Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
I said nothing, and not because Jamie kept talking, because I didn’t know what to say, and I still wasn’t certain about his mood.
“At this juncture, I have no idea if he’ll be smart. I don’t know if he’d be able to live with everyone knowing his girlfriend was with him to steal from him, or if he’d better be able to live with an arrest for insurance fraud. I know that sounds ludicrous, but it’s true, because that’s the kind of man he is. And he’s this regardless that he has to know fraud like that is a felony. At those amounts, he’d definitely be looking at massive fines and prison time. And he doesn’t have the money to pay a lawyer, and anything she left for him went down with that fire.”
“Jamie,” I said gently. “He must throw Paloma under the bus. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but he needs the insurance money.”
“He needs the insurance money,” Jamie murmured before picking up his phone.
I sat watching as he moved his thumb over the screen before putting the cell to his ear.
He caught my gaze briefly before he got up and moved toward the dining room, saying, “Yes, AJ, it’s me. We need to talk.”
Ugh.
My poor Jamie.
I turned back to our plates.
Jamie had cleaned his. What was left on mine was now cold, but regardless, I was no longer hungry.
Thus, I took them to the sink, rinsed them, swiped them with the handled sponge Alyona kept close, and put them in the dishwasher.
I set the skillets to soak and wiped down the counters so when Jamie was ready to make us lunch, he had a tidy kitchen.
He came back, glanced around and said, “I could have helped with that.”
“It wasn’t much.” I went to him and put both hands on his chest, he rested his on my waist, and I leaned into him. “I didn’t hear any shouting.”
“He asked if I’d buy the ranch.”
This was such a surprise, I sucked my cheeks into my teeth and bit them.
“Cute,” Jamie muttered, his gaze on my mouth.
I let my cheeks go and urged him to continue by saying, “Darling.”
“He did not know Paloma was stealing from him. He’s going to be pressing charges.”
My heart thumped with the shock of receiving confirmation of that news.
Jamie carried on, clearly reading my reaction. “He has no choice, sweetheart. It’s either put her down or go down with her. And I believe him when he says he had no idea she was taking things. I asked him about Chet, and he didn’t even know who that was.”
Truly, the woman needed to learn how to lose a lover.
“Are the G-Force going to lose their money?” I queried.
Jamie sighed. “I can make them whole, but, probably. Those items weren’t hers to sell. And unless she can prove that AJ gave them to her, as stolen property, they’ll have to be returned.”
I hoped the G-Force knew that before they called the police and the media.
“I don’t know if the fire was his idea or Jeff’s,” Jamie went on, “because he didn’t get into the fire. All I know at this point is, who I just talked to was a shattered man with all the fight kicked out of him. He’s humiliated. Paloma humiliated him. The only thing he has is that land, and if it goes through, the insurance payout. He wants to sell the land to me for what he owes on the note, which is not what it’s worth, especially now there’s no house or outbuildings on it, so that won’t be happening. But if he can get the payout, drill down the note, I’ll purchase it from him at a price the market will bear, and, from what he says the payout will be, he’ll have a nice sum to find someplace comfortable to live out the rest of his life.”
“Did you tell him you’d buy the ranch for a fair price?”
“Yes.”
“Was the call…antagonistic?”
Jamie suddenly appeared in mild pain. “He…” Jamie shook his head. “Fuck, Nora, he thanked me for calling.”
Oh, my Jamie.
I slid a hand up to curl it around his neck. “It seems, in some cases, revenge isn’t very sweet.”
“This isn’t that, darlin’,” he declared. “He’s not going to wheedle his way in because I’m the last one he’s got, and I’m not even his. But I’m not going to let the man my mother loved once in her life, even if he conned her into that love, end up homeless or whatever is to become of him.”
“You’re a good man, Jamie.”
“I’m my mother’s son, Nora.”
“Yes, like I said, you’re a good man, Jamie.”
His smile was small, but at least it was there.
“Paloma is in real trouble, isn’t she?” I asked.
“AJ said he doesn’t know all that she took, he does know it seems like it was hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of property, so, yes. She’s in a good deal of trouble.”