Hitting Rock Bottom

Chapter 16 Inner Battle

Malachi's POV

I let out a deep breath before rolling my eyes because of Mr.Sanders' message, while looking around the room for anything that looks like a place to hide some expensive small things. Just so I can finish this and get him off my back, since he obviously isn't going to give me much time to take care of this on my own terms. I don't understand the urgency for the stones right now, but I'm not paying for it, so I guess I can't complain too much about it.

I decide to look under the bed first.. that's where most hide safes, under the beds, in closets or walls.. pretty easy to find for the most part. It's the key or code needed to unlock it that's normally harder to aquire. So I will figure out what I need when I find it and not a moment sooner... But no luck here, because there's nothing there.

So I go to the closet and search on all the high shelves and really low ones. You know, the places that are harder to notice at the normal angles for average sized people.. because it's out of the way for them and most theives won't go for that, just going for the easy quick targets.. not me though.. but nothing seems to be there.

Maybe I should check the same drawer she had the gun and little safe in.. I quickly start walking across the room as I get to the same dresser as before with her. I can hear the water and music louder than before since I'm right by the door now. So I have to be stealthy with this next action.

I slowly pull out the drawer, not trying to make a sound and luckily I don't. It slides open with ease to show 2 metal lock boxes with a space right next to them that I know held the metal safe with her gun in it.. or better known a portable safe.

I compare the details of each safe just to figure out that they look like the same kind of safe, by sharing the same company and size.. So I'm going to make an educated guess that the same keys used for opening the first safe could be used to open these safes too.

A lot of companies have done just that before. If you have the same brand and same style of safe they will have the same key.. but we will see.. I look around the room trying to remember where she put the keys she used to open this safe with. Because I wasn't paying attention to that at that moment, I was paying attention to her and staying quiet.

With my eyes bouncing all over the room at every little detail, as quickly as possible, I finally see the glimmer of the key ring from before.. it's still on the bed so I head straight to it and swiping it up into my hand so it doesn't make too much noise with multiple keys present on this ring. I go back to the other safes as I hold my breath, listening to her in the bathroom, just making sure she is not going to walk out here at any moment. I cannot hear anything besides the water still running and the music still playing.

I try the first key and of course it doesn't work.. then on to the second to find it fits, instantly opening up the safe, but exposing some old looking necklaces. That's not what I need. So I shut it and go to the next one trying a couple of the other keys as I get it open pretty quickly like the other ones. Once it pops open, all I can see is that there is a silky looking bag inside. I reach in grabbing the bag into my hand just to open it and see what's inside. I slide what's inside of it out onto my hand and when I get a good look at them, I quickly figure out that it's all the stones.

I huff out with relief, looking at the stones as I quickly put them back into the bag before I lose one.. Then putting the bag itself into my pocket, before shutting the safe, then the drawer. I'm trying to clear my hands of any signs of theft in her presence, so I need to leave this scene before she finds out about this.

I turn myself around quickly, then accidentally dropping the keys to the ground. I kneel down to pick it up as the bathroom door besides me opens. I take the keys into my hand, while looking over to see a smiling Yvette.

Her hair is soaked, with no make-up on and looking absolutely stunning with her heated glow on her face.. Her half-naked body is in my sights, showing the drops cascading down her exposed cleavage until it's blocked by the towel wrapped around her. I swallow wanting to see what's underneath the towel that's obstructing my view of her seemingly gorgeous body.

She is a little on the skinnier side but she doesn't look sickly or frail as she has described it before. So I don't understand why she thinks she looks bad, because from what I can see, she looks delectable to me. Beauty in this aspect, must be in the eye of the beholder.

"Yvette.. is everything alright?" I ask her with concern, picking up her dropped items and putting them in her bed so she knows what I'm doing on the floor and to not be suspicious of me. I look back at her because she hasn't answered me outright. She is nodding her head, looking from me to the floor as her knuckles turn white with how tight she is holding onto the top of her towel.

