Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Once they open, their insides will practically glow gold but only for a single day. After that, the blooms will wither and die until conditions are right for another bloom. That could take years.
I’m careful not to breathe on the plant, and I certainly don’t touch it with my bare hands. It needs to blossom on its own.
Heirloom, however, jumps onto the counter, his nose still in the air as he sniffs.
“Not too close, boy.” I scratch the top of his head and shoo him back to the floor and out of the room.
When I close the door, I hear something else click. Turning, I stare around the greenhouse to find the source of the sound.
Nothing moves.
I stare for a while.
Then Heirloom hops onto the worktable again, his eyes on me.
“Come on. Let’s go in.” I scoop him into my arms, but he wriggles free and darts into the bushes beside the pool. Leaving him outside isn’t ideal, but I can tell by the twitch of his tail that he’s on the hunt.
Once again, I’m jealous. I used to be on the hunt. Now I stare at flowers and wait for them to bloom. I rub my temples and keep striding toward the house.
“Heirloom, last chance,” I call when I open the back door, but he’s disappeared into the deepening twilight.
I let the door close and unlock his cat flap at the bottom.
It’s fine. He won’t go far.
2
MARIGOLD
You will not steal the cat. You will not steal the cat. You will not steal the cat. I repeat the mantra over and over again in my head. But he’s so adorable. His owner makes him walk around with that ridiculously heavy-looking collar on. That can’t be comfortable, and it better not be real diamonds. I should get a closer look.
I would if the owner hadn’t let the gorgeous kitty take off and disappear into the bushes. Then he just went into the house, leaving the poor cat out here all alone somewhere.
“Get it together, Goldie,” I whisper to myself. I’m only here to steal one thing, and that’s a flower. I have to concentrate.
I can’t let myself get distracted. I know stealing a flower sounds like the silliest thing ever, but it was an offer I couldn’t turn down. It was either this or jail, and I’d never make it on the inside. You can’t have cats in prison. So that’s a definite no-go for me.
Stealing, I could do. I mean that’s what got me into this mess to begin with. But what I’m not used to is breaking in. That’s new to me. My fingers only get a bit sticky when an object is right there staring me in my face and I think no one will really notice. I had to google a how-to on the whole burglary thing.
I’m in all black as suggested and am waiting for the sun to set before I make my move. All I could find in my closet was a black hoodie and yoga pants. I pull the hood up to mask my hair in case there are cameras or something. When they play back the footage, they’ll think I’m a boy. These rich people always have cameras.
I shift onto my knees from my hiding place under a bench. I fight a whimper when my knees scrape along the edge of it, and I hear my pants rip in the process as a sharp pain shoots through me.
I barely fit under the bench to begin with. For once, my small stature was actually helpful. I was seconds away from getting my hands on the flower lily or whatever-you-call-it thing and then that giant scary man showed up with his adorable cat.
If not for the adorable cat, I might have peed myself looking at the sheer size of the man. The precious furball offset the enormous scary man vibes that radiated from his owner. It had me wondering what I’d gotten myself into. On the plus side, he’s a cat person, so he can’t be some mean, angry person that would get super upset over me taking a flower, right?
Then again, wealthy people are weird. I know because I clean their houses. Which is the very thing that has gotten me in trouble and landed me where I am right now. Mr. Hoover, one of my employers, wants some special flower, and this greenhouse is the only place that has it on this side of the planet. Are flowers really that rare?
I’ve been in the wrong business. Here I’ve been stealing jewelry along with other rare small items that I thought would go unnoticed, and I should have been ransacking gardens?
Taking this one flower will get me out of trouble with Mr. Hoover. That’s our deal. He said he won’t report me to the police for the necklace and watch I’d taken. I guess his wife hadn’t noticed the two Birkin bags or three Cartier rings that were missing. Her closet is so stuffed with designer goods that she may never notice.