Page 62 of The Billionaire's Promise

There was a long silence. "This has nothing to do with Vance," he said, and I realized his tone was all business. "I'm here at your house. The team finished with the system a few hours ago and left to get lunch. The system wasn't armed, but the motion activated video capture was turned on. They got an alert that someone was in the house, and when they pulled up the video to check the system, it wasn't you or Vance."

"Who was it?" I asked, afraid I already knew what Evers would say.

"It was your dickhead of an ex, Brayden. He has a key and claims you gave him permission to enter."

"I did not," I said, furious. "Did he get into the house?"

"He'd already entered by the time the team got back, but they caught him filling a backpack with small valuables. Have you had any trouble with things going missing?"

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "I took his key when we broke up. He must have had another," I said, stating the obvious. "Things have been going missing. I thought I was crazy, that I was just misplacing stuff."

"Please tell me you want me to press charges," Evers said.

"He's still there?" I asked.

"We weren't going to let him walk after he broke into your house," Evers said. "You contracted with us to manage your security. We had permission to be in the house, and he's not on the list of residents. I'll call the police for you right now."

"Yes, please. Absolutely call the police. Do I need to come back there? I'm . . . out for the day. I can if I have to, but—"

"No, Maggie. You don't have to come back right now. I can handle everything for you."

"Is Scout okay?" I was sure Evers would've said something if my dog had been hurt, but I had to make sure.

"Your dog? He's a weird looking little guy, but he's fine. He was in the backyard. Not too crazy about having all of us in his space, and hereallydoesn't like your ex, but he's fine."

"Charlie’s supposed to stop by at some point this afternoon and pick him up. She's keeping him overnight. Can you make sure anyone who's there knows it's okay for her to take him?”

"No problem, honey. We've got everything under control."

"Thanks, Evers. Is there any way to track down the things he might've taken?"

"Email me a description of what you know you're missing, and I'll get my guys on it."

"I'd appreciate it," I said. "The only thing I'm really worried about is my grandmother's bracelet."

"We'll find it. I promise." Softly, he said, "And Maggie?"

"Yeah?" I asked, wary at his change in tone.

"You had a fight with Vance?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I said. I'd known Evers a long time, and he was a good guy, but he was Vance's friend first.

He proved it by saying, "Yeah, I don't really want to talk about it either. Just listen. I know he can be a jackass, but be patient with him. He cares about you."

That wasn't good enough for me. Not anymore. I didn't say that to Evers. I would love Evers forever if he could track down my grandmother's bracelet, and I was immensely grateful that he'd put in the security system that had caught Brayden stealing from me. But I was not talking to Evers about my disaster of a relationship with Vance.

"Call me if you need anything from me," I said and hung up the phone. That was one problem solved. At least I knew I wasn't crazy. I hadn't lost my bracelet or the clock. I wondered if he’d been trying to get into the house the times he’d shown up claiming he wanted to talk to me. It was a great cover if he was caught lurking around. I was so stupid.

Great job, Magnolia. Boyfriend number one is a cheating thief, and boyfriend number two basically made you the nanny and then talked his way into your bed.

I was done with relationships. After emailing Evers a description of the things I thought were missing, I took a long bath and settled in on the bed to watch theDie Hardmarathon that was currently playing on one of the hotel's movie channels. The universe must have known I was going to be nursing a broken heart if it gave me hours of John McLane.

When I'd broken up with Brayden, watching action movies and eating ice cream had seemed like the best way to soothe my bruised heart. Explosions and Bruce Willis weren't doing the trick this time. I found myself wiping my cheeks off and on as the time passed, tears leaking from my eyes as I tried to ignore the heavy weight on my chest.

I thought about ignoring Charlie when she called, but she had my dog. I didn't really want to talk to anyone, but she was doing me a favor by taking Scout for the night. I'd feel terrible if something was wrong and I didn't answer.

"Hey, Charlie. Is Scout okay?" I asked.