Page 65 of The Stolen Dagger

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 herold 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.”