Page 74 of Sweet, Sweet Jewel: A Sweet Treats Novel

The man gained speed and slid in front of her, dangling a scrunchie from his dark fingertips. “Here. This belongs to…you.”

Jewel pulled out the mace and pointed it at his face as she glanced up.

The mugger from last week blinked back at her, eyes wide and hands in the air. “Wait! Don’t shoot!”

“Stay away from me.” Her voice trembled. Her hands shook. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Being bold was more challenging than she’d thought. “I-I’m not afraid to do this.”

“You! You’re that girl.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry. Fear held her frozen. Her heart clamored for her throat.

“Look, I wanted to apologize. I feel bad about what happened the last time.” He sounded genuinely remorseful.

She looked up slowly.

“Just… tell your boyfriend that he was right to only pay me half. I shouldn’t have pushed you like that.”

“Boyfriend?” Jewel found her voice. “What boyfriend?”

“The white guy with the big muscles,” he gestured to his forearms, “and the squinty eyes.”

“Finn?”

“He paid me to mug you.”

Jewel shuffled back fearfully, stunned into silence.

“At first, I thought he was trying to con you or something, but the man was pissed when he found out I’d pushed you. He was bawling about how you weren’t supposed to get hurt…”

Jewel’s chest heaved and she found it hard to breathe. Looking into the mugger’s eyes, she knew he was telling the truth. Who would make up a lie that fantastic? To what end?

That meant that Finn really had paid someone to steal from her.

So what? What could he possibly gain from that?

Then it hit her.

Trust. Finn stepped in that day as her knight-in-shining-armor, gaining her trust and Sky’s.

A sick feeling twisted in her stomach.

Who was Finn Robinson and what did he really want with her?

24

“Are you crazy? Why would you tell her everything?” Nolan followed him as he crossed the room. “Can you imagine how that conversation would go down?”

Finn pulled his gun out of the vault and checked the safety. “It has to be done.”

“So what are you going to say? ‘Hi, Jewel. I lightly stalked you for a week then paid a guy to steal your purse so I could swoop in and talk to you. Everything I’ve ever told you is a lie to gain your trust so I could use you to find my sister’s killer’.”

Finn paused and glanced over his shoulder. “When you put it like that, it sounds bad.”

“It is bad.”

“What’s your suggestion then?” Finn slapped the gun in the holster and dropped his shirt over it so all that could be seen was the slight bulge from the stock.

“I don’t know. How about you don’t let the cat out of the bag? Ask her point blank if she and Kross had a baby and where it is.”

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