The Duke's Diamond

by Andromeda -

  A knock on the door made her get up and answer it. When she went outside, she saw that it was the mailman. Smiling at him, she signed for the package and then took the heavy box. She was curious, as it was quite large, and looked at the label on the side.

  To: His Grace, Jonathan Somerset, son of William Somerset, the Duke of Beaufort

  From: Lord Wallace Brown, Earl of Warick

  Note: Thank you for coming to our dinner fundraiser last week. Inside are the items you bought.

  Diamond’s head spun as she read this, unable to believe it.

  Jonathan…the son of a duke? This dinner fundraiser… I remember that day. Last week, Jonathan told me he was spending the night at his friend Kolton's place for a guy weekend. Why would he lie to me? Does he think I would only want him for his money? Does he think I am using him?

  Looking at the box, she couldn’t stop herself from getting a box cutter and cutting it open. She had to see what was inside. Her eyes widened when she saw what it was.

  Inside was a rock crystal in the shape of a star. It was huge, about the size of her head, and carefully, she lifted it up to get a better look at it. She was so transfixed by it that she didn’t hear the door open or see Jonathan walk inside.

  "Hey, Princess, I…" he began to say, but the words died on his lips when he saw her holding the rock crystal star. "W-where did you get that?" he choked.

  She looked at him, trying to keep her voice from quivering. "Your friend, the Earl of Warick sent it, Jonathan. Or should I call you…Your Grace?"

  He flushed red and put his briefcase bag down. "Dia, please, I can explain…"

  "Explain what, Jonathan?" she asked, putting the item down. "That you lied to me?"

  "I didn't lie!" he protested. "Well, not really."

  She bit her lip. "When we first got together, I asked you if you had any secrets and you said no."

  "I know what I said, and I'm sorry for not telling you. It's just…" He sighed and rubbed his face. "Women are always throwing themselves at me, as most people know who I am. When I met you, I saw that you didn't so I…I couldn't tell you. I thought you would change."

  "When have you ever known me to change, Jonathan?" she asked. "When? Do you think I care about you being the son of a duke? I don't care about that, the same way you don't care about my past."

  He walked to her, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist as he looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Princess. Truly, I am. I didn't mean for you to find out this way. My father is so strict sometimes and—"

  She silenced him by pressing her lips to his before pulling away a couple minutes later. “Like I said, I don't care about you being the son of a duke. Just promise me there are no more secrets."

  He nodded. "I promise you. I swear on my honor."

  "Good," she said, smiling, trying to pull away, but he held her tight. She looked at him with an arched eyebrow, but he just grinned at her. She knew that look.

  "How long until Dalila returns home from school?" he asked.

  "Like a few hours," she answered. "Why?"

  In response, he lifted her up, threw her over his shoulder caveman style and began the walk to the bedroom.

  “Hey!” she protested. “What are you doing?”

  "I'm going to show you how sorry I am," he answered, opening the door, playfully smacking her rear.

  "Jonathan!" she laughed, trying to sound serious but couldn’t. "Put me down!"

  He tossed her on the bed and took off his shirt. Smirking, he began to unbuckle his pants. "Not going to happen, Princess. Oh, and while we are being honest, there is something I've been wanting to do to you for the longest."

  ✵✵✵✵✵✵✵

  The next morning, Diamond logged into Wattpad and saw that she had a message from another user. Intrigued, she clicked on the link and read the message.

  "We have gotten a secret IM stating your story is like ours. After reviewing your story, we have indeed seen that it is, and are demanding that you take it down immediately before we report you to the officers…"

  Never did she feel such anger. She couldn’t believe her eyes at this message, nor could she believe the audacity of the sender. She had no idea what this person was talking about, but then it took her a moment to realize they spoke of her story. Her only true story she had on the site, the story which she had worked so hard on.

