Page 118 of Always Be an Us

"Yeah.

"Mom’s right, you know. Emma’s a good person. I don’t want her to get hurt."

I glance at her in surprise. "How much of that did you understand?"

She rolls her eyes. "My French isn’t great, but I’m not an idiot either. I know you guys were talking about your relationship with Emma and she was telling you not to hurt her. Right?"

Pretty accurate.

"I don’t intend on hurting Emma," I say.

"Do you love her?"

Like mother, like daughter. What is their obsession with whether or not I love Emma? "Don’t you have a diary to read?"

"Yeah. I have a few more questions for Emma’s grandpa. You think he would know why V kept asking Madam T where the Pink Pearl was kept?"

"What? I thought it was displayed in the hotel."

"No. Only on the night of the gala or other special occasions. Apart from that, it was hidden away somewhere no one else knew. V wanted Madam Thornley to ask the staff if they knew where it was kept." She frowns. "Why didn't he just ask the staff himself?"

"I don't know," I tell her, relieved for the change of subject. "We're meeting Emma at the hospital in a little bit. You can ask Grandpa then."

She nods. "Okay."

The question must have remained on Amelia's mind throughout the car ride because she's itching to ask practically from when we arrive at the hospital.

In the cool, sterile-scented hospital room, Grandpa is chatting with the doctor and Emma, but he turns to grin at Amelia when we walk in.

"My curious Amelia!"

"Hi, Grandpa," she says, hoisting herself onto his hospital bed. "I'm almost done with the journal."

"Really? That's amazing, sweetheart."

She grins proudly and says, "Why did V want Madam Thornley to ask the staff where the Pink Pearl was kept? Why didn't he just ask you guys?"

Grandpa frowns. "Well, I'm not quite sure. But I got the feeling her fiancée wasn't fond of us. Perhaps, he didn't want to lower himself into associating with the staff." He rubs his chin. "Although, I don't know why he would be asking us anyway. None of us knew where they kept the Pink Pearl. He would have been better off asking the hotel manager."

"Why did he want to know in the first place?" Emma piped in.

"I'm not sure," Grandpa says. "Perhaps curiosity? Although the man didn't give the impression that he particularly cared about the Pink Pearl or believed in its magic. I heard him call it a bunch of hokey once." He shoots me a sidelong glance. "Reminds me of someone else I know."

I raise my eyebrow and Amelia and Emma giggle.

I leave them to it and go to work. I may not believe in the magical powers of the Pink Pearl. But I do have to admit that odd things have been happening lately. And I seem to have an almost supernatural level of bad luck.

When I arrive at the office, now arranged by the cleaning team, the foreman has more bad news for me. "Our lumber shipment has been delayed by a week."

I feel like ripping my hair out. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Yeah sorry," he says, chagrined. "I don’t know what’s going on."

I sigh. "Figure out what's causing the delay and get back to me."

"Yes, boss," he says and practically runs out of there.

After he leaves, the phone rings.

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