Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
I never meant to hurt you, but you’re smart, Len. One of the smartest people I’ve ever met. You know as well as I do that we were never meant to be, and maybe, if I was less of a coward, I would have been able to end things with us a long time ago, but I honestly didn’t know how you’d handle things. You’d already lost so much in your life, so each time, I’d chicken out before the words I meant to say ever left my mouth.
The truth is that don’t know how to cope with your anxiety issues, but I also realize I never took the time to really understand them. I think that says a lot. You deserve happiness, Len, someone who really understands you, who can make you better, but I think we both know that person was never going to be me.
I know you have reserves in our joint account to last you through the year while you hunt for a job, but I’ve made sure that more money is going to be added to cover all of the bills and the mortgage for two years. Or, you can sell the house and use the profits to get your GED and go back to school or use them to pursue whatever dreams you might have for your life. I don’t even know what those dreams are, and I’m sorry I never bothered to ask.
I hope you find happiness, and I’m sorry. For taking the coward’s way out. For not being who you deserved. For all the wrong I’ve done.
-Jared
* * *
“It was Yuli who drained my account and wanted me to suffer. She said as much,” I say to Nine, who reads the letter over my shoulder. “It wasn’t Jared.”
“So, when he said that his scheme was his girlfriend’s idea, he wasn’t even talking about you.”
“No, he was talking about Yuli.”
Nine folds up the letter, “I hate him a little less now, even though he’s still a fucking coward, but one who cared about you, in his own way. That is the one thing I can’t fault him for.”
I shrug. “I guess, but it doesn’t change anything. You and your friends and the MC are still out a couple of million dollars. You can’t invest in your brother’s company like you wanted.”
He doesn’t seem fazed by my mention of the money, but the truth is it keeps me up most nights. “But does it help? Does it give you some sort of closure?” he asks.
I think for a moment. “Yeah, it does. In a way, but I already had my closure, through golf club therapy.”
Nine smiles and presses a chaste kiss to my forehead. “Then, it’s all that matters.” He picks up the other envelope and tears it open. It’s some sort of official-looking notice from Mutual of America. His eyes go wide.
“What is it?” I ask, fearing what else could possibly go wrong.
He hands the document to me, and it doesn’t take me long to understand the reason behind Nine’s surprised reaction. It’s a life insurance policy Jared had taken out years ago on himself. It states something about his parents who had him declared missing and legally presumed dead and something else about the enclosed death certificate, but that’s not what’s shocking. The benefits, in the amount of three million dollars, are to be paid out at the time of his death to the beneficiary.
I gasp and cover my mouth when I get to the bottom of the page and read the name.
The beneficiary is me.
Epilogue
LENNY
Another month later…
I use Jared’s money to pay back Nine and his friends. At first, Nine refused, promising he’d find some way to pay them back himself, but I told him it was either that or I was tossing the bank check from the top of the causeway.
He gave in.
The remainder of the money was used to donate to a charity, supporting foster children and the volunteers like Nine who represent them in court. A few more training sessions and I will be a guardian of the court as well.
We’re standing in front of one of Dre’s most recent renovation projects. It’s a perfect little old Florida style bungalow with flower boxes and a white fence and I’m in awe of her work. It’s perfect in every way. No detail spared.
“It’s incredible,” I say. “But where’s Dre? Isn’t she meeting us here? I thought she wanted my opinion on the value?”
I turn around to face Nine who's holding up a key.
“No, she didn’t want to wait around and witness what I’m going to do to you inside.” His voice is dark and full of wicked promise.
I shiver under the blazing heat of the sun and his words. “I don’t think she wants us messing around in her house.”