Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 59659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
The tightness in my chest released, and I smiled. "Really?"
"Really." He leaned forward and kissed me softly, taking a second to rest his forehead against mine as he pulled away. When he sat up, he looked earnest, like there was a long list of things going through his head and he knew he had to work through them but was determined to do it. "It's going to take some time to figure it all out, and I need to decide exactly what I'm going to do about all this. But what we have is important. I'm not going to just let it go."
23
VICTOR
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath as I hung up the phone.
When I heard what had happened with Sarah, I had mixed feelings even though I could recognize how beneficial it would be to me financially. Still, the headache that would come in the fallout was obvious, and I tried not to let myself get too excited.
That phone call was the reason why.
I scrolled through my contacts and found Mark’s number. Mark had always been the most responsible of our little group, the one who could be depended on to remember the little things and act like a grown-up.
“Hey, bud, what’s up?” Mark asked as he answered the phone.
“Hey man, I have a favor to ask you.”
“Sure,” he said, his reliable nature shining through immediately. “What can I do for you?”
“I have to go back to Maryland for a bit and just need someone to drop by my place once in a while and make sure the mail is brought in, stuff like that. I don’t have any plants to keep alive, just make sure the place isn’t broken into.”
Mark laughed. “I thought you had a girlfriend,” he said.
“Hey now,” I said. “I don’t know what Carmela is telling you, but Melanie and I have been keeping that all under wraps for now.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Still.”
“I don’t want to bug her with keeping up my place,” I said. “You know how things are when you’re still new.”
“I get it. No worries, brother. How long will you be out of town?”
“It might be a little bit. Maybe a month? Did Carmela tell you what I found out about Sarah?”
“She did,” he said. “I was waiting to talk to you about that. Seriously, what the fuck?”
“Man, I don’t even know,” I said. “I knew she was an ambitious ice queen, but this… it takes the cake.”
“Well, damn,” he said. “Anyway, yeah, I can keep an eye on your place. If you want to drop a key off at my practice, I’ll start going over there either on my way to work or back. It’s right on my way.”
“Awesome,” I said. “I will do that.”
“Can I ask if you know what’s going to happen with everything up there? I’m not trying to get all in your business, but I’m stressed out for you,” he laughed. “Getting arrested for embezzling is nuts. Did they think you were involved?”
“From what my lawyer says, they investigated me too, but figured out pretty quickly that I was clean,” I said. “She didn’t really start siphoning money until I was gone. Apparently, that’s what the whole business about her coming down here was. She wanted to bully her way into an ownership stake in the store so she could pay back what she took from the consulting firm.”
“Damn,” he said. “That is wild.”
“It is,” I said. “I have to go give some in-person interviews with the detectives and prosecutors and tie up some loose ends there. Eventually, if she’s going to go to prison, I need to figure out what to do about the house and all the stuff. It will probably all be sold off to pay her debts, but some of the paperwork still has my name on it, so I need to go figure things out.”
“Well, good luck, brother. I can’t imagine going through all that. How’s Melanie taking it?”
“Thanks,” I said. “She’s handling it well. She doesn’t know I have to head out of town for a month yet, though. I just found out and called you. I’ll be telling her tonight.”
“Oof,” he said. “All right, well, I’ll keep that under wraps from Carmela until tomorrow.”
I laughed. “Good idea.”
We chatted for a few more minutes, and when I hung up the phone, I at least had a plan for how to handle things going forward. All that was left was telling Melanie and then giving her the real surprise that I had held off on until now. The one that required I make a bunch of calls and set up before I approached her with it. The one that would make her the happiest I could make her.
I pulled up a chat message with Melanie and shot her a text asking if she wanted to go out to Mero’s and visit the store to talk about the future. She said she would love to, and I made the reservation, happy to be revisiting our new favorite place already. It would soften the blow of seeing the store completely demolished and telling her about my upcoming trip. But it would help set the scene for what I wanted to tell her about the future. About her future—ours if she wanted it.