  She still hadn’t picked out a title, though, and so far, The Life had quickly gained her a quick following. People were intrigued by her life, and it didn’t take long for it to go from zero views to almost half a million. Now, apparently, some writers thought she was trying to steal their work.

  Frowning, Diamond clicked on their profile to see what they could be talking about. They had almost twelve thousand followers, all from one book, which had one point five million views. Diamond skimmed through the book, and moment by moment, her anger at this accusation grew. There was only one similarity, which was one of the protagonists was from the sex industry, but that was about it.

  She went back to their page, and when she saw their newest post, she couldn’t believe what she saw. It was full of negative comments about her. While they didn't say her name, the user told only half of the story, and their followers were enraged.

  Diamond swallowed in dismay. What kind of fellow author does this? This isn't the honorable thing to do.

  Then she saw one of their newest comments, and it shattered her resolve at the words.

  "If she did this, it makes us wonder if all her other work is her own or if she was 'inspired' by a bunch of poor authors. Smh…"

  That was the breaking point for Diamond. She could handle the other stuff, but them questioning her other work was a big no-no. You don't do that, nor do you post it on your page for your thousands of followers to see and not tell the other side of the story.

  Diamond wanted to scream in fury at this, but she was at a loss at what to do. They had many more followers than she did, and if she spoke out, their fans would attack her. She knew they wouldn’t even try to hold their fans back.

  Another message came to her personal IM box, and they were demanding to know why her book hadn't been taken down yet. They also said if she didn't do it soon, then they would report her to their attorney. She slammed her laptop shut in anger, leaping from the bed and storming from the room.

  Is this what authors do to each other? Diamond thought to herself. I honestly don't even see the problem. The Hunger Games, Divergent, Matched and The Maze Runner all have similarities, yet you don't see those authors trying to sue each other. Greek Mythology and Roman Mythology all have similarities. It's human nature to go after things that are like what we like. Being a writer, we get inspired by many things and then put it to paper. It's just the way things are. But what they are doing is an all-time low.

  The ringing of her phone made her look down in surprise and she picked it up. The number said Unknown.

  Confused, she shrugged and answered it. "Hello?"

  No answer.

  The other line was 100 percent silent and yet the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Then it disconnected. Frowning, she looked at her phone and considered calling the number back, but something warned her from doing so.

  Instead, she had another matter at hand: dealing with these women who thought it was all right to bully her. Going back to her computer, she pulled up the site’s main page and then began to search through the list of admins, looking for someone to try to contact to resolve this matter. She did not wish to start a fight with this person, but she was not afraid to do so if she was forced to.

  She found the account of the head admin for user services named Owlking, and began to type a letter to him, asking for his help. Once the letter was done, she got an instant response, which told her that he would look into the matter, and for her to not fret.

  Her body and soul relaxed, and then she turned back to her phone.

  Who could have called me? Not just anyone has my number. Maybe I should ask
Jonathan to change my number, just to be on the safe side, Diamond thought to herself as her stomach flipped.

  Chapter Eighteen: Sacrifice

  "Yes, Jonathan. I'm fine, truly. Just going to go and pick up Dalila," Diamond said on the phone.

  She was on cloud nine right now, as her life had never been better. Between Jonathan and she’s relationship, and the flourishing of her online writing, things had been good. Jonathan had come clean to her about everything from his crazy and controlling father to his equally crazy ex-fiancée, who was coming within a couple of weeks to try to convince him to take her back.

  The bitch has another thing coming if she thinks I will let him go so easily. I will go down like I always have: fighting for the thing I love, she thought to herself when he told her.

  "All right, love," Jonathan chuckled. "But I wish you would have stayed in the house for a bit longer. I was almost home."

  She giggled. "Jon, you know I am late to pick up Dalila. I don't have time for your games."

  "I know, I know, Princess, but hurry back. I…erm…I have a gift for you," he said.

  "All right. I love you," she said.

  "Love you," he said.

