Page 23 of The Stolen Dagger

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

KATHERINE

I stared in horror at Adrian and the gun still clutched tightly in his hand.

“Y—you killed him,” I cried. “Why?”

“He disobeyed me,” Adrian growled. “He had something I needed and was going to back out on our deal.”

I shook my head and tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he pulled tight, keeping me in place.

“Let that be a lesson,” he warned. “If you tell anyone about what you saw here tonight or even think about going to the police,” he pointed to the dead man behind him, “that is what will happen. Do you understand me?”

I whimpered, too terrified to speak.

“I said, do you understand?” Adrian yelled.

“Yes!” I jumped. “Yes, I understand.”

“Good.” Adrian caressed my hair with the tip of his gun. “You always do as you’re told, don’t you, mi princesa ?”

I took steady deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart while still in his grasp, but then Adrian’s hand tightened around my neck. He pulled me closer and pressed his lips to mine in a harsh kiss.

I tried to pull away, but his grip on my neck prevented it. All I could do was whimper against his punishing kiss as his fingers dug into my throat.

When he finally pulled back, I gasped for breath just as his phone rang. Adrian slowly let go of my waist and dug his phone out of his suit pocket. I took a couple of steps out of his reach, staring at the gun still pointed in my direction.

“Yes, I got it,” Adrian said into his phone, “but our boy Henry wasn’t so lucky. I need you to come down here and take care of him. I have to take Emilia home.”

Faint chatter came from the phone’s speaker, but I couldn’t make out what was said.

“Yes, she followed me,” Adrian glanced at me with a hard stare, “but she knows better than to run her mouth. Isn’t that right, baby? Now get your ass down here before any curious pigs show up.”

Adrian ended the call, placed the phone back in his pocket, and sighed.

“W—what about the police?” I asked hesitantly.

Adrian scoffed. “What about them? We have connections on the inside. The pigs can’t touch me or my boys.”

“Connections? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Oh, mi princesa , I thought you were smarter than this. Surely you know by now that I don’t actually sell insurance.”

All the weird instances over the last few months flashed through my mind.

I’d never once been to his office or talked with any coworkers. He’d always been secretive about his job, but I’d also never asked him. He’d always had money and liked expensive things.

But if he wasn’t an insurance agent, how did he make all that money? Where did it ? —

Like a lightbulb went off in my head, all the pieces came together, and I looked at Adrian in shock .

He smirked. “Ah, there it is.”

The money, the friends, the gun. I was aware of gangs in Vegas, but I never would have guessed Adrian was part of one.

“You’re in a gang? H—how? Why ? —?”

Adrian’s cousin, Javi, I thought.

He was in jail for gang-related activities but got out about six months ago. Adrian had mentioned he and Hunter started working with Javi, but I didn’t think ? —

“Your cousin Javi?” I asked. “And Hunter, too? That’s who you were on the phone with just now, wasn’t it?”

“Very good, mi princesa ,” Adrian praised. “You put everything together on your own. I knew you were more than just a pretty face.”

“H—have you killed before?”

“Yes, I have,” Adrian said, “and I’d do it again to eliminate any threat toward me or the Phantoms. Let that be a reminder.”

As Adrian drove me home, so many thoughts ran through my head as I tried to make sense of everything that had just happened.

One thing was for sure: Adrian was dangerous.

I needed to get as far away from him as possible. But he’d kill me if I tried to leave him.

The walls around me were caving in.

I had nowhere else to go.

My mom was gone.

I didn’t have any friends because of Adrian.

I didn’t even have any way to make it on my own because Adrian talked me out of going to college.

I was trapped, and Adrian made sure of that. He made sure I’d have no one else to turn to, no other options but one: Him.

I wanted to scream but knew that wouldn’t do anything. No. I had to leave. I couldn’t stay with him anymore.

What if Adrian or his gang, the Phantoms, changed their mind about letting me go? What if they killed me anyway for being a liability ?

I needed an escape plan, and I needed one now. Adrian may have made sure he was the only stable thing in my life, but he didn’t know about Pearl.

Pearl would help me. She was my only chance to get away.

Adrian parked outside my house and reached for something in the back seat of his car. I kept my gaze on my hands in my lap, afraid I’d see something else I wasn’t supposed to.

“Now, while I go clean up this mess,” Adrian said, “you go inside and stay put. So that I know you’ll do as you’re told, I’m taking this.” He took my cell phone out of my purse. “And this.” Then my car keys. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours so we can talk about what happens next.”

He tossed my purse into my lap, then revealed a beautiful vintage jewelry box from the back seat.

“This was going to be one part of your anniversary gift before everything went to shit. I need you to take this and keep it safe.”

I looked at the box in my hands, confused. It was gorgeous. A little bigger than both my hands with intricate designs in the wood and gold accents on the corners.

When I went to open it, the latch caught. It was locked.

