Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
I blow out a breath as I turn my flashlight on. Fuck, it’s hot. I’m sweating like a pig.
Okay, what am I looking for?
Statues.
It said statue.
There are boxes in this container, probably about twenty in total. I open the top one and find the box has been partitioned into twelve squares with cardboard. In each little square is a small pottery cat statue standing about fifteen centimeters tall. I go through the box and take them out one by one and shake them. Nothing. They all seem empty.
If I was going to hide something in a statue, where would I put it?
I think for a moment. The bottom box. I quickly begin to move the boxes to the side one by one until I get to the very bottom box. I rip it open and take out the cat statues one by one and shake them.
Nothing.
Fuck.
I open the next box and the next box. Maybe there isn’t anything here? I scratch my head in frustration as the perspiration drips from my forehead.
Oh shit, maybe I misread the picture. Did I get the container right? I open another box and the first statue I pick up and shake clangs as something hits the inside edges.
My eyes widen and I shake it again.
Clink, clink, clink.
Yes, this is it. I quickly check the others in the box. Nothing. This must be it.
I quickly put the boxes back as they were and go to the door again. I slowly open the door and peer out. The coast is clear. I wrap my small figurine in my towel and exit and quickly relock the container.
My heart is beating so fast and I can’t believe I am actually fucking doing this.
Who am I?
I hot foot it back to the room and get in and shut the door behind me and lean up against it in relief as I pant.
I stink. I’m wet with perspiration. I grab my cat statue and walk into the bathroom and close the door, locking it behind me. I turn on the shower and look around. I need to break the statue open. I will do it later.
When?
When am I going to get the chance when I know Stace is occupied?
Just do it now. I open the bathroom door and peer out to make sure he hasn’t come home and I close it again, lift the statue above my head and throw it on the floor. It bounces.
Shit.
I lift it again and throw it and it bounces again.
Fuck it.
I lift it again and really throw it down hard and it smashes across the floor.
I stare at the broken pottery for a moment in shock.
My eyes widen. Holy shit… I was right.
Diamonds.
Diamonds that are bigger than my thumbnail. Light golden and misty pink. Some are brilliant white. Oh my God, these must be worth a bomb.
I can hardly breathe.
I walk into the bedroom and grab a sock from Staces underwear drawer and then back into the bathroom and relock the door. I sit on the floor and sift through the broken pottery and pick up the diamonds, putting them into the sock one at a time.
Forty-two diamonds in total.
Whose are these?
I carefully tie the sock off at the end and pick up the broken pottery and put it into a plastic bag. I’m going to have to throw this overboard as soon as I get a chance.
I get into the shower and let the cool water run over me as it sinks in.
Holy shit.
I did it.
* * *
Sometimes life surprises me, but not nearly as much as I surprise myself.
How stupid can a girl get?
Why on Earth did I honestly think that there was something between this criminal and me?
I eat the last of my potatoes and veg as I watch him with her. We are at dinner, it’s 8pm, and Stace arrived late after working all day. I would have assumed that he would have gotten his dinner and then taken a seat next to me as he has done every other time.
Guess not.
Tonight he got his dinner and then went and sat next to Chelsea, while I sit alone. He hasn’t even acknowledged me and I am sick of his mind games.
Fuck him.
This is the final nail in his sleaze bag coffin.
Who in the fuck does he think he is?
I’m livid. Livid that he thinks he can treat me like this. Livid that I didn’t see it coming. Livid that my feelings are hurt by yet another asshole.
I’m so done with men.
Angela comes over and sits down beside me. “What’s going on with you two?”
I shrug. “Nothing.”
She watches him as he talks and laughs with Chelsea and another blonde girl. “Are you fighting?” She frowns.
“Not that I know of.”
She screws up her face. “Weird,” she mutters.
I drink the last of my drink. “I might head back to the room. I can’t get off this fucking ship soon enough,” I mutter.