  As she walked to her car, she pulled at the handle and frowned; it was unlocked.

  How could it have gotten unlocked? No one has the key to my car except Jonathan and he isn't even close to the apartment right now.

  Carefully, she pulled harder on the door and when it opened, what tumbled out made her almost scream. A dead cat. The whole car smelled of decay. The unseeing eyes stared up at her as she swallowed back the scream that was building in her throat.

  Why would someone put a dead cat in my car?

  Almost as soon as she thought of it, the terrifying answer came to her and her blood instantly ran cold. Alfonzo. Back in Las Vegas, when Alfonzo was going to have someone eliminated, he would have a dead cat sent to them as a type of calling card. His calling card. Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked around frantically as if knowing he was near.

  How did he find me? I'm not going back to him! I can't go back to him!

  Then her heart froze in her chest. Dalila.

  Forgetting her car, she called a taxi and rushed to the school, hoping and praying that what she thought might be happening right now, wasn’t happening. When they pulled up to the school, she ran inside to the front office and looked at the receptionist.

  "I need to pick up my daughter," Diamond blurted out. "Dalila Williams!"

  She looked at her computer and typed, then frowned. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but Dalila was checked out today."

  "By who?" Diamond asked.

  "By her…father. Dalila herself confirmed it," the woman said.

  Diamond’s heart fell to her toes and she dropped to her knees in horror, tears streaming down her cheeks. No, please, Lord. No, he can't have her! He can't have my baby!

  "Ma'am?" the receptionist said softly. "Ma'am, are you all right?"

  "You need to call the police," Diamond choked through her tears. "My daughter…my daughter has been kidnapped."

  ✵✵✵✵✵✵✵

  By the time she returned to the apartment, police had it swarmed. Jonathan stood in front, talking to an officer and when he saw her, his face crumbled and he left to wrap his arms around her.

  "Dia," he murmured. "Dia, I'm so sorry.”

  "Jon, he has her," she whispered through her tears.

  "Who?" he asked.

  "Alfonzo!" she said.

  He pulled away, his face thunderous. "That son of a bitch…how?"

  "He checked her out of her classes and took her. Jonathan, what are we going to do?" she asked.

  "Ahem!" an officer said behind them. "Ma'am, who are you talking about?"

  She had almost forgotten about the police officers, and when she turned to face them, tears still coursing down her cheeks. "H-her father," she choked. "Alfonzo."

  "Does this Alfonzo have a last name?" they asked.

  "Lopez," she answered.

  "Good luck finding that one," another officer grumbled behind them.

  Jonathan wrapped an arm around her waist. "Why don't we go into the house? We can talk there."

  Once inside and seated, the officer, a white man who looked to be middle aged, cleared his throat. "All right, ma'am, how about you start from the beginning?"

  She told them everything about Alfonzo, about her past with him and how Dalila came to be. She told them about meeting Jonathan, and how they escaped from Las Vegas from him.

  "The receptionist told me she was checked out by her father," she choked. "I don't know how he found us! I mean, I've gotten some strange calls now and then, but—"

  Jonathan's sharp look cut her off. "What calls?"

  She swallowed. "For the last couple of weeks, I've been getting these strange calls. Calls that had no answer, just heavy breathing when I answered and then it hung up."

  "That might have been him," the officer said. "You can track a number if your phone is on."

  "But how did he get her number?" Jonathan demanded. "She didn't give it out."

  Diamond could tell by his body language that he was angry with her, most likely because she didn't tell him about the calls, and now Dalila was gone. When she finished telling the officers everything she knew, they stood up and nodded to the couple.

  "We will do all we can," they said to them. "But, Ms. Williams, we might not turn up with anything."

  "Why the bloody hell would you say that?" Jonathan snarled. "Get out and find my daughter!"

  Diamond’s heart stilled in her chest. That was the first time he had called Dalila 'his', and she couldn’t help but wonder if he really thought of her as his own. She licked her dry lips as she looked at the officers who tipped their hats.

