The only thing that matters is that my crystal heart is still missing.
I drag my attention to the spot on my desk where she should be. The empty space stares back, and a knot forms in my stomach. She’s not in my car, so that means I must’ve misplaced her downtown. Maybe she fell when I bent to get that stupid knife.
I should know better by now that despite my noble intentions, karma isn’t my friend. With sleep deprivation breathing down my neck, I can’t shake the feeling that my world is about to end.
Something worse is going to happen.
Everything is wrong.
I’ll never be okay again.
But my impending doom is certainly no excuse to stop pushing through my work, so I shove letters in envelopes, carefully address them, and set them in neat stacks. One by one by one by—
“Dove.”
My chest clenches.
I go still.
A finger lands on my desk—right where my crystal heart is meant to be—and I follow the arm up, up, up to Malcolm’s eyes. Mouth firm, he says, “Where is she?”
I blink.
He…
He can’t be serious.
Lousy emotions mingle with exhaustion, and I can’t control myself. My eyes burn, and tears form. I whisper, “I don’t know.”
Malcolm’s hand closes into a fist, and he circles my desk, dropping to his knees beside my chair. “How long has she been missing? You had her last night, didn’t you?”
Numb, I nod.
“Okay.” He taps my knee and straightens. “Clear my schedule for the next few hours.”
“Huh?”
He glances back at me on his way to the elevator. “I’m going to retrace our steps last night.”
Huh?“But…we were downtown. Anyone could have found her by now and taken her home.”
Unruffled, he says, “Then I’ll start searching homes.”
The elevator arrives while I stare, and stare,and stare. He steps in and turns, facing me.
His eyes warm when a smile lifts his lips, and he tucks his fingers in his slacks pocket. “What’s that expression mean, darling dove?”
Arms. Tight. Strong. Around me.Still.
No matter how many showers I take.
No matter how hard I scrub or how long I soak.
It wasn’t like this before, in the hotel room, after he pulled me to his chest. It was different then. Becausethenwas before.
He’s gotten inside my head now.
And I have no idea what to do about it.
