“Then consider it done.”

She looked around. “Is it in a bag under my bed?”

“Of course not. It’s in your bank account.”

Marina grabbed her phone and accessed her account. Sure enough, her balance had increased by ten thousand, but there was no sign of a recent transaction.

“That is a really cool trick,” she said.

“We think so.”

“Okay, so I have to go to work this morning. I expect that’s going to be a mess, but I have a client first thing and I won’t let her down unless I have no option. I will do everything possible to find the ring, but I can’t take a complete hiatus from my life. I’ve got a job—today anyway—a divorce to get processing, a house that needs serious attention, a crazy mother in lockdown, and a college-student daughter that could explode into drama any second. If I let all of that slide for even seven days, the world won’t be worth saving. Not for me, anyway.”

“I get it. You have responsibilities. The fact that you stand by your word is actually encouraging. I am sure you will commit your best to procuring the ring. So do you have a plan?”

She blinked. “Well, I’m going to put on clothes meant for public and go to work. Beyond that, I haven’t thought about it. But I will. Can we meet later so I can get more details?”

“You know where to find me,” he said and headed out the door.

She hurried over as the door closed and yanked it open, but Alexios had already vanished. She glanced around, wondering if his invisible condo was hovering over her yard and if he could see her. Just in case, she waved at nothing and headed back inside.

It was time to face the kraken.

At five minutes till ten, Marina walked into the Cut & Curl with her shoulders back and a smile on her face. She looked and felt better than she had in years. And why the hell not? She had enough money in her bank account to cover her small expenses for months and with nothing tying her down anymore, she could consider options. She’d never thought about leaving Last Chance before, but if that was where her future lay, then it was going on her list. And the best part was, she didn’t have to make any decisions right away because if Alexios was telling the truth, then all of this was going to hell in a handbasket in a week unless she found a magical ring that no one for centuries before her had managed to find.

Patricia was going to be very disappointed when she realized Marina had no fucks left to give. The entire drive into town, every insult, slight, and sneer that had come from her boss had replayed in her mind like one big, never-ending sea of crap, starting from kindergarten and going right up to three days ago.

For the life of her, Marina couldn’t think of a single good reason why she’d taken it. In the early years, things would have been tight without her paycheck, but in the last ten years, there really hadn’t been any motivation for her to endure the continued abuse. Over the last two days, her somewhat blurry past had slowly come into focus. And Marina didn’t like what she saw.