Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Only, here, it’s just me. So …
“Should I stretch?” I ask.
“What?”
“You’re doing the neck thing.”
He laughs, his chest shaking with the force. “I’m going to tell you something.”
“Oh, fuck.”
“And you’re going to listen and not panic and not start being bossy.”
“I make absolutely no promises with those terms and conditions.”
He shakes his head. “Ford’s meeting with your father right now.”
I spring off the cough. “What? Why’s he doing that?”
My heart pounds. Do they know something I don’t? Was I wrong this whole time? What the heck have they been doing and not telling me—about my life?
“I didn’t want to tell you this because it’s a theory.” His voice is too calm, like he’s talking to a wounded badger. “But I had a thought last night when I was digging around while you slept, and Ford’s checking it out today.”
“With my dad?”
He nods carefully.
My hands fly to my hips. “What’s the theory? And don’t tell me you joined everyone else and think that I’m being overly naive.”
“No one thinks that.”
“Yes, they do. And I even understand it a little bit. Joseph Dallo looks like a terrible person. I’d probably think I was naive, too. Except, I know I’m not. And I know he’s not behind this. Won’t you guys just freaking believe me?”
He smirks. “Are you done?”
I lift my chin. “I don’t know. Let me think about it.”
“The theory is that it’s Alexis.”
My jaw drops to the floor. “Alexis?”
Troy nods.
I sit beside him and let my brain sort that out.
“Did she know about you when they got married?” he asks.
“Um, I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.” I think back to the first few times I met them both. “Yeah, I don’t know. We have a weird relationship, which I guess is to be expected. I can’t really read whether she’s just naturally a colder person, or if she’s just chilly to me. Why?”
“Well, your dad married Alexis just a couple of months after your mother died. And it hit me last night that maybe she didn’t know about you, because you didn’t know about them for another year and a half, right?”
I nod.
“She’s thirty years old, Dahlia. She’s dating a man in his sixties. That had no kids until recently. And he is worth a lot of money if you believe even a fraction of the online guesstimates.”
Wow. “Okay. You suspect she married my dad for his money, thinking he was childless with a huge estate to go somewhere. So she marries him, plays the doting wife—”
“I’m not saying she’s digging gold. She might really love your father. But people factor children into marriages every day, and there’s not always that much coin on the line.”
That’s true.
“On another note,” I say. “Can you imagine being as wealthy as my father and never being able to trust anyone? You’d second-guess literally everyone that you come into contact with, wondering if they liked you or what you could do for them. That would be so crummy.”
“Yeah. I don’t have that problem. I know flat-out that you like me for my cock.”
I snort. “Among things.”
“There are other things.”
“Yes. But your sparkling personality isn’t one of them.”
He grabs me, sets me on the couch, and then kneels between my legs. His elbows rest on my knees as he smirks up at me.
“I’m sorry,” he says with complete genuineness. “I need to know this. I’m going to try to be the best man you’ve ever known.”
I touch the side of his cheek. “You already are.” I lower my mouth to his but pull back before he can deepen it. “And I need to know that you know that I don’t expect you to be perfect. I’m obviously not.”
We laugh together.
“And we’re going to have arguments, Troy. And we’re going to see things differently. And we’re gonna fuck up. Probably you more than me.”
I wink at him, making him laugh. The sound is music to my ears.
“We’re going to have to trust each other,” he says. “It’s a big deal to me. More than most people, I think. I can’t deal with people in my life that I can’t trust.”
“I understand. And I can’t deal with people in my life that don’t let me love them. It’s a part of who I am.”
A soft grin splits his cheeks.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing.”
“No, what?”
He shakes his head as if he’s embarrassed. It’s adorable, even if I don’t understand it.
“So what do we do now?” I ask. “We’re waiting on Ford to tell us if we can come home or if we need to stay on the run?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you think he’ll say?”
Troy shrugs. “I don’t know. It depends on what happens in their meeting, I guess.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Whatever keeps you safe. What do you want to do?”
I rest back on the couch and wonder what I’d choose if I could pick anything at all. Would I go home? Would I stay here? Would I fly to a tropical location and drink cocktails out of pineapples?