Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 207002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1035(@200wpm)___ 828(@250wpm)___ 690(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1035(@200wpm)___ 828(@250wpm)___ 690(@300wpm)
Three sets of eyes shot to me. “Say what?” Teddy asked. “How on earth would you do that? You’re as penniless as we are.” He laughed under his breath. “Unless you’re going to get your old job back working for your previous landlord, Griffen Yule, in Townsville?”
“No. They’re not allowed to leave yet, remember?” Eddie said, shuddering. “I need time to say goodbye to our little moonbeam. Not sure how I’m gonna cope not hearing her darling voice in the morning.”
Neri gave him a hug. “We’re not going anywhere yet, Ed. You have my word. Aslan can move in with us and—”
“Reject the job, Theodore,” I cut in. “Stay with Lunamare.” I tried to fight my smile but couldn’t. “How much did you say you needed? To start breaking ground on building whatever pods or bubbles you’ve designed?”
Eddie and Teddy shared a frown before bursting into laughter. “Why? You got a spare couple of million lying around, Aslan?”
“Ha, good one.” Eddie snickered and tapped his bottle with Teddy’s. “Wait...don’t you mean ten million? It’s easily gonna be north of—”
“Done.” I crossed my arms. “Ten million to start with. More when you need it. I’ll have the funds transferred in the morning.”
“Wait...” Neri froze. “What...what do you mean? How...how is that possible?” She swayed on the spot and tripped toward me. “Aslan...?”
Chuckling under my breath, I pulled out my phone from my borrowed shorts, pulled up the app for Cem’s bank accounts—my bank accounts—and put in the password I had yet to change.
Cem had been nothing but nostalgic and had used my birthday as the log-in. Hardly secure and it was on my very long list of things to change but it was also rather...sweet.
For all his short-comings and all the pain he’d put me through, he’d given me everything he’d ever created, and in a way, that made my forgiveness far easier to give.
“It’s not dirty money. Actually, that’s a lie.” I passed my phone to Neri, the blue light of the screen etching her face. “It’s laundered, sure. But it can’t be traced back to the illegal ways he got it. And you have my word the rest will be clean because I’m not running the same business he was. I understand if you’d rather not touch it—considering where it came from, but I’d like it to be used for good, even if it came from something bad.”
I shot Neri a look, making sure she remembered not to say what shady businesses I meant or what I’d promised to do in return for my visa to be granted and access to Australia reinstated.
Her eyes dropped from mine, glued to the phone, then snapped closed as if she’d pass out. “Holy shit, I-I can’t breathe.”
I shot forward and scooped her into my arms. Taking the phone, I chuckled. “Did you think I’d returned to you like you’d first found me? Shipwrecked with nothing in his pockets?”
“H-How many zeroes did I just see?” She blinked and shook her head. “I-I’m in shock.”
“Nine.”
“Hold up.” Teddy raised both his hands. “Nine zeroes? You have a figure with nine zeroes behind it?”
“It clocked from eight to nine last week.”
Eddie’s face went white. “You’re telling me you have over a billion dollars?”
Neri’s legs buckled. I gathered her tight and kissed her forehead. “We have a billion dollars.”
“I-I can’t take it,” Neri whispered. “It-It wouldn’t be right. That money is yours.”
“No. It’s his. But I’m happy to take it for what he put us through. And I seem to remember that I’m on those business documents for Lunamare. So...as the fourth member of this company, I say I want to invest. Ten million, a hundred million, I don’t care. Every penny is yours, canım, because I believe in you, and you believe in this, and I have no doubt that one day, we will all be living under the sea...exactly where you belong.”
*
Two months later...
*
We waited until sunset, welcoming both the sun and the moon to bless us.
Ayla appeared first, skipping and twirling down the shell-bordered pathway, her bare feet kicking up sand, her pale-pink dress full of frills and rhinestones. She scattered yellow rose petals as she came, her hand diving into the little basket before tossing another flurry of lemon.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
My heart tripped over itself, a symptom of too much electricity and far too much love.
The waves licked up the shore of Low Isles, lapping over my right ankle and foot.
I’d changed my prosthetic to a simple ergonomic blade. The slight curve and clever engineering was salt-proof, waterproof, and flexible enough that I found walking on sand far easier than a carbon pylon.
Behind me, the lighthouse turned on as the sky bled with crimson, peach, and lilac. The sunset was almost as pretty as the aurora australis that’d presided over our first marriage and consummation.