2

Mateo woke hours later with his head pounding and no memory of how he'd ended up in the room. Before he could piece the night together, Felix burst through the door.

"There you are, man!"

"Wh... what am I doing here?" Mateo sat up too fast and regretted it.

"You left the club with a girl, dude."

"Where is she? Mia... that lady, she's a..." His head throbbed. He rubbed his temples.

"Looks like you drank a lot," Felix said, though something in his face shifted when he actually looked at Mateo.

"No, she drugged me." Mateo patted down his pockets. His phone was gone. So was his wallet. "She robbed me."

"Where's my phone?" He checked the bed, the floor, every pocket of his suit twice. "My wallet's gone too. She robbed me. She drugged me and robbed me."

"What? I thought you two hit it off."

"Hell no. Where is she? Who is she?"

"How was I supposed to know? I'm sorry, man, I can't believe this." Felix helped him to his feet.

"She was good. I never would've guessed she was a thief." Mateo dragged his fingers through his hair. "Did she touch me? Did she.." He checked his zipper, checked again.

"We need to find her, Felix. She can't get away with this."

"Let's report it to club security," Felix said, looking almost as rattled as Mateo felt.

***

"You forced me to come here," Mateo snapped when they returned from a fruitless search, security having shrugged the whole thing off.

"No, I didn't force you into anything, and I definitely didn't force a woman on you. You should've been smarter."

"Oh, now it's my fault."

"I'm not blaming you, Mateo. You can get robbed anywhere. It's ridiculous that security just said items are at owners' risk and left it there."

"I've lost a small fortune. My phone is being tracked as we speak. That thief is not walking away from this."

"I know you're angry, but be realistic. She's already gone," Felix said, softer now, a hand on Mateo's shoulder.

"You should be grateful she only robbed you and didn't do worse," the maid said, setting down a tray of wine before slipping out again.

"Forget it and move on. It was just some thief's lucky night," Felix said, clearly out of patience.

"Move on?" Mateo's face twisted. "No way. I'll find her and see her arrested."

"Fine, do what you want." Felix's phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen. "It's your dad."

Mateo sighed and took the call.

"Hello, Dad."

"Mateo, when are you introducing your woman to us? Aren't you planning to settle down soon?" his father said, no greeting first.

"What are you talking about?"

"Felix already told us you have a fiancée."

Mateo put the phone on hold. "Fiancée?"

"I panicked. Your dad asked and I lied to cover for you," Felix admitted.

Mateo shot him a look sharp enough to draw blood before reconnecting the call.

"Yes, Dad. It's nothing serious yet. We're taking things slow," he said, playing along rather than fighting a battle he wasn't ready for.

"What matters is there's a woman in your life. You've been out of a relationship longer than I can remember."

"That's enough, Dad."

"I want to meet her. You two need to start discussing marriage instead of playing around."

"Marriage? We're still getting to know each other. We're not rushing anything."

His father scoffed. "So you have no plans for the future?"

Mateo tried to steer the conversation elsewhere. "Let's talk business instead. You'll be impressed with this month's numbers, I've been working hard—"

His father cut him off. "If you put half that effort into your relationship, you'd already be thinking about giving me grandchildren."

"Huh, what?"

"Listen. I'm giving you one week to introduce your woman to me, or I hand the company to your cousin Desmond."

"Wait, what? Are you serious?"

"Deadly serious. We both know Desmond has always wanted to run Emeralds Group."

"Dad, this is insane. You're threatening to take away everything I've built over something as small as marriage."

"It's small to you. Not to me. I've been patient, son, but it's time you grew up."

The line went dead.

***

Across town, Mia sat cross legged on her bed, sorting through what she'd taken, the wallet, the watch, the necklace, and felt the familiar twist of guilt in her stomach. She hated this part almost as much as she hated being broke. She turned the watch over in her hands, thinking about the man's face, the way he'd tried to ask if she'd drugged him even as his eyes were closing, and pushed the thought away before it could take root.

She counted the cash twice, put aside enough for rent, and wired the rest to her mother before she could talk herself out of it. Her mother sent back a voice note within the hour, cheerful and unaware, thanking God for blessing her daughter with a good job. Mia listened to it twice, then deleted it so she wouldn't have to hear it again and feel like a liar all over.

She told herself, again, that it was the last time. It didn't make her feel any better. Nothing about pawning a stranger's watch the next morning made her feel like the woman her mother thought she'd raised.