Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Chapter Forty-Two
Bella
We eat waffles, but I barely taste them.
My mind is playing a million war games and not many of them end with us victorious. I’m worried. Is one of those statements, you could call an understatement, tenfold? Nothing feels under control and while yes, I consider myself a control freak anyway, having none messes with me, which I feel to my core. The only comfort I find is that Tyler, who makes my version of “control freak” look like I’m not one at all, is at ease over breakfast. Almost as if he knows what I do not, and I need to be enlightened. Dash isn’t much different, which leads me to believe they’ve talked outside of this breakfast.
At one point, Allie looks between them and says, “What do you two know that we do not?”
“I think Tyler has a good plan,” Dash says and offers nothing more.
I turn to Tyler. “What don’t I know?”
“Dierk ran into Withers during his morning coffee shop stop this morning. They talked. Per Withers my father wanted me to find my enemy, the Allen family, and control them. He used Withers to get that done. And yes, Withers also works for the Allen family, but because he is captive to them. If they own you, they own you. On the other hand, he was friends with my father. Withers helped him control the Allen family, and now he wants us to believe he’s helping me do the same.”
“Why kidnap me?”
“Because the Allen family believes I have whatever my father had on the family, and because I have you, I can be controlled.”
“But you don’t have it,” I argue.
“Neither did my father. Or so he thinks. It sounds like bullshit to me. According to Withers, my father made the Allen family think he had whatever it was they’re scared of. Withers doesn’t know the details, but from this point, I have to make him believe I do until I do. I need to control them. I need a way.”
“We’re working on that,” Dash says. “And the partner meeting might be the answer. Someone knows something. Tyler’s going to give them a reason to talk.”
“We can only bluff so long,” I say. “Then what?”
“We’ll handle it,” Dash says. “Dierk and I will use our CIA and FBI resources to make them believe we’ve stuffed charges as favors to Tyler.”
“It feels very dark and very iffy to me,” Allie says, plucking the thoughts out of my head.
The doorbell rings. “That will be the pet nanny,” Tyler says, pushing to his feet and taking me with him, his hands settling on my arms. “We got this, baby. I swear to you, we got this, and I’ll say it again, I got you. I will never let them come near you again.” He’s a private person, but he drags me close and murmurs, his voice low and raspy, “I love you too damn much to ever let that happen.”
I believe him. I do. But I’ve also learned how cruel the world can be.
My mother is dead, and my father would have done anything to save her.
It’s a conversation for later, and maybe after I see how today goes with the partners, but one thing I know for sure. We have to end this with finality. And we need to get married sooner rather than later. I want to know we both knew the other said ‘yes’ if this ends badly.
Chapter Forty-Three
Tyler
I walk into my office to find Gavin waiting on me at my conference table. He pushes to his feet, his hand on a stack of files. “We’re ready. Is Bella joining us? How is she?”
“I’m fine,” Bella says from the door. “I was going to swing by my office and drop off my stuff, but I just don’t feel like chatting before the meeting.” She walks to the coffee table in the sitting area and sets her bag down. “Let’s just do this.” Her blue-eyed, intelligent stare pins Gavin. “Are you really on our side?”
“A hundred percent,” he assures us. “I was pressuring him to get married to protect him and his interests.”
“And yours.”
“I don’t deny that as fact. Yes, and mine. And yours. And everyone at this firm who needs him in the driver’s seat. And getting married is how he locks in his role as controlling partner, but I always thought you were the best choice for his bride.”
“Because I didn’t want his money?”
“You don’t. You want him. That’s about as good as it gets. But you’re also smart, levelheaded, and someone who brings value to the firm. I don’t believe anyone will think you slept your way to the top, Bella. You don’t need this job. You walked in here with something to prove to yourself, and you proved it to the world in the process. You’re his equal as his mother never was to his father.”