Ivy went on to describe exactly how Dreya had moved around Thorn’s library, right down to where she’d walked and what she’d touched.
Dreya blanched. “You were outside Thorn’s place that night, weren’t you? You were the one I smelled as I was climbing on my bike. Why didn’t you stop me then? Or come after me?”
“I couldn’t care less that you stole something from the man, but now Thorn is after you and I can’t stand around and do nothing while he tries to kill you.”
Dreya chewed on her lower lip, considering that. “So what are you doing here if you don’t work for Thorn? You want a cut or something?”
“No, I don’t want a cut,” Ivy said. “I want to help you get away.”
Dreya regarded her warily. “Why would you want to help me? You don’t even know me.”
Ivy shrugged. “Let’s just say we have a lot in common, not the least of which is a great dislike of Thomas Thorn and the way he does things. I have no interest in seeing someone like Thorn and his goons get away with killing you. And that’s what will happen if he doesn’t get back what belongs to him.”
Dreya’s eyes darted to the window.
“If you make a run for it, I won’t try to stop you,” Ivy said. “We both know you’ll survive the fall easily enough, even from this high up. Sure, with all the trash cans, AC units, and bikes down there, you’ll almost certainly break a few bones, but I don’t imagine it will hurt as badly as what Thorn’s men will do to you when they catch you. You know as well as I do that the only reason you got away in that alley earlier is because you had a guardian angel out there watching over you. He killed those men and Thorn will never have a clue what happened to them or where they went. But that big guy won’t be there every time, especially not if you go on the run. Thorn will come after you. And he’s not going to stop until he gets what he’s after. Be smart and give me what you stole from Thorn.”
“How do I know you won’t just kill me the moment you get what you want?”
“Because I give you my word.”
That was the best Ivy could do.
Dreya stared at her for a long time, then let out a sigh. Shaking her head, she walked into the kitchen. Ivy had thought a thief like Dreya would hide the diamond and whatever else she’d stolen from Thorn somewhere better than her refrigerator.
But Dreya didn’t open the fridge. Instead, she pulled it smoothly out of the cubby in the wall, then slipped behind it and slid a piece of paneling aside to reveal the front of a combination safe. The woodwork had been done so seamlessly that Ivy would have had a hard time finding it on her own, even with her shifter senses.
Dreya flipped through the combination quickly, then yanked open the door and reached inside. Ivy had about a half second to wonder if the other shifter was going to come out with a gun, but when Dreya turned around, all she held was a big, beautiful diamond on a long, gold chain. Dreya tossed it across the room, forcing Ivy to snatch it out of the air before it smashed against the wall.
“You’ve got what you came here for,” the shifter said. “Now you can leave.”
“Not until you give me what else you stole.”
Dreya swallowed hard. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Ivy tightened her grip on the diamond. She didn’t want to get in a staring contest, but the longer they hung around, the more likely Thorn’s people would find out where Dreya was and come looking for her.
“I don’t know what else you took when you grabbed that diamond, but whatever it is, it has Thorn behaving more viciously than I’ve ever see him. And trust me, I’ve seen him be really frigging nasty,” Ivy said. “I know you have family in town, and as soon as Thorn figures out exactly who you are, he won’t have a problem going after the people closest to you. Is that what you want?”
Dreya’s eyes filled with pain. Turning back to the safe, she reached inside and took out a small, black, rectangular-shaped box. For a moment, Ivy thought it was a jewelry box, but when the other shifter walked over and handed it to her, she realized it was too heavy and solid for that. There wasn’t a hinge or any way to open it, either. There was only some kind of recessed, multipin connector on one side and an irregular hole like something a key would fit into on the other.
“What is it?” Ivy asked.
Dreya shrugged. “Beats me. I thought it was some kind of hard drive, but if it is, it’s not like anything I’ve ever seen and I don’t know how to get it open.”
Ivy stared at the thing in her hand. “If you didn’t know what it was, why did you take it?”
The blond shifter smiled. “It was in a fancy safe with a fancy diamond. I figured it must be valuable. Plus, I figured it would piss off the rich asshole if I took it. It’s one of the benefits of my chosen career path—pissing off rich people.”
“Until you piss off the wrong one,” Ivy said.
Dreya snorted. “So you’re just going to give this stuff back to Thorn, and that’s it—he leaves me alone?”
“I wish,” Ivy said. “No. For this to work, I’m going to have to make sure that the person who took this stuff is dead.”
Dreya’s eyes widened.
Ivy laughed. “Good thing you’re not the person who took it.”
