Page 82 of These White Lies

Elizabeth pulls her chair closer to the desk, fingers already moving quickly over the keyboard as she navigates the files. Her eyes narrow as she opens one legal document PDF after another, her concentration complete.

I need to stop watching her and go over my assigned section of the emails, but the little furrow between her brows and the way her lips move just slightly when she’s reading is adorable.

“God, what a dick,” Elizabeth mutters without looking up from her screen.

I can’t help but smirk. “Which dick are we talking about?”

She waves vaguely at the monitor. “Carrow. He didn’t want the divorce.”

I turn in my chair. “How can you tell?”

Her brows pinch, eyes still scanning as she talks. “There’s too much stalling. Refusing to produce discovery. Filing for continuances right before court dates. All delaying tactics. He was dragging it out.”

“Trying to wear her down?”

“Or win her back. Or punish her for leaving.” Her tone is even, but there’s something underneath it. Something that sounds a lot like pain. “Maybe all three.”

I know Elizabeth well enough not to push, but the thought is emblazoned on my brain. How many of the same tactics did Keith use on her?

My body is thrumming with frustrated anger. I can’t exactly beat the shit out of a dead man. Instead, I open the inventory list and start clicking through it. Every item has an accompanying photo and written description.

“Jesus,” I mutter thirty minutes later. “They own a lot of useless, expensive shit.”

A small sound escapes her. A kind of half-laugh, half-sigh.

“Who the hell needs a six-foot-tall crystal horse?”

“Art,” she says dryly, not looking up.

I make a face.

She snorts. “Keep going.”

And then I see it.

Item #123.

The necklace.

“Bingo.”

Her chair scrapes back as she comes to her feet and rounds the desk to my side. She leans over my shoulder to see the screen, the scent of her skin filling my nose. I give in to the urge that’s been simmering for the last hour and pull her down on my lap. She smiles and brushes a quick kiss over my lips before pivoting to peer at the monitor. Her ass rubs against me, causing my blood to heat.

“Look at the date,” she whispers.

I force my gaze to follow where her finger taps, and not the elegant length of neck that I want to bite.

She jabs the screen again. “This inventory was done only a little over a year ago. The email chain Finn found goes back almost that far.”

I nod. “Your ex was in Monaco by then. Maybe she gave it to him to sell?”

To my regret, Elizabeth slides off my lap and goes back to her chair. Her eyes are bright with excitement as she types again. She’s so fucking sexy. I adjust myself discreetly beneath my desk.

“I need to find the final settlement,” she mutters. A few minutes later, she freezes, her gaze lifting to mine. “Normally, a gift during marriage would have stayed with the recipient. But Carrow put a clause in the prenup specifically about the necklace.”

I sit up straighter. “There’s no way Keith stole it from Carrow’s house or safe. He wouldn’t have the necessary skills.” I glance at the inventory photo still centered on my screen. “Which means this necklace,” I gesture at the screen, “isn’t the original necklace, and Carrow found out.”

Deep grooves form across her forehead. “If Keith took the original, and tried to sell it…” She shakes her head. “He probably thought he was being clever. Maybe he figured no one would notice if he sold it overseas.”