Read The Sapphire Heist (A Jewel Novel Book 2) for Free Online Page B

She scanned the desk and the bureau, but there were no envelopes or papers. She returned her gaze to the manager. “There’s nothing here.”
    The carrot-topped man nodded and sighed. “Let me check with the clerk to double confirm it was delivered.”
    “Wait,” Steph said. “Who was the man dropping off the papers? What was his name?”
    “Mr. Smith, I believe,” the manager said, then swiveled around and marched down the hallway. Steph watched him go, her heart beating out a staccato rhythm of fear and worry. Could the clerk have stolen her diamond when he delivered the papers to her room? But if he had, why would the paperwork have disappeared, too? Someone, it seemed, had tried to trick the hotel into giving up her room number by faking a meeting with her and using a fake name.
    Because Mr. Smith was as phony a name as there ever was.
    Who the hell was Mr. Smith?
    She shut the door and turned to Jake, her world spinning like a mad teacup ride in an amusement park.
    She swayed, and the floor felt wobbly. “I think someone pretended he had a meeting with me, followed the clerk as he delivered the paperwork for the fake meeting, then broke into my room later in the night,” she said in a tiny whisper.
    His jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. “Why? When?” He pointed in the direction of the hotel manager. “Because of what the manager just said?”
    “Yes,” she said, and her voice croaked.
    He tilted his head, looked at her like he was studying her. “So this ‘Mr. Smith’ claimed a meeting as a ruse to get in your room?” he asked, sketching air quotes around the name.
    Her stomach plummeted with nerves. “Look around. There are no papers in here, and I have no clue what’s going on. But someone must have broken in—”
    “Wait. Is that why you were patting me down earlier?” He crossed his arms. “You dragged me from the gallery, and you treated me like you didn’t trust me. Did you think I took something from your room?”
    “I was worried it was you,” she spat out, the words tumbling free before she could even think twice about what she was saying. Before she could even analyze the risk in admitting that she didn’t trust a damn soul right now. She squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, a tear slipped down her face. She wiped her hand across her cheek. “I freaked out, because I trusted you. I let you into my room and my body, and this morning after I showered, the diamond was gone. Completely gone.”
    He stumbled backward, his arm shot out, and he grabbed the wall. “Are you serious?” he whispered. “From your safe?”
    She nodded. “I thought it was you. Because I found it missing right after you left. Jake, what else would I think?”
    He shot her a look like she was crazy. “ Anything. Anything but that.”
    “But you know how to break into safes. You broke into mine before.”
    He held out his hands wide and shook his head. Anger seemed to roll off him like smoke. “I would never steal from you.”
    “But you figured out the combo before. In seconds.”
    “And you changed it, right?”
    She nodded. “Yes, but I thought maybe you figured it out again.”
    He huffed and inhaled deeply, then dragged a hand roughly through his hair. He paced to the window, then back again. “Please tell me you didn’t change it back to A - R - I - E - L .”
    “No, it was—”
    He cut her off. “I don’t want to know what it is.” He sighed in frustration, then fixed her with a stare. “Why are you telling me this now if you thought I stole the diamond?”
    Time to ’fess up. To tell all. “Because Isla told me this afternoon that the diamond in her necklace was stolen last night, too. And with this Mr. Smith dropping off fake papers and with you not having any diamonds in your wallet—”
    He blinked. “Diamonds in my wallet?”
    “I blindfolded you,” she said, lowering her eyes, guilt stitched into her voice. As she breathed the words aloud, she realized how silly