  "We will do all that is possible, sir," they said. "We promise."

  Jonathan walked them to the door, but when he came back to her, he was silent, his face like stone. For a minute, they stood there, he and she looking at each other. She thought of how she’d grown to love this man and how ashamed she felt for not telling him about the calls.

  "Why didn't you tell me?" he finally asked, breaking the silence.

  "I didn't know how," she whispered. "I thought it wasn't happening. I didn't think anything of it."

  "You damn well should have!" he roared, which made her flinch as he’d never raised his voice at her at all before. "Because of that, our daughter is gone!"

  'Our' not 'your', she realized. "I-I'm sorry."

  "Sorry doesn't cut it, Diamond!" he bellowed.

  She flinched again. He never called her by her full name, so she knew he must be furious with her now.

  "Got dammit!" he yelled, knocking over a plant as he pinched the bridge of his nose, pacing with fury. "Of all the stupid things to do…”

  She looked up at him sharply. "You are calling me stupid?"

  "What? No, I didn't mean…," he stammered.

  Standing to her feet, she shoved him back angrily. "I didn't do it on purpose! You think I wanted to keep this a secret from you? I said I didn't think anything about it!"

  "Well, you should have!” he yelled back. “Now that mad man has our daughter and there is nothing we can do about it!"

  This was their first fight. They’d never argued before, and who'd think it would be over Dalila? Turning on her heel, she moved to leave, but he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.

  "Where do you think you are going?" he asked.

  "To find her!" she answered.

  "We have to let the police do their job. They will find her," he said.

  She tried to pull herself from his grasp. "I'm not going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs! I want to help!"

  "Just go lay down," he said. "You are too worked up right now. Go take a nap and then I'll bring you something to eat."

  She hated that he was talking to her like she was a child, but in the end, she obeyed. Walking to Dalila's room, she laid down on her little bed, though she
had to tuck her feet up to fit it.

  My sweet little girl…what are we doing to do?

  ✵✵✵✵✵✵✵

  The buzzing of her phone was what woke her up in the middle of the night. Rubbing her eyes, she saw that it was pitch black, and figured she must have fallen asleep. Looking at her phone, the name 'Dalila' flashed on the screen. Eagerly, she answered it and put it to her ear.

  "Hello? Dalila?" she said.

  The answer was a deep chuckling on the other end, which made her skin crawl and her blood turn to ice.

  "No," the voice said, "but can I leave a message?"

  She would know that voice anywhere. "Where is my daughter, Alfonzo? Tell me now!"

  "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. What have I told you about raising your voice at me?" he scolded. "We wouldn't want something to happen to the little girl because of your bad mothering."

  She knew she had to play his game, so she swallowed her pride and forced herself to sound calm. "I-I'm sorry…please tell me where Dalila is."

  "Our daughter is safe," he answered. "Just waiting for her mother to join her. You were so naughty to keep her from me."

  "Please don't hurt her, I'm begging you," she said.

  "Hurt her? Why would I hurt her?" he chuckled. "I'm waiting at the Clearwater Hotel not far from New Haven. Why don't you come on over and visit?"

  She swallowed. This was a trap. This had to be a trap. But her baby girl… She knew she couldn’t let anything happen to her.

  "F-fine, I'm coming," she whispered.

  "Good girl," he said, and she could almost feel his smirk. "Oh, and tell that English lord or whatever not to follow. You don't want little Dalila to get hurt, do you?"

  "N-no," she stammered.

  "Good. Now hurry up, Dalila misses her mother," he said, then the call ended.

  Closing the phone, she got up from the bed and walked to the living room. Jonathan laid on the couch, fast asleep. Smiling softly, she walked over and pressed her lips to his forehead in a gentle kiss of farewell. This might be the last time she would ever see him, and while it broke her heart to do this, she had to for her daughter.