Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Climbing the stairs, Juniper tried to pull her thoughts together. She hesitated at the top and pressed her ear to the door, trying to hear if anyone was in the room. Juniper pushed open the door and peeked out. Immediately, she slammed it shut when she heard the creak of a chair and knew she’d been caught.
“I know you’re down there, Little girl. Come out.”
Even through the barrier, her Daddy’s voice sounded hard and, even worse, disappointed.
Slowly, she pushed the door open and stepped into the room. “Hi?” Her Daddy didn’t answer but held up his hand for her to be quiet.
“Got her,” Magnus said and paused. He tapped his ear to clue her in.
Juniper realized he was listening to something. Oh, crap. The whole team knows.
“Yeah, the opening is very obvious now. Perhaps some scaffolding and tarps would disguise the damage to the wall.”
Peeking over her shoulder, she saw the obvious opening in the wall. If Eric saw that, he’d know where the money was.
After tapping his earpiece again, Magnus spoke as he walked forward to tug her hat lower, “You are in so much trouble, but now, I need to get you back to a safe area. Rocco is delaying Eric, but he’s getting suspicious.”
Wrapping his arm around her waist, he rushed her to the door. “Walk directly to the elevator. I will be right behind you.”
“But…”
“No buts. Go now,” Magnus ordered as they reached the door.
Keeping her head down, Juniper walked out of the conference room and toward the elevators.
As they got close, a disgruntled voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Sir, when is the elevator going to be fixed? We’re all delayed waiting for the others.”
Magnus answered, “We’re going to test it right now to make sure it’s safe.”
As if on cue, the elevator opened, and Juniper walked in, closely followed by Magnus. She peeked up as the doors slid shut to see several people watching with satisfied looks on their faces. As the car rose, Juniper snuck a glance at Magnus. His face was steely solemn. She swallowed hard.
With a ding, the elevator arrived at the fifth floor, and she rushed out. Reaching into her pocket, she held out the mass of keys to him. “I know you’re mad. I just couldn’t not know.”
“What would’ve happened if you’d asked me to take you down there safely?” Magnus asked before turning to hang the keyring back into place.
Juniper felt her jaw drop open. Would he have taken her if she’d asked? “I needed to see it myself.”
“Yes. Let me ask my question another way. What’s the worst thing that would’ve happened if you’d asked me to take you down there?”
“You’d have said no.”
“Did you ask?”
“Well, no.”
“Instead, you stole keys, climbed out a fifth-floor window in someone else’s apartment onto a ledge, scampered down a tree like a squirrel, and disguised yourself as an employee while moving through an area where a man, who we can only suspect would kill you to find out where the money was hidden, could find you easily.”
“Eric Rivers was rock climbing with Rocco.”
“Let’s add hacking into a computer system to your list of bad decisions. I’ll have some questions about that later.”
“I had to know,” she wailed.
“Did you ask?” Magnus repeated for the fourth time.
“No.” Juniper took off the borrowed baseball cap and handed it back to him.
“Do you have any idea how I felt when you appeared on my screen with foliage in your hair?” he asked before reaching out to pluck a small shoot with a leaf from her hair. “The last time we talked, you were in your playroom reading. I connected the dots.”
“I found the money. It’s in an alcove to the left. I can’t believe my father had something to do with the robbery.” Juniper started crying, her chest heaving in distress.
Magnus wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close to his hard frame. “Don’t jump to conclusions. It’s very possible we don’t know the whole story. Why would a man who knows where a fortune is hidden never return to claim it?”
“You don’t think he was involved?” she asked with her face hidden against him.
“I think he hid the money. Why—I don’t know. We’ll have to figure that out. For now, my first priority is correcting a naughty Little girl who put herself at risk today.”
“I’m fine. I have a few scrapes from the tree, but I’m okay,” she assured him.
Magnus stepped back and pointed to their apartment.
Head down, Juniper walked in front of him to the door with the cute kiwi bird. When he opened the door, she stepped inside and hesitated.
“Go to our bedroom, Little girl.”
She walked to the bed and draped herself over it, expecting to be spanked. Juniper saw the hat she’d borrowed land on the bed a foot away. She swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating the swat she knew was coming.