CHAPTER 17
THE MAN WAS hazy through the smoke. Hair curled around his shoulders, a grimy layer of filth coated his skin, and a pair of tattered, too-big trousers hung around his waist. He lowered the cloth from his face as he walked towards me.
“Took your f*****g time, Diamond.”
My heart stuttered.
Was it Carlos? Or was it...
“Black?” I whispered, squinting through the gloom.
“Who else would it be?”
How was I supposed to answer him? Logic told me it was Carlos playing some kind of elaborate trick. But most would say I’d left logic behind in Virginia, perhaps even in London fourteen years ago. Had a miracle happened and Black was standing here before me?
Or was I dreaming? Was this my subconscious, taking cruelty to a new level? I pinched myself hard.
Well, that hurt.
How could th