“It contains something very valuable, and no ordinary key will open it.” Adrian roughly grabbed my left hand and slid something onto my finger—my ring finger. I tried to swallow the bile that rose in my throat at the sight of the ring and what it symbolized.

The glint from the princess cut—at least I thought it was a princess cut—diamond ring shone on my finger. It wasn’t any kind of ring I’d seen before. It had multiple layers of smaller diamonds that created a strange star shape. I’d seen the shape before but couldn’t place it.

“Don’t take this off. When I get back, I’ll explain more, but you have to promise you won’t do anything with these until then, understood?”

I nodded .

“Now, be a good girl and go inside,” Adrian instructed. “I’ll be back soon.”

I stepped out of his car in a daze. It felt like my body was moving and obeying Adrian’s commands, but my brain was still playing catch up with everything that happened before.

I was in shock.

Clutching my purse and the jewelry box to my chest, I walked up to my house, retrieved the spare key from under the doormat, and unlocked the door.

Just before I stepped inside, the squeal of tires announced Adrian’s departure as he sped away, leaving me alone for the first time that night.

Like a switch, my mind finally caught up to my body. I looked over my shoulder to make sure Adrian was truly gone, then sprinted to Pearl’s house next door.

“Son of a bitch,” I whispered, coming out of the memory.

“What?” Drew startled beside me. “What is it?”

I completely forgot about the ring and the jewelry box he gave me that night. Could it be possible he had stashed the dagger inside it? But why would he give it to me?

It didn’t make any sense.

I looked up into Drew’s eyes. “I remembered the rest of that night. I think he did give it to me, and I didn’t even know it. I think it was inside a jewelry box.”

“A jewelry box?” Drew’s brow creased. “Are you sure? Why would Adrian go through all the trouble to take the dagger?”

“I don’t know, but he said there was something valuable inside and no ordinary key would open it. That has to be where he put it. ”

“It’s possible,” Drew said, his eyebrows scrunched in thought.

“Why would he give it to me, though?” I asked aloud, trying to connect the dots in my mind.

“My best guess is he didn’t want it in his possession when the police knocked on his door, or he was hiding it from someone else.”

My muscles tensed, and heat spread throughout my body.

He used me!

“He planted the dagger on me to get himself off the hook.” I huffed, anger welling up inside me. “He took advantage of me. He forced it on me—threatened me—all because of a stupid dagger.”

“Which is why he still thinks you have it after you disappeared. He must think you opened it on your own, saw what was inside, and took it for yourself.”

“But I didn’t open it. It was locked, and he never gave me a key. Just that stupid ring.”

After all this time, Adrian might have been right in assuming I had the dagger. I was doomed the second I left town.

“Okay, so, we know you did have it, where is it now? Did you bring it with you when you ran away?”

“No, no, I stashed all of my stuff when I left. If it is still with the rest of my things then it’s still at ...” I trailed off.

Oh, no.

“Where?” Drew asked.

“Pearl’s house.” I grimaced. “I left it there in a hidden compartment in the floorboard with the rest of my things from that night.”

Pearl had been adamant about me not bringing anything that wasn’t essential when I ran. I barely even had enough time to pack the basics before Pearl gave me the keys to her old car and told me to drive as far and as long as I could without stopping.

Before I left, I had stuffed everything I had on me at the moment into a duffel bag. I kept my ID and some cash from my purse, but everything else went into the bag I left at Pearl’s house.

“I have to go back and get it,” I said as I turned and reached for my half-packed bag on the bed again, but Drew got to it first.

“No.” He snatched the bag out of my hands. “We’ve already been through this. You can’t go back now.”

“Yes, I can. I know where it is. The sooner I give it to him, the sooner this can all be over.”

“Katherine,” Drew pleaded, “think about this for a second. It’s good we know where the dagger is now, but we need to be smart about this. It’s too dangerous for you to just go off on your own.”

“It’s already been dangerous. At least if I give it to him now, I can end this and walk away.”

“What makes you think Adrian will let you walk away?” Drew asked. “What’s to stop him from killing you as soon as you hand over the dagger? You have a history with him, but do you really think he will just let you go after he gets what he wants?”

That made me stop.

Was Drew right? Would Adrian kill me and Pearl as soon as he got what he wanted? I wanted to believe he wouldn’t, but I didn’t know Adrian like I used to. I’d only seen a glimpse of what he was truly capable of.

“What should I do then?” I asked Drew.

“I think we should talk to my captain. I trust him. He could help us. With the police involved, we can come up with a plan that we can all walk away from. And once we have the dagger, we can prove Adrian killed Henry. ”

I agreed to go along with Drew’s plan but knew it might not be enough to end this.

Adrian wanted the dagger, but he also wanted me. I betrayed him by running away. He wouldn’t let me go so easily.

I needed to finish this on my own. It was the only way to guarantee everyone’s safety, but I needed a plan. I needed a way to get to the dagger and end this on my own terms without the police.

Without Drew.