Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Olive was worried people would be afraid to come. Ben told her he had a good PR firm. Olive excused herself to say she wanted to call John’s house to talk to his mother again, who was there with the kids. Olive wanted to get John’s dad’s cell so she could go to the hospital and offer her help from here.
Ben and I talked and decided we’d reconvene in a few weeks, once John was ready to move forward. If he needed more time, I’d offer to be his proxy with the other investors, maybe. I’d do what I could to help him out.
John’s situation weighed on me. Felt like too much weight to even consider. I couldn’t begin to imagine what it was like to be him, but I wanted to take Tia and the rest of my family and shield them. Shield her from the fucked-up world around us so no one could take her from me.
On my way out the door, I texted my brother again. I’d talked to him briefly on video call a few hours earlier. He was in Thailand and I’d been vague but he knew the gist of what had gone down here. I was in the middle of sending the text when my phone rang. Zack Jacobs was calling.
“Yo,” I answered.
“Denarda?”
“Naw, man, this is Tommy. Wrong number.”
“Denarda? Status.” Zack’s voice had little patience.
I didn’t give a fuckin’ shit.
“What about him?”
“What happened to him? He dead?”
“I would know this information?”
“Investigation is done, Tommy. We’ve got enough to prosecute him for Tessa and for a whack of underage porn that’ll be found in his home once the warrant is executed. I’m sure it wouldn’t take much to pin the explosions on him, too.”
“Is that so?”
“Fuck,” Zack grunted. “He’s dead. Isn’t he?”
“Maybe if he is dead, he died knowing that the footnote about him will say he had a massive collection of kid porn. Maybe the guy that killed him whispered to the sick fuck what it’d say in the papers in his ear or somethin’. Not that I’d necessarily know about all that.”
Zack didn’t reply.
“Where are you?” I broke the long and loaded silence.
“You know where I am.”
Thailand.
“All right, let’s stop asking questions we both know the answers to. You want something else from me?”
“Guess not at the moment,” Zack grumbled.
“We need to talk about Romero when we’re all back home. You told my brother you’d go the extra mile to help him find his sister-in-law.”
“And I did find her,” Zack said. “He won’t give her up and he’s untouchable.”
“We’ll see about that. Meantime, you need to make sure that things go well for my brother and his wife, Zack. We don’t want her to have to get on the stand and re-live her nightmare and we sure as fuck don’t wanna change names.”
“I’m doin’ what I can here, Tommy, but–”
“Do more. Including thinking on how to help my brother out with his sister-in-law problem.”
He was quiet.
“Gimme a really fuckin’ good reason to put you on a list of strategic relationships that I won’t feel the need to end, Zack.”
A beat of silence and then, “Right.”
I ended the call.
9
Dare and I were walking on the beach. I wasn’t wired, so we had a minute alone. My other bathing suits were bugged, but I was wearing my one non-bugged bikini for this walk, per Dare’s directions on which one he wanted me to wear.
I was still pushing away my emotions about being here, of course, but it felt good, it was kind of fortifying, to take a minute out of being at Kruna to come back to the only part of the place that only had associations of Dare.
When we met, he brought me here, swam with me in his arms, on his back, built a sandcastle to occupy us and keep us away from the resort.
I felt almost euphoric walking down the beach with him today and I gave him a beaming smile to show it. I think he read my mind because he smiled back, then pulled me into his arms and kissed me passionately.
When his lips broke away, he undid my sarong and dropped it on the beach. I looked down at it, and then was scooped off my feet. He lifted me by my thighs and wrapped my legs around his waist, walking into the water with me in his arms, a look of pure lust on his face.
I knew he’d taken me to the beach on purpose. I’d told him back at home how great our walks on the beach here were for me.
Home.
I had a home. I had a home and family and a life. I had a husband who listened and gave me everything he could give me. More than I could ever dream of. I had friends. I met a girl named Shauna at my art classes that I’d gone for coffee with a few times. I’d gotten friendly with some of our neighbors in our building. I’d become close with my new sister-in-law, Tia. We had a lot in common and we hung out regularly. I liked Dare’s sisters, too. And Lisa. She didn’t trigger me. She bolstered my strength since she’d come back from her retreat. It was as if she was less broken.