Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77016 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77016 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“She hasn’t? Then how does Apple know? Betsy?”
“She most likely told Betsy before the agreement. As for Apple, she’s family and was there, so she probably witnessed a lot of what went on.” I shove my hands in my pockets. “Addie’s still a spoiled brat at heart. The stalking never stopped, Skye. In fact, it continues to this day.”
“So that’s how…”
“It’s no doubt how she knew about the nipple clamps. The anal plug. Our breakup. She’s had me watched since then. What she doesn’t know is that I’ve had her watched since I could afford to. If she steps out of line, I’ll know it, and I’ll stop it.”
“You don’t consider her knowing about an anal plug out of line?”
“My place is as secure as it gets. Yours isn’t. At least not yet. I didn’t feel it was right to have security installed in your home without telling you first.”
“Good call,” she says.
“Addie is virtually harmless. I ignore her, for the most part, but sometimes the devil on my shoulder gets the better of me. I can’t be too upset about that, though. It is, after all, how you and I met.”
She smiles. “Your comment on her coffee post. Of course.”
“The woman hates coffee. She always has. Sometimes it’s something so small like that that sets me off.”
“I get it. Honestly.”
“I’m sure you do, after working for her.”
“She knows I love coffee, and do you know she never once offered to give me the drink? She always threw it out.”
“Not surprising,” I say. “Everything’s disposable to her.”
“Except for you.” She frowns.
“Apparently. She never got over me. But it may be because of my money and status now.”
Skye pauses a moment. Then, “I don’t think so. I think she’d still be after you no matter what. But we can’t live like this, Braden. I can’t live my life knowing she’s watching every move I make.”
“She might be watching you anyway,” I say. “After all, you’re in her territory now.”
“Meaning I have you?”
I chuckle. “No, Skye. I was never her territory. I’m talking about social media influencing.”
She scoffs. “I’ll never be where she is.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You have something she doesn’t.”
“You?” She giggles.
“You’re incorrigible. No. You have you. You have Skye Manning, and Skye Manning is a real person. A person everyone relates to. Your gift is you.”
She is simply Skye, and if it takes me the rest of my life, I’m going to convince her that she’s truly special.
That she’s a gift.
The most precious gift I’ve ever been given.
“I’ll love you forever for saying that, Braden.” She wraps her arms around my neck.
“I’ll love you forever just because you’re you,” I say back.
Chapter Forty-Seven
“That’s how I know Addie isn’t over you. Because you’re you. You’re Braden. You’re not a construction worker. You’re not a billionaire. You’re just Braden Black, and you’re incredible.”
I smile. Really smile. Perhaps she gets that she’s a gift. And perhaps she feels the same way about me.
But my smile lasts only a moment. I’m still no longer a man of my word.
And she knows. She knows I had help getting to where I am today.
“What’s the matter?” she asks.
“You know my secret now.”
“About you and Addie. Yeah. I’m sorry she got hurt.”
“So am I, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I always wanted to be rich on my own terms, but I’m not. You know I had help setting up my company.”
“You mean Brock Ames’s money?”
I nod.
She laughs. She seriously laughs almost uncontrollably.
“I don’t see what’s funny about that from where I’m standing.”
“Aren’t you the one who told me that opportunity is opportunity? That I should use all resources available to me as I build my career? My God, I spent weeks thinking I wasn’t good enough. That I was only wanted because I was Braden Black’s girlfriend. Even that the contacts I had were from Addie.”
I can’t help a slight smirk. This woman forgets nothing.
And besides, my advice was sound.
“And besides, it wasn’t Brock Ames’s money. It was your money. You and he made a deal.”
“Which I just broke.”
“For me. For us. And you have my word that the story won’t leave this room. I swear on my mother’s life. On my father’s life. On my own life. On my love for you.”
I give a half smile.
“Besides,” she goes on, “you had an ironclad stalking case against Addison. You dropped it in exchange for half a million dollars and assurance that you wouldn’t be prosecuted for something you didn’t do. Brock Ames probably got off cheap. It would have cost him a lot more to fabricate a case against you and pay off everyone to see things his way.”
“All true,” I agree.
“So it wasn’t Brock’s money. It was yours.”
I chuckle then, shaking my head. “This right here. This is why I love you, Skye.”
“This is why you love me? Because I helped you see something you already knew?”