Page 54 of The Deadbeat DILF
Just to manipulate me?
Or, was it because he truly cared?
Thinking about it made my head hurt. I set the novel down and wandered over to my bathroom. There, as I stood in front of the mirror, I slipped off my earrings and necklace. As I carefully placed them back into my jewelry box, something nagged at me. My watch. I still hadn’t found it yet.
I’d been so caught up in everything the past few days that I’d forgotten it was missing.
I checked my entire jewelry collection, rifled through the bathroom counter drawers and cupboards. I went through every article of clothing and combed every corner of my wardrobe. I even looked under my bed, just in case.
Still nothing.
Had Robert taken it after all? But what would he do with a woman’s watch? Sell it? Sure, it was valuable, but if he was going to steal from me, why stop at just one watch? Why not take more?
I returned to my wardrobe, my eyes scanning the designer bags hanging inside. Some of them were rare, and therefore, just as valuable…
If Robert was a thief, then why would he buy me a gift? Why would he take me out for a nice dinner? Why would he kiss me so lovingly?
I rifled through my collection of Chanel bags, and then it hit me. I froze as everything came into icy clarity.
Robert hadn’t taken the watch.
No. It had been someone else.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The entire train ride to my family’s neighborhood, I thrummed with anger. After arriving on their street, I marched down the sidewalk, walking past overgrown lawns and overflowing bins. Once I arrived at their house, I knocked rapidly on their door.
My jaw was so tense that my teeth ached. They’d wronged me so much throughout my life, but now they had crossed the line.
It was dusk, and they were probably seated around the dining table, having dinner. I didn’t care if this was an inconvenient time for them. I had to talk to themnow.
A few moments later, Dad opened the door with a cranky look. His eyes widened when he saw it was me.“Brooke? What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk. To all of you.” When he didn’t move, I barged past him, striding down the hallway to the dining room. Mom, Gemma, and Brandon looked up from their meals and gaped at me.
“Why are you here?” Brandon said.
“You didn’t tell us you were coming,” Mom said.
I planted my hands on my hips as I took in the room. It hadn’t taken them long to make themselves at home after the place had been flooded. Empty beer bottles and cans covered the kitchen counter, and random junk filled the corners of the room.
“You’ve stolen from me,” I said.
My family stared. While I waited for them to deny it, my eyes caught on something gold and shiny on Gemma’s wrist.
“My watch,” I said, my cheeks growing hot with renewed anger. “You stole my watch.”
“I didn’t steal it,” Gemma said, voice high-pitched. “I borrowed it.”
“Without permission. How long were you going to keep it?” I demanded.
“I was going to give it back, but you kicked us out!” Gemma said.
“You can’t even let your own sister-in-law borrow something?” Mom asked me, looking at me as if I was the one in the wrong.
Screw it. I was done trying to win their approval. “No,” I snapped. “This isn’t borrowing something. This is theft. That watch is worth over ten thousand dollars. Do you understand that this is a serious crime?”
Gemma paled and quickly undid the watch, handing it to me like it burned. However, Brandon’s jaw tensed with anger.
