Page 100 of The Love Bandits

I glance at Elaine, then try to turn on the iPad.

No one’s more surprised than me when it opens for 0000, especially when I pull up the messaging app, and the first thing I see is the image of a man’s hand wrapped around his dick.

“Ugh,” I say. “I both really hope and really do not hope that’s Anthony’s dick.”

Elaine glances at the screen, looking almost crestfallen. “It’s not. This guy’s blond. Look at the hair.”

Well, shit, I’d rather not. I feel another round of sympathy for my pretend buddy.

Steeling myself, I minimize the dick pic and scroll through the other texts. There’s nothing about the necklace, but plenty about what the unidentified sender would like to do with her with his blond dick.

I close the iPad, wipe it down, and return it to the table.

Both closets are full, one with his clothes, the other with hers. She has jewelry, but the Heart of the Mountain isn’t sitting out and waiting for us.

“Where to next?” Lainey asks.

“I think he’s been staying in the guest room.”

“Or that very nice couch,” she agrees.

“Let’s check the bathroom?”

We search that next and find nothing except some vaginal itch cream I really wish I could unsee in a surprisingly messy medicine cabinet.

Next, we do a lightning quick check of the two guest bedrooms upstairs and find them disinteresting.

It’s been about an hour. The play, presuming Mrs. Rosings can terrify Anthony and Nina into staying, is three.

“The basement,” Elaine says next, so we head down there together. It’s only a basement in the strictest sense of the word—there are wood floors, plush rugs, and an enormous black leather sectional couch, but there’s also a huge walk-in closet. And when we open it and flick on the punishing overhead light, we see a stack of black leather luggage at the far end, under a shelf supporting a dozen or so games that look unopened.

Elaine and I exchange a glance.

“The bottom one,” we say at the same time, and I almost smile. But I don’t. Even though we’ve been working together, it’s with the knowledge that she no longer trusts me. I lift the other bags off, and she pulls the bottom one out.

When she opens it, she immediately glances up at me. Because it’s full of neatly folded clothing and a toiletries case.

“The toiletries case,” I say hoarsely, and she unzips it, still kneeling beside the suitcase.

The Heart of the Mountain isn’t in there. But therearefive other very expensive pieces nestled inside.

“I’m pretty sure these are Mrs. Rosings’s,” Elaine says, giving me a sidelong look.

“Looks like Nina definitely changed her mind about the wedding.” I swallow through my dry throat. “She doesn’t have the necklace. If she had it, it would be here. Maybe she took these during the power outage instead. Easier access.”

“Either that, or she’s already in the process of selling the Heart of the Mountain to someone,” Elaine says. “Or having it evaluated.”

Which would still put it beyond my reach. I’m exactly where I started, only now I’m a little more broken. I stare woodenly down at the toiletries case, splayed open on top of the bag.

“They’re worth a lot of money,” Elaine comments, her eyes on the jewels. Then she looks up at me, a challenge simmering in her gaze. “You can take them and leave. Mrs. Rosings doesn’t know they’re here. No one will know it was you. I won’t tell.”

It’s obviously a test, but it means she’s not convinced I won’t take her up on it. Part of her believes I’ll take those necklaces and run. I probably deserve that kind of doubt, but it feels like my heart just got sprayed with acid.

“I need the Heart of the Mountain to save my brother,” I grit out as she pushes to her feet. “I could give a shit about stealing your boss’s jewelry, however much it’s worth.”

She holds my gaze, studying me, and whatever she sees there changes her. Her gaze softens; something inside of her seems to give. She spans the small distance between us, her nearness bringing her spicy jasmine scent to me. A stray dark hair tickles me as she tips her face up to me, her expression all hellcat. “Jake…why did the old man think you took his watch?”

Think.

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