Page 54 of Elevating Eve

With gentle fingers, he pulled her hand up toward his face, examining the ring. It only took a moment for him to figure out the issue. The bezel around three of the sides had worn away to almost nothing with time.

It clearly hadn’t been a question of if the gem would fall out. Only a matter of when.

She started crying by the time he finished explaining what happened. “I didn’t even know that could happen,” she said, sniffling.

“It’s going to be okay,” he promised. “I’ll help you find it.”

“Wanna know the worst part of all this?” she asked, swiping her nose with the back of her hand. “I hate this stupid thing.” She held her hand out again so they could examine the piece of jewelry. “It’s big and clunky and ugly. Way too heavy. And I fucking hate yellow gold.”

He almost asked why she still wore it then, but realized he already knew the answer. “But you’re afraid to take it off,” he said gently. “For the same reason you didn’t want to stop working at your dad’s company. It feels like letting go of him.”

“Frank made me get rid of the rest of my dad’s things,” she told him in a small voice. “This is all I have left.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said, taking her hand in his. “I’ll make sure?—”

He stopped when he saw her wince.

Frowning, he flipped her hand over. The deep cut across her palm still oozed blood at a sluggish pace. Smaller nicks and gouges marred her fingers and forearm. “Christ, look at you,” he said, the tight, twisting pain of fear blooming in his chest. “I’m taking you to the ER.”

Eve yanked her hand out of his, leaning back so she could peer into his face. “That’s a bit much, don’t you think?” she asked, frowning. “Just give me a first aid kit. I’ll be fine.”

But he was already standing, pulling her up with him. “This isn’t up for debate,” he said, leading her through the garden with an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s both get into some dry clothes, and then we’re going.”

“Jonathan, come on,” she said, exasperation saturating the words. “I’m fine.”

He didn’t even dignify that with a response.

“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered under her breath, not fighting as he steered her toward the main house.

CHAPTER 18

Eve

Frustration still roiled inside Eve as she hurried through the new building the next morning. It wouldn’t take much more for it to start boiling over.

Jonathan’s heavy handedness last night had made her want to scream. Not only did he drag her two towns over to the nearest hospital, where—shocker—all they did was clean and bandage the various wounds. But then he insisted she sleep at his house, once again refusing to drive her back to her car.

“Why?” she demanded when he had announced his intentions, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

Keeping his eyes on the road, he’d said, “You’re hurt. I want to keep an eye on you—make sure you’re okay.” As if she just had surgery and needed a temporary caretaker.

“Jonathan—” she started.

“I know you want to keep looking for the emerald,” he’d interrupted, finally glancing her way. The hint of an apology lurked deep in his eyes. “But it’ll have to wait. Everything will be exactly as you left it tomorrow.”

Only that wasn’t true. She skidded to a stop halfway down theupstairs corridor, eyes going wide. Of the twenty suites on this floor, only one of them had a door.

The one she’d worked on yesterday.

Something that sounded startlingly like a growl came out of her as she ran the rest of the way to the door. There was no point in trying the handle, but she did it anyway.

Locked. Of course it was locked.

Her hands balled into fists. The dozens of tiny injuries all stung, and a stab of genuine pain emanated from the larger cut on her palm. Ignoring the discomfort, she went right back downstairs, stalking into the enormous ballroom that made up most of the first floor.

Perched atop a sixteen-foot ladder, Lainey worked on the wiring for one of the enormous Venetian glass chandeliers. Two of her stronger employees stood on either side of an adjacent ladder, holding the custom-made light fixture half a foot below the ceiling while their boss worked.

“Lainey,” she started, unable to keep the fury out of her voice.

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