, Victoria. My addiction to her is enough of a craving to get me through this long annoying drive.

And long it is. I’ve been riding in the back of this vehicle in slow as fuck traffic for nearly two hours. The first hour returning my brothers, Gabe’s, Lorenzo’s, and Sienna’s phone calls from the news traveling fast. They all wanted to fly up here. I told them if they did, there would be hell to pay.

By the time we pull into a circular drive in front of a mansion the size of the White House, I’ve imagined stabbing Aaron’s driver in his skull a hundred times.

Throwing open the door, I slip out. The cold blasting across the sweat on my skin, desperation sloshing when I take off at a sprint toward the guest house, which is the Empire’s hospital.

Stepping through the door and without looking around to see who’s here, I head straight to where Aidan is pacing the worn hardwood floor. His hands clasped behind his neck.

The rational part of my brain wants to shout to take me to Victoria, but one look at the distraught on his face when he sees me has me tamping my own needs down. “Where is she? Is she alright? You alright?”

“I will be as soon as I see my daughter. Victoria’s through the set of double doors behind us, the first door on the right. The doctor came out a few minutes ago, said Victoria is busted up pretty bad. Thank fuck, the bullet only grazed her shoulder. Fucking Christ, Seth, the thought that I could have lost another child or Alina. We need to find Maxim before he ends up killing someone else.” Grief splatters across Aidan’s face. Shoulders sagging, anguish in his expression.

A bullet? How the hell did I miss seeing that on the video? It must have happened when she dove at Alina. The irony isn’t lost on me that Alina and Victoria saved each other’s lives.

“And, Theo?” I ask.

“He’s in surgery now. Shot in the leg. He took several to the chest. Thank fuck for bulletproof vests.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. Victoria wouldn’t be able to handle losing him.

Without another word, I turn around. No damn way am I standing out here, climbing the walls and waiting. I need to see if Victoria’s alright with my own eyes. I know she isn’t. There’s no way she can be after this. Not in her mind anyway.

Apprehension pummels as I slam open the double doors. Heart slamming against my ribs with every step I take. The second I push open the door to her room,