"I just... wanted to say... um.. Thanks for helping me.. with everything.. me and the clean up.. I'm sorry for the mess all around, from my house all the way to my crazy emotions.. but I just really wanted to say thank you.. You being here for me when obviously no one else would, means more to me than you'll ever know.. You're an amazing man and I'm very happy to have met you." She nervously stutters out this sweet response while she slowly shuts the door behind her.

I think the faster she closed the door after her explaination, indicated to me that she was losing the little bit of confidence she had in her words like when she started. By the end of her explaination I could tell she was getting a little more freaked out from putting her feelings out there for me. But I'm happy she is trying to give me a chance by talking to me. That's a step in the right direction in my eyes.

But maybe I should try being honest with her about me and my feelings. Maybe I wouldn't have to steal these, maybe she would have given them to me and appreciated my honesty.

Or maybe she would have just instantly kicked me out and not giving me a chance at all. Is that worth risking for something I already stole from her? No.. and plus I don't actually need her to do for me.. I just want her approval of this for my own conscious.

So I'm going to say no because I like her and the amazing woman she is and don't want her to be disappointed or untrusting of me when this has only just started. I can put this behind us now that I have the stones and really start this relationship off right.

I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not a bad guy but there's that egging in the back of my mind as my hand sinks into my pocket playing with the silk bag. I could put it back before she even notices.. if she notices.. No if I do, it will ruin everything because there's a higher chance of her finding out now.. but keeping it could ruin everything.

I shake my head trying to get rid of those thoughts while turning as I toss the keys onto her bed, next to the safe with the gun in it.. I'm feeling like such an assh*le as I think about her wonderful words for me and what I'm doing to her.. But at the same time I'm stealing just stones from her, nothing else.. but also at the same time I'm calming her down, saving her life, and helping her feel better.. Aren't those almost better? Or evening the scales from good and bad.. at least?

I can't seem to convince myself that I'm a good person to her even though I know I am doing more good than bad.. I'm feeling like I'm so much lower than the dirt beneath this building. I wish I didn't have to take the stones.

She is so amazing and sweet, making this so much harder than it needs to be.. I honestly couldn't feel worse about betraying her like this.. But this is to ensure my family's safety and she is rich, so I'm sure she will be fine without it.

I can't help but beat myself up internally as I step over the shards of glass and wood in the hallway. I will have to come back and clean these up once I figure out what I'm making her for dinner first.

I walk quickly to the kitchen, searching the wall for a light. Brushing my hand across the open wall space, until I finally make contact with it. So I flick the light on without hesitation.

When my eyes adjust to the light, I glance around the room getting an idea of where everything is at, before I investigate. I start by walking over to the first door and opening it, discovering it's a pantry with many spices and dried items to cook with. After opening the pantry, then to the fridge to see the fresh items, then the freezer right after. I finally see some food in each area that I can cook properly, with a recipe in mind, so I don't look like a total newb.

I'm not the worst at cooking by any means, but I don't do it often.. But in the times I have cooked, I have learned a thing or two from my mother, helping me out with ideas or tips and tricks. So hopefully that will be good enough to impress her, plus making her feel better.. I pull out some frozen pork stakes and popping them into the microwave so I can quickly defrost them to cook.

I wander over to the broom and dustpan combo in the corner, then back to the hallway to start cleaning up the glass and wood on the floor, while I'm waiting for the meat to defrost. I grab the biggest chunks of them into my hands and taking them to the trash I spotted in the kitchen. I go back to the hallway, bending down and picking up the pictures that caused this outbreak. I hold the pictures over the dustpan, letting the peices of glass drift off of the pictures and to the dustpan.

When the chunks of glass are off of the pictures I can actually get a good look at them.. The picture looks magazine worthy. With the beaches and sunset in the background, plus their perfectly happy looking faces, they look like the happiest people you would ever see.. and probably want to be. Each picture looks exactly like this one but with a different setting as I pick them up, cleaning the glass off, one after the next just to observe them. brushing my hand over the top to see every last fantastic detail. That almost makes me jealous at the sight of her looking so happy with that douchb*g.