Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 158191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 791(@200wpm)___ 633(@250wpm)___ 527(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 158191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 791(@200wpm)___ 633(@250wpm)___ 527(@300wpm)
Absinthe waited as did everyone else. There was more and none of them were going to like it.
Code sighed and continued rubbing his neck. “Holden Sr. couldn’t talk his wife out of divorce, and it’s turned really nasty. She’s dug up all sorts of dirt on him in light of that letter. She was an heiress and there was a prenup, and naturally quite a bit of it had to do with cheating on her. If she can prove that he did, and her PI has turned up quite a few women his enforcers are having a difficult time intimidating, he isn’t going to have quite such a cushy life. That being said, he’ll still have millions. He also is planning on taking out a contract on his wife. He hasn’t done so yet. He wants to make certain nothing can come back on him, but I’ve seen the exchanges with the head of his security company.”
Absinthe continued to wait, feeling as if he was holding his breath. He felt as if the entire club was. Code’s assessments were always right on point.
“Holden Sr. blames his entire world falling apart on Scarlet. He believes she’s taken everything from him. I don’t think for one moment that he’s finished with her. He’ll wait until the heat dies down, just the way she did, but he believes she killed his son. He doesn’t know how, but he holds her responsible. Not only for the death of his son, but also his two friends. Now, for his divorce. I think he’s going to come after her.”
Absinthe was certain Scarlet thought the same thing. That was why she was always so careful. So, what was she doing in the restaurant the other night in front of the window? They had so many secrets between them. That had to stop if they were going to be a couple and work together toward any kind of a future. He wanted that. The big question was, did she?
She was skittish and after everything he’d learned, he didn’t blame her. He was going to have to find a way to reel her in. That meant coming as clean as possible. He would have to do his best over the next few days to persuade her to come to him. If that didn’t work, he would make another trip to the library. If that didn’t work, he was damn well going to fall back on what he did know would work—with regret—his voice.
EIGHT
Scarlet was thankful the library was closed and she had time off—three days in a row. She needed to talk to Absinthe. She’d thought about nothing else over the last few days. He’d called her every night and texted her multiple times during the day. She looked forward to every call, every text, too much so. It was time to make up her mind. She either had to commit to a relationship with him and that meant coming clean—or as clean as she could without going to prison—and risking everything or telling him she didn’t want to see him again.
She couldn’t imagine not seeing Absinthe again. He was her one chance at happiness. She had been so certain her life was over. She would live within the walls of a library, inside of books, and be okay with that because she’d made that choice after Robert Barnes-Holden Jr. and his friends had destroyed her younger sister and all but taken her life. She knew she shouldn’t blame them for what her stepfather and mother had done, but she still did. She’d lost her entire family because those men had thought they could savagely assault a young girl.
She would always feel guilt that she fought back. She couldn’t help playing the “if” game. If she hadn’t fought back and gotten the knife they claimed she’d taken from one of their belts—that had been a lie; she’d really knocked it out of Robert’s hands when he’d threatened her with it—then most likely they never would have gone near her baby sister. They would have done what they always did, had Daddy’s lawyers buy her off with money or, if that didn’t work, Daddy would have sent his MC “security team” to intimidate her into shutting up. There were so many “what-ifs.” So many regrets.
She would have to tell Absinthe about her family and about her time spent overseas and the threat Holden Sr. represented. She couldn’t admit guilt because incriminating herself would be just plain stupid and she wasn’t that. She’d worked hard to ensure she had airtight alibis for every death. She could live with what she had done. Absinthe shouldn’t have to, but he had to know there was a possible threat and it could turn very ugly fast.
Still, just the idea that she might actually have a real chance of being with a man like Absinthe. That he’d just walked in out of the blue and found her. He was … everything. Perfect. Just thinking that way was exciting. She was really going to do it—commit to a relationship with him. It was scary to actually think she could jump off that cliff with both feet and trust a man enough to have the kind of a real connection she wanted and needed to have with a partner.