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“No. It’s one reason we haven’t taken any action yet.”
Finding the supplies would give us just cause for an interrogation. But wasn’t the video feed proof enough now?
As far as I knew, the custodial crew met in a room in the building’s lower level. They had a changing room of sorts down there, a place where they all convened and locked up their belongings while they were on the job.
“What are the parameters for searching lockers?”
Ethan and the other guard swapped glances. “If you have cause, then we can conduct a search, sir.”
I thought it over. It was still morning. Chances were, the custodial staff was still on duty.
Did that mean Ella was there too? She’d said she was quitting.
Oh, man. Was she quitting because she didn’t want to get caught? Had she lied to me this whole time?
I didn’t want to believe it. But I didn’t know what to think.
“We need to get to the bottom of this. Page Stina Malus and have her keep the crew after their shifts.”
“Will do, sir,” Ethan said.
Clary peeked up at me with concern. I touched her arm, not entirely sure how to form the words.
I was glad she’d told me. Glad we finally had an indication of who the culprit was.
It was always better to know.
But I never—never—would have suspected it would be Ella. The woman whose kisses unraveled me. The woman who’d branded herself into me.
All that talk about stealing kisses, about thievery. Had she been trying to give me hints—or just plain mocking me with insinuations?
I thanked Ethan and the other guards and dismissed Clary before stepping out to a quiet corner of the hall. My thoughts were a jumble.
Ella’s smile. Her charitable gifts and sacrificed time for the kids at Harmony Children’s. The way she’d soothed me in the elevator. The conversations we’d had, the moments we’d shared.
Those images of her contrasted with the sneaky, over-the-shoulder glance from the woman in the surveillance video. The devious stuffing of stolen items into her bag.
How could she be the same woman?
“She was a thief after all,” I said. I couldn’t believe I fell for it.
I had to talk to her, to find out the truth. And whatever that was, I hoped I was strong enough to do what I had to.
TWENTY-NINE
ella
I couldn’t helpthe worry tumbling over me. Excitement warred against it with a battle cry inside of me, sounding off as if to fight the unwanted anxiety. I’d told Stina I wasn’t coming back—and I didn’t.
I should have been happier about that fact, but I still couldn’t shake the unease brought on by Stina’s many threats. Even though my body clock automatically woke me up at the same three-thirty I’d been waking up at for years now, I didn’t show up at four a.m. that morning.
I cleaned my own apartment instead. Later, I called Addie and spurted to her about Hawk and our romantic personal ball. The fact that I would be seeing him again that night made me gush all the more.
He was so different from who I expected him to be. He was friendly, funny, and completely charming—but more than that, he was a person who cared about others. He wasn’t stuffy or full of himself as I’d initially thought.
There was just one more awful thing I had to face that morning: I hadn’t yet cleaned out my locker back at Ever After Corporate.
I decided to wait until everyone else was clocking out. Maybe Stina would be less vindictive if there were others around to buffer her wrath.
