“It’s a good way for me,” Tex called out cheerfully, and both Cade and Big chuckled.

“Good way for him,” Cade amended, his commiserating grin fading as he turned back to Olivia. “But it won’t be good for you. I like you, Olivia. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

The little flare of hope in her chest died when his eyes hardened. “But if you don’t tell me where you hid them, I can’t help you.”

She stared at him for a moment, her heart pounding in her ears as she struggled to gather her scattered thoughts. He was giving her an out, a way to safeword without safewording. If she made up a location—under the bed, in the cookie jar, the glove compartment of her car—the scene would end, Tex and Big would leave, and it would be just the two of them again.

They could go back to bed and pick up where they left off, with lazy sex and cozy snuggles. All of this would go away, like it had never been.

She looked at the two hooded men in front of her. The big one was probably Jack, though that was just a guess. She thought the other might be Nick, but she didn’t know that for sure either. The only one she was sure of was Cade, crouched in front of her, waiting for an answer.

He’d done this for her. Recruited help, formulated a plan because she’d told him that was what she wanted, what she needed. He was trying to give it to her, and nothing had ever made her feel more cherished. More loved.

She sucked in a breath, looked him square in the eye and said, “I don’t know where any diamonds are.”

There was a flare of emotion in his eyes—triumph and satisfaction and pride—then it was gone, his gaze cold and hard once again as he pushed to his feet.

“All yours, man,” he said, and Big stepped forward, the knife in his hand.

Cade did his best to appear relaxed and bored as Jack stepped forward and grabbed the neck of Olivia’s T-shirt. He hadn’t realized he’d be sacrificing his beloved Dropkick Murphys shirt for the cause, but he liked that Olivia had worn it to bed. She would’ve had to dig it out of the hamper—he’d worn it the day before he’d left for his trip to Austin—and the thought of her sleeping in his shirt warmed him from the inside out.

Maybe I can sew it, he thought as Jack’s knife slid through the banded neck.