“Nick? Are you all right?”
Through narrowed eyes, he looked at her. “You become invisible,” he murmured softly as if every word hurt. “Invisible like a ghost.”
Her stomach twisted, and bile burned in her throat. “Nick?”
His palms pressed against his temples as if he were trying to keep his head from splitting open. “You’re. A. Ghost.”
* * *
The memory came backto Nick in a rush. “I’m a ghost,” she’d said before she’d disappeared, and then an invisible force had wrapped around him, forced his mouth open, and poured a bitter liquid down his throat. His next waking moment, he’d been standing in the Stevensons’ kitchen.
“You… You stole the Raindrop of Heaven from Camilla Stevenson’s closet. You rumpled the bed when you threw her shoes down on it. Then you used magic to make me forget.” He felt like he was going to be sick.
She spread her upturned palms beseechingly. “I’m sorry I had to wipe your memories, but you weren’t supposed to be in that room that night. Every other night the guards stay in the guardhouse unless the alarm goes off. How was I to know you’d do rounds?”
“Are you suggesting you had no choice but to drug me?”
“I didn’t drug you. Harriet’s potions are all-natural and totally safe.”
“What about the part where you stole millions of dollars of jewels?”
“You weren’t supposed to see me!”
“You weren’t supposed to be there.”
“Gerald Stevenson had it coming. He bought the land under my building for the vampires! Those kids are going to be out on the street if I can’t find an alternate arrangement. Worse, what do you think the NAVAK vampires will eat when they move in? Huh? Those children’s lives are in danger.”
Nick dug his fingers into his hair. “Do you even realize that I could be blamed for the theft?”
Rowan frowned, her lips thinning. “What are you talking about?”
“Camilla knows the jewels are gone, and I was the last one in that closet. My partner, Soren, spoke with Gerald at Wicked Divine. He said Gerald is considering pressing charges againstme.I thought the thief was a member of their cleaning crew or regular security detail.To think it was you all along.”
“No,” Rowan said. “That’s not possible.”
He shook his head. “Of course it is. Because you took the jewels!”
“But I replaced them,” Rowan said, “with replicas enchanted to look like the real thing. Unless they had a gemologist assess them, there is no way they would assume they weren’t.”
Nick closed his eyes. “I remember. I checked. I saw them there.” He shook his head. “Obviously you fooled no one… No one but me.”
Rowan swallowed. “So I’ll return them. I’ll sneak in and replace them.”
A low grunt came up his throat. “Are you kidding me? As soon as I’m accused, the jewels mysteriously appear again? No.”
“I just don’t understand how they know for sure the jewels are missing and you took them. It doesn’t make any sense.”
He shook his head. “I think you should leave.”
“Nick, you don’t mean that.”
“I hate lies, and this is the third time you’ve lied to me. You lied to me at Sunrise House when I asked you about NAVAK. You lied to me in the car about Wicked Divine, and now I find out you wiped my memory.”
“I had to. I didn’t have a choice.”
“We always have choices.” He stilled, his hands balling into fists. “Ironically, you taught me that.” He shook his head slowly. “I. Can’t.Trust.You. You need to leave.”
Without another word, she grabbed her purse and her shoes. She paused in the open door.
