Good grief get your act together, Marian!I turned away from the jeans, fanning myself. Thankfully, a distraction presented itself almost right away.
On the opposite wall, a thin sliver of metal was visible through a crack in the clothing. I crossed to the closet and parted the clothing. A grin spread over my face, but not because of the wall safe—which I didn’t have the skill to crack open anyhow. Thankfully, that wasn’t the only item of interest on this side of the closet.
Below the safe they had built shallow shelves and alcoves that created sleek cubbies. They held items that, apparently, were not valuable enough to place in the safe, but the vampires didn’t want in the open. Considering the decadence of a honking emerald necklace, studded with diamonds, the first item that caught my eyes, I could understand why they didn’t keep these things on their nightstand.
There was also a stack of books that looked to be at least two hundred years old, and Rolexes, so many Rolexes. Some designer watches were old. Some were new and quite fashionable. They were all sort of mixed together and lined up on a velvet tray.
I shook my head and moved on to a box sort of like the one Robin had inherited from his family, but much nicer. Carefully, I opened it and a strangled scream ripped from my lips. Frantically, I slammed the box shut and stuffed it back in its cubby. My breathing grew shallow, terrified.
A billionaire vampire thinks it’s cool to hold on to a fucking desiccated finger? What the hell kind of world is this?
Unfortunately, even with the lid on, I couldn’t unsee its contents, but the find lit a fire under my butt.
I grabbed the closest item, a jewelry box, and began searching faster. Rings, necklaces, bracelets, and even a small tiara fit inside the main compartment. Each piece was tiny, and some didn’t even look valuable—at least not to the modern eye.
I picked up a ring with a Celtic symbol on it, hand-hammered and old as dirt, by the looks of it. I wondered about the poor soul who used to wear it and was just setting it back in its place when something else caught my eye.
My heart stopped as I took in the string wrapped around a knobby twig—a tiny bow. The bow looked knotty and rustic, as if a hunter in a cabin had made it quickly. A single leaf grew off a knot that the hunter hadn’t had the heart to cut off. The string was thin, a mere line of silver.
A strange sound left my throat as my hand flew to my necklace, the arrow that went with the bow. My mother had worn them both together, but the night they murdered her, her chain had broken. The police only ever found one pendant, and now I knew why.
Sherwood had taken the other half—the bow to my arrow. He’d taken it and stashed it away like some sort of sick trophy. Like that damned desiccated finger. Realization that everything I’d seen was probably a trophy washed over me, making me feel ill. I swallowed down the bile rising in my throat and forced all thoughts of Sherwood from my mind as I refocused on the pendant.
It was despicable that he’d kept it, but it was also exactly what I’d been looking for. Conclusive proof that Sherwood had something to do with my parents’ murder. Although I knew it would be smarter to leave it there as proof for the police, I simply couldn’t. Sherwood had possessed this piece of my mother for too long. No more. I placed the bow in one of my pockets, careful to make sure that no silver was poking out that would draw notice in the employee area.
Tears pricked in my eyes, and as much as I wanted to leave at that very moment, I couldn’t. What if someone learned I hadn’t done my tasks, and it cast more suspicion upon me when I called in sick tomorrow?
The stakes were too high to risk it.
I made it look as if no one had been in the closet, an easy task for a maid. Once that was done, I picked up a microfiber rag and glass spray, and got to work wiping down the windows. I’d make this as fast as possible and get the hell out of there.
After ten minutes, a headache came on. I bent down to open the window and air out the room, stopping mid-squat.
Unlike the rest of the windows in the Oasis which were sealed shut, the windows in the penthouse swung open. The opening was small, not large enough for a human to fit through . . . but like the chute, the openingwaslarge enough for a fox.
Chapter Nine
I arrivedat the ranch as darkness shrouded the desert. Although the drive had been quiet, the house was buzzing. I parked and got out, assessing the area. Inside the ranch home, I spotted Robin’s silhouette in the window. I heaved a relieved breath that I’d found him before he’d seen me and veered toward the large crowd around the fire.
Robin had been texting me all day, and I’d ignored every single message. At first, it was because I was ashamed, but after discovering my mom’s pendant, I had an additional reason for ignoring my ex.
My desire for revenge had increased tenfold, and upon leaving the penthouse suite, I swore that nothing would stand in my way.
Especially not my feelings toward Robin, which so far, had only muddled my reasoning and confused me. Sleeping with him had been a poor choice driven by desire. If I was going to bring Sherwood down, I couldn’t afford to make another error during the heist. I needed a clear mind and no distractions.
I can only allow myself to think about revenge and the orphanage. That’s it. That’s all that matters right now.
“Mar! Is that you? We’ve been waiting to hear the news!” LJ’s voice boomed from somewhere near the bonfire.
“Yup! It’s me!” I smiled and joined Little John. “How’s it going?”
“We got a lot done today. If you’re looking for Rob, he’s inside,” LJ said.
“I found a way in and to the vault area. A great one. I’ve even prepped it for us,” I reported, ignoring LJ’s comment and extending my cold hands to the fire.
John’s bushy eyebrows rose. “Serious? That’s great. We really should go grab Rob. Let me—”
“They assigned me to clean the penthouse today.” I placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. I was determined to get my information out and leave as soon as possible. I didn’t want to see Robin and saw no reason this information had to come from me. LJ was perfectly capable of relaying it. The less I had to interact with Robin, the better. “Sherwood’s apartment. He shares it with his mate, and they have windows that open.”
