Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
“Thank you.” I reached out and planted a feathery kiss on his right cheek. “We’ll have fun.”
“Highly doubt it.”
I shouted behind me, already running down the corridor with the pups. “Yes, we will.”
“Bring the dogs,” he muttered.
And just like that, my heart cracked open, and a little sunshine poured in.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Oliver
Romeo Costa: So. Dinner went well.
Zach Sun: If by well you mean the bottom of one, then yeah. Super well.
Ollie vB: Now all that’s left is for Dallas to do her part.
Zach Sun: Relying on Dallas to do anything is only slightly less risky than relying on Nixon with the keys to a loaded vault.
Romeo Costa: Speaking of my wife, I just came back from the McLaren dealership. Got Dallas cars in twelve different shades so she’ll always match her outfits.
Zach Sun: Did the same for Farrow yesterday, but with Pagani.
Romeo Costa: This is not a dick-measuring contest, Zach.
Ollie vB: Obviously. Ya’ll know I’d win. No contest.
Ollie vB: So, why are you telling us this?
Romeo Costa: Glad you asked. Because at the dealership, I overheard a conversation between two gentlemen, who swore up and down that you’re a member of the Grand Regent board.
Zach Sun: Care to comment on this?
Ollie vB: My father sometimes sends me to remind his employees that things can get much, much worse if I take over.
Romeo Costa: See, I considered this. But the same gentleman insisted to me that you’re coherent, levelheaded, and shockingly good at what you do.
Ollie vB: Are you sure this was a McLaren dealership and not a rehab? Day drinking is not THAT common.
Zach Sun: Are you hiding the fact that you’re smart from us, Oliver?
Ollie vB: Negatory.
Ollie vB: I mean … Nagatury.
Zach Sun: I always suspected you were smart.
Romeo Costa: Your story about returning from summer vacation with a partial lobotomy that docked your IQ never made sense.
Zach Sun: Your investment portfolio is solid.
Romeo Costa: And you speak four languages.
Zach Sun: And you’re an ATP-certified pilot.
Romeo Costa: And you weren’t dumb enough to get in bed with the headache known as my sister-in-law.
Zach Sun: No offense, Rom, but it’s not like Dallas is a walk in the park.
Ollie vB: More like a run in Jurassic Park.
Romeo Costa: Careful now. You seem mighty attached to those balls. I’d hate to make them a car charm for Dallas to hang on one of her new rearview mirrors.
Ollie vB: She’s more likely to try frying them with caramelized onions and figs.
Zach Sun: Why didn’t you tell us you have a job, Oliver?
Ollie vB: It’s hardly a job. My family can’t fire me.
Romeo Costa: What else are you hiding from us?
Ollie vB: Just those three bodies.
Ollie vB: Oh, and don’t ask me where I was during that Zodiac killer era.
Romeo Costa: By the way, Dallas did, indeed, arrive at your place.
Ollie vB: I’m aware.
Romeo Costa: She’s having a lot of fun with Briar.
Ollie vB: If Dallas ruins her, I am suing you for emotional damage.
Zach Sun: Careful or we’ll have to conclude that you actually want to marry this woman.
Romeo Costa: It will be a cold day in hell when Oliver von Bismarck walks down an aisle that doesn’t belong in a Walgreens to buy some more lube.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Briar
I’d spoken too soon.
Oliver had not, in fact, decided to stop shadowing me. Unless, of course, you considered five calls in thirty minutes adequate personal space.
The Costa household’s sleek cordless phone rang. Oliver’s name flashed on the green-lit screen.
Make that six.
I clicked the answer button, interrupting him before he could speak, “Are you sure she’s my friend?”
His deep chuckle filled the other line. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
“Maybe the dozen or so red flags.”
“Dallas? Red flags? She’s perfectly normal.”
“Normal?” I wore Luca in a BabyBjorn, stroking the thick mane of dark hair on his head with one hand and holding the phone up to my ear with the other. “She brought a paperback to the house earlier.”
“She’s literate. Some would call that a wonderful quality.”
“Then she whipped out her Kindle.”
“Perhaps she got bored of the paperback.”
“Nope. She got hungry.”
“Don’t tell me she ate the Kindle?”
“She used it as a bookmark. For her paperback.”
Imagine my shock when the woman flipped the special edition open, wedged the Kindle between its pages, and slammed the book shut, discarding it on her coffee table.
Oliver offered a hmm, the clatter of a keyboard audible through the call. “People have quirks. That’s normal.”
I paced the length of Dallas and Romeo’s living room, enjoying the change of scenery from our mansion. “Then we drove to get Taco Bell.”
“Fast food is normal, too.” The keys paused their pitter patter. “Are you allowed to have it during your recovery?”
“That’s beside the point, Doctor Cohen.” I swung my head around, double checking the woman in question hadn’t re-entered the home. “Dallas used the car’s sunglasses compartment as a taco holder between lights.”