Chapter 5 An Ultimatum.

Ivy’s POV

One moment I was reaching for Tessa, and the next, a weight slammed into her from behind. She let out a choked scream as a man in a dark jacket shoved her face-first against the wall.

"Tessa!" I shrieked, stepping forward, but another pair of hands grabbed my shoulder, yanking me backward so hard my heels slipped on the wet street.

"Shut up," a voice growled in my ear.

Panic exploded in my brain. Were we being kidnapped? Is this a case of robbery? My mind tried to make sense of the sudden violence.

A woman stepped down from the back seat of the SUV. She wore a long gray coat, and her hair was styled perfectly despite the drizzle. She walked toward us with slow steps, her high heels clicking against the wet street. In her right hand, held loosely at her hip, was a dark handgun.

My voice caught in my throat. I couldn't move. I couldn't even scream.

The woman stopped two feet in front of me. Her eyes sharp and  devoid of warmth. She glanced down at my hand and her brow pinched into a slight frown.

"Where is it?" she asked. Her tone was terrifyingly quiet.

"W-what?" I stammered, my knees knocking together. "Please... we don't have anything. Take my purse! My money is in—"

"I don't care about your purse, Ivy," she interrupted, raising the weapon just enough so the black barrel pointed straight at my chest. "I want my blue diamond. The teardrop stone you were parading around this morning."

I didn’t even have time to think about how she knew my name. All my brain could focus on was that blue diamond.

"W-what diamond?" I stuttered. "I didn't steal anything.  I’ve been at work all day, I don't know what you're talking about.”

The woman rolled her eyes, looking annoyed. "Don't play dumb with me, girl. You'll regret it."

She reached inside her coat, pulled out a shiny photo, and shoved it right against my chest.

It was a zoomed in picture of me and Tessa from the office. Tessa was holding my hand, and on my finger, that teardrop stone was glowing under the white lights.

"According to this," she said, tapping the paper with her long fingernail, "you were wearing it this morning. I hope you didn't do something stupid like sell it off."

The truth hit me like a bucket of ice water. My throat felt sore.

"That—that was a gift from my boyfriend." I tried to reason back. "I don't get what you're saying. That's my engagement ring!"

Before I could even finish, the woman lunged forward and grabbed my jaw hard with her leather gloves. She squeezed so tight my teeth clicked together, forcing me to look up at her.

"I don't give a damn about the bullshit coming out your mouth," she whispered, her eyes looking dead. She slowly lifted her gun and pointed it straight at Tessa's head. 

Tessa was pinned against the wall with a big black gag shoved in her mouth, her eyes huge and terrified. "If you don't bring back my ring, I will blow her brains out right here."

My head was spinning so fast. ‘Her ring?’

How could the ring Julian gave me belong to this lady? It made zero sense. But then I remembered Owen testing it at my desk—that loud beep, the green light showing it was 100% real diamond. Julian said his friend sold it cheap. ‘Oh god. Is this some kind of crazy mix up?’

"Wait! Please.” I sobbed through her tight grip on my face. "It—it's not here. I... I went home on my lunch break and left it at my place. It's in my apartment.”

The woman cussed under her breath and shoved my face away so hard my neck hurt.

"Listen to me close," she said, leaning in so close I could smell her perfume. "I don't have time for these games. You have less than one hour to bring my diamond to the old grain warehouse on 4th Street."

She got right in my ear. "If you're even one minute late, I'll start selling your friend's organs one by one to pay for my stone."

She stepped back and signaled her guys. 

They picked Tessa up off her feet and dragged her into the back of the black SUV. 

Tessa was thrashing around, making awful muffled screams through the gag.

"And don't try calling the cops," the woman added, stepping into the truck. "We got eyes on you."

The doors slammed shut and the SUV sped off into the night, leaving me standing there alone in the pouring rain.

Panic hit me so hard I couldn't even catch my breath.

I didn't have time to process anything.  Tessa's life was on the line.

I turned around and just sprinted.My chest burned so bad, but fear kept pushing me forward. I burst through the front doo when I got to the apartment, and almost dropped my keys trying to unlock the door.

I threw the door open and ran straight to the bedroom.

The little black box was still sitting in the nightstand, where I left it.

I felt so relieved right there. I grabbed the box and squeezed it to my chest.

"I got it," I breathed out,"I got it, Tessa."

I turned on my heels and ran right back out, my mind focused on getting to 4th street before the hour was up.

I rounded the corner, pulling out my phone to check the time.

Less than forty minutes.

I shoved the phone back into my pocket and hurried across the street, barely looking where I was going.

BAM!

Someone slammed into my shoulder.

“Whoa! Watch where you’re going!”

The impact knocked me sideways. My fingers loosened around the black box.

No.

It slipped from my hand and hit the pavement, skidding straight toward an open storm drain.