Page 23 of Sexy Dare (The Sexy 1)

“Mr. Donovan, what happened?” Faith asked.

“The neighbors said they heard a noise in the middle of the night, and the next day your door was shattered.”

“Nobody came out to check on the unusual sound?” Jason asked in disbelief. His gut instincts about this neighborhood had been spot on.

The heavyset man shook his head. “You’re going to pay to fix the door, young lady.”

Jason stepped into the man’s personal space. “That’s Ms. Lancaster to you. And how about you back off. Did you call the cops?”

“Not my job, not my problem.”

“It’ll be your problem if any of her things are missing and no one reported it. She’s not fixing your door, either. That’s your goddamn job.” Jason pushed past the other man and gingerly removed the tape put up over her door.

“Jason, it’s fine. I’ll deal with it later,” Faith said.

Donovan shook his head and, grumbling, walked back the way he came.

Jason held her hand and led the way into an apartment whose contents had been turned upside down and ripped to shreds.

Chapter Five

Faith held on to her composure by a thread, but she was determined not to let Colton get to her. She’d survive this like she had everything else he’d done to her. Through sheer grit and determination.

She stepped over the sofa pillows he’d tossed onto the floor, the books he’d flipped through and ripped, and the contents of drawers left open that he’d rifled through. She wasn’t sure why he thought she’d be stupid enough to leave money around the house, but that was a desperate addict’s thought process.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked, his hand in hers, his body a solid presence by her side.

“Yes.” She straightened her shoulders. “There was nothing here for him to find.”

“At a glance, is anything missing?”

For the first time, she looked beyond the mess on the floor. She had a small television she’d taken from her room at home in Iowa that sat on the counter in the kitchen. Gone.

She swallowed hard. “Television is gone. My laptop would probably have been gone if I didn’t bring it with me to work.” And her laptop contained all of her business files, so she was grateful for that.

“Any jewelry?” he asked.

“I keep a small box beside my bed. It has a few necklaces, and… Oh my God. Mom’s necklace!” She broke free from his grasp and ran for the small bedroom, which hadn’t fared any better than the living area.

Her bed had been ripped apart, her clothes tossed, probably just for spite, and as she knelt down beside the small night table she’d bought at a secondhand store, her heart stopped. The doors were swinging open, and inside, where her beloved jewelry box had been, was empty.

“It’s gone.” That’s when all the strength she’d been holding on to fled. “The one thing I had left of my mother is gone.”

Jason knelt down beside her. “We’ll find it,” he promised.

She glanced up at him, feeling the tears shimmer in her eyes, but she couldn’t control them. The pain of losing her mother was always there, just below the surface, yet she had no choice but to keep moving forward.

This was a blow that hurt. “You can’t know that.” She looked into his serious eyes.

“I know I can do my best. We need to outthink him. I bet he pawns it for cash. If you have a photograph of it? Or if not, if you can describe it, my private investigator will look for it in nearby pawnshops.”

“Private investigator?” Her legs cramped and she rose to her feet. He followed and they sat down on her messy bed.

“Jack Renault. I have him looking for your brother. I wanted to know if he was in the city, although I think there’s no doubt. He’s just good at going underground.” Jason frowned, his frustration at her situation obvious.

“You barely know me and you hired a PI? You’re letting me stay in your apartment. I don’t understand.”

“I’m not sure I do, either, but here we are.” He lifted a hand, his knuckles stroking her cheek. “You’re safe with me.”

Her stomach pitched with unexpected desire for this man. She said the only thing she could. “Thank you.”

He treated her to a sexy smile but quickly sobered. “We should call the police.”

She nodded, knowing it was going to be a long night.

* * *

A week had passed since the break-in. The police had no solid leads and neither did Jason’s investigator, so Jason kept Faith close and they went about their lives. He’d taken time off from the club in the evenings, but he had a plan to implement and his friends were getting antsy, wanting him to come by and see the work that had been accomplished so far. He hadn’t wanted to leave Faith home alone, and given how exhausted she was after work, he’d sacrificed his own business needs.

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