Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
“So, you forgot about me,” I whisper, pain clogging my throat.
“No, I never fuckin’ forgot about you. Not for a single fuckin’ second, but I didn’t know where you were. I had to trust you ended up somewhere safe, and I accepted I’d never see you again.”
“You could have checked!” I cry.
“I tried,” he barks. “I couldn’t find you, which is exactly how it was meant to be. I had to believe the best.”
“You believed whatever made you feel better!”
His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t argue.
He doesn’t argue because he knows I’m right.
He did do what made him feel better. Believing I was in a good place made him think that he had done the right thing, but deep down, I’m sure he knows he didn’t.
“Are those two men the only two that know?” I ask, my heart racing.
“As far as I know, yeah.”
“Then we need to have them taken out.”
“Yeah,” he agrees, his voice tight.
“What about the rest of it?”
“All the things you own?”
I nod, unable to fathom the amount that has been left to me.
“It’s up to you. You can do whatever you see fit with all of that, one thing is for sure, you’re a fuckin’ rich human.”
Yeah.
Rich in money ...
But what about the rest of it?
Life, love, happiness?
What about that?
Will I ever be rich in that?
13
THEN – COHEN
“What’s goin’ on?” I ask, standing at Aviana’s front door.
She has puffy eyes and she looks upset about something. I’ve never been to her house but have been trying to find a way to get over here since I started digging around in her family history. I need to know more about what her father is up to, and the only way for me to do that is to bug this place. I need to get in to bug it, and now is my chance.
I hate that I’m being dishonest with her, but she’s safer if she simply doesn’t know what I’m starting to learn.
Once I know the truth, the full truth, I might be able to tell her but, for now, it’s safer this way.
“I went on a date with this guy,” she hiccups. “He was really aggressive.”
My back goes up, and I find myself on high alert immediately. “What do you mean aggressive? Who is he? Where is he? Did he fuckin’ hurt you?”
She swipes under her eyes. “Well, we went on this date and after dinner he was driving me to the movies and when we stopped he started getting really grabby. I couldn’t get him to stop, I was really scared.”
“Did he do anything to you?”
She shakes her head. “I managed to punch him in the balls and get out. I ran off.”
I grit my teeth. “Who the fuck is this dick? I will take him the fuck out.”
She looks up at me, and a small smile spreads across her face. “I don’t know his full name, and I’m sure you would.”
“Find his fuckin’ name, give me his number, I don’t give a fuck. I’m payin’ that dog a visit.”
Her cheeks grow pink. “You’d do that for me?”
“Do fuckin’ anything for you.”
She stares at me like I’m giving her the fucking world, but all I’m doing is promising her nobody else will take that world from her.
“Give me his information, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt another woman.”
She bites her lip, glances past me, and then says, “My dad and brothers are out of town tonight, did you want to stay for a movie and pizza?”
I shouldn’t, mostly because I don’t trust myself around her, but also because I’m not being honest, but the fact is I need to plant these bugs and the only way to do that is to have access to her house. So, I nod. “Yeah, got nothin’ on.”
She smiles and steps aside. “Well, come in then.”
She shows me around her house, her very fucking big house, and then we settle in on a very big, very comfortable couch and start watching a movie while we wait for the pizza to arrive. She must get lonely in this fucking big house by herself, it feels like it’s never ending. Just a gigantic mansion.
“Your dad ain’t goin’ to flip if he sees me on the security footage, is he?”
She laughs and looks to me. “I turn that off when he’s not here. I don’t like him seeing everything I do.”
Smart girl, also dangerous considering that means she can’t tell if anyone is coming in. “That safe?” I ask her.
She rolls her eyes. “The house locks, you know. I don’t need cameras on me all the time.”
I chuckle, and then fiddle with the tiny camera in my pocket. Cost me a fucking lot of money to get this, but the only way I’ll know what her dad is up to is to put this in his office, which is convenient right now because Aviana turned the fucking cameras off. I can get in and out without being seen. I’m sure her dad doesn’t keep anything just lying around when he’s not here, but I’d like the chance to look anyway.