“What is this, Isa?”
Glancing around, I open the door and usher her inside.
She shakes her head, shrugging my hand away. “I don’t want any part of this.”
“Please, let me explain.”
With hesitation, she steps inside the room, looking over her shoulder as she comes to a stop a few paces in.
I scan the hallway once more, before clicking the door shut.
“Are you crazy? Stealing one of her dolls?”
“Believe me, Giulia. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t need the money.”
“We all need the money. You don’t see me stealing it! Do you have any idea what they’ll do, if they catch you?”
String me up? Hide my body? I have no idea.
If there’s one person who might have any inkling what I’m going through right now, it’s a woman who lived on the streets. “I went home this weekend. My mom … she’s a junkie. It’s a long story, but she’s seeing some asshole who skipped off with about fifty grand worth of drugs. The drug dealer beat up my mom, and aunt, broke two of her fingers, and threatened to kill them, if we don’t pay him the money.” Tiny fissures in my composure bleed out the urgency ready to burst inside of me. “I’m freaking out here, Giulia.”
Dubious brown eyes stare back at me, the way I often looked at my mom when she told me similar ridiculous stories of desperation.
“I know this sounds nuts. It is nuts. But I can’t let him hurt my aunt. Or my mom.” It’s not my mom that concerns me, but I don’t tell her that.
Sighing, she steps past me, deeper into the room, and I wonder if she’s contemplating ratting me out. Not that she’d have to. I’m sure the camera caught everything. And now, even if I want to return the damn thing, its hand is broken.
“There’s no other way for you?” Back turned to me, she can’t see the hilarity of such a possibility written all over my face.
“Do you honestly think I’d be stealing this thing, a doll, if there was? I’ve wracked my brain trying to figure out how to fix this.”
“There might be another way. The question is, how much would you be willing to sacrifice to save your mother’s life?”
“What?”
She turns around, and the resolution etched in her expression is almost more terrifying than the look of shock from before. “What would you sacrifice to save your mother and aunt? Pain? Your dignity?”
“I just stole a freakin’ doll. I’d say dignity is out the window at this point. What are you getting at?”
A sharp exhale, and she presses her lips together, casting her gaze to the side. “There is a group. It’s how I got out of my situation. They help people. Lucian is a member of it.”
“What group?”
“I don’t know what they call themselves, but--”
A hard knock at the door startles my muscles, and I almost drop the doll again. “Oh, no.”
Looking around the room, I zero in on the dresser and shove the doll inside, beneath my underwear. At the other end of the drawer, I slide out my pocket knife from where I stored it to keep the maids from finding it under my pillow. Tucking it tight to my body so Giulia can’t see, I drop it into the pocket of my military jacket. I don’t know how this place handles thieves.
On my way to the door, Giulia grabs my arm. “Ask him about it,” she whispers. “Lucian. He’ll know what you mean.”
“I don’t think that’s going to help me now.” I twist my arm out of hers. “I’ve no doubt they’ve seen what I’ve done.”
With heavy steps, I clutch my stomach and stride toward the door, throwing it back on where Rand stands in the hallway. Chin lifted in the air, he stares down his nose at me, his brows stern with disappointment.
“Miss Quinn, Master Blackthorne has requested you report to his office immediately.”
Chapter 30
Lucian
Leaning back in my chair, I rewind the footage of Isa swiping the doll out of the glass case. I couldn’t give a damn about the overpriced toy, it’s the betrayal that gnaws at me. The idea that this girl has the balls to steal from right under my nose.
At the ding of the elevator door, I pause the footage, and when Rand escorts her into the office, I want to throttle my dick for lurching against my zipper. Head bowed, she comes to a stop in the middle of the room, not bothering to look me in the eye, and when I give Rand a nod, he exits the room.
Once the elevator doors close, I push forward in my chair, resting my hands against the desk. “Anything you want to tell me?”
She gives a subtle shake of her head that only stokes my anger. “Nothing I’m guessing you haven’t already seen.” Hands clasped in front of her, she looks ridiculous in that dress. A walking lie. Yet, at the same time, I can picture the flowy fabric draped across the back of my neck, with my head between her thighs.
A thought that pisses me off even more.
“Where is it?”
“In my drawer.”
“Your drawer. The dresser belongs to you, now, as well?”
Flinching, she shakes her head. “No, of course not.”
“It takes an enormous amount of trust to put someone in charge of caring for my mother.”
She bows her head further, probably so weighed down by guilt, it feels like a bowling ball propped on her neck.
“Why did you betray my trust in you, Isa?”
Eyes hiding behind long, black lashes, she sighs. “I didn’t mean to.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you didn’t mean to do. I want to know why you did do it?”
“I’ll return the doll and leave. If it’s all the same to you.”
I push up from my chair, adjusting the lapels of my coat as I round the desk and lean against the front of it. “As I understand, it’s broken now. Practically worthless.”
Flinching, she turns away from me and shakes her head. “I’m …. I don’t know what to say, Mr. Blackthorne.”
“I’m sure you don’t. There’s nothing you can say. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are gone to waste.”
“I find that excessive for something so fragile,” she says under her breath.
Shooting up from the desk, my frustration gets the best of me, and in three quick strides, I’m standing in front of her. “It’s not your place to say what’s excessive, or not. The fact is, you’ve destroyed something worth far more than yourself.”
Her eyes snap to mine, the thin sheen of tears gathered there bringing her bright gray eyes to life. Lips quivering, it’s like something snarky and smartass waits to tear free from her mouth. That’s how this girl is--quick with the quips--but instead, her gaze falls from mine once more. “I didn’t mean to break it.”
“The least you can do is tell me what was so important that you felt compelled to steal from me.”
Slim shoulders roll back, her eyes brimming with enough challenge to trip my switch.
My temper is on the cusp of exploding as I stare down at her, practically blazing with the heat of irritation that simmers inside of me.
Seconds pass, and she doesn’t say a word, the insolence of her silence slowly chipping away at my patience.