Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
I didn’t care if I had a tiny studio that charged rent by the week or a fancy place with a doorman and an elevator. I didn’t need much. What mattered was that Bonnie’s death had highlighted how little I actually knew about the Ashbys, and how foolish I was to trust them so implicitly.
Hell, her death circled it with a red pen, highlighted it in bright yellow, and then lit it up in neon lights.
Over the past week, I’d walked in on hushed conversations, secretive looks, and a lot of sudden quiet when someone—usually me or Cal—entered a room. Something was going on behind my back, too much deception, and I knew if I wanted any answers, I’d have to find them myself.
“Where are you off to?” Cal stood in the doorway of the living room, stretching his long limbs and smiling at Ava’s sleeping form in the bassinet where she napped during the day. I’d been keeping watch over her since noon.
I blinked up at him. “Who said I was going anywhere?”
“Really?” He arched a playful brow at me and gave my body a long look. “You’re dressed in real clothes, not just jeans and a t-shirt but actual clothes. You look like you’re headed to a job interview.”
I looked down at the black pants and pink top I wore, shrugging to concede the point. “Don’t worry. I have no plans to jump ship.” Not yet, anyway, and not if I didn’t have to.
“So you are going somewhere?”
“Yeah, I have a few things I need to take care of, so your break is perfect timing.” It’s why I’d gotten dressed before he stopped for lunch, to give myself enough time to take care of my shit and get back before he went back to his computer cave.
“I’m not trying to check up on you, Madison. I’m just curious.”
“I know, but this is—I don’t know, Cal. I’m not ready to talk about it yet, that’s all.”
“All right. Just know that if and when you’re ready, I’ve been told I’m a good listener.” He flashed a crooked smile, and I instantly felt bad that I put Calvin in the same box as the rest of his family. As far as I knew, he’d been nothing but honest with me. “I also want you to know how much I appreciate you helping out with Ava. She loves you.”
I smiled down at the sleeping little girl and gave her back a gentle rub. “I love her too and looking after her is no hardship. I used to babysit when I was a kid.” It was crap money, but it was my money, which meant I could always eat or buy a pair of jeans when I needed them.
“You should probably get going, right? I’ll take a long lunch so you don’t have to rush back.”
“Really? Thanks, Cal. You’re the best.”
I dropped a soft kiss on Ava Rose and made a quick stop to get my purse and keys, and jumped in my car, putting Ashby Manor in my rearview mirror, at least for now.
It probably wasn’t smart, what I was about to do, but I had a feeling that Kat had been lying to me about Molly’s whereabouts.
She never came right out and said whether or not she and Terry had found my sister and each time I asked for an update on her alleged search, her answers grew more and more vague. There was one person I knew had the answers I was searching for. The question was, would she give me those answers?
She might have changed her name from Savannah Rhymer to Savannah O’Connor, sold off her fancy family estate, and bought a shiny new office building, but that didn’t change who or what she was.
She was still a fucking monster. And for some damn reason, I was headed right into the belly of the beast.
Inside the lobby of the five-story building, I faced a giant black desk manned by a woman with straight blonde hair, pale skin and a bitchy smile on her face. “How may I help you?”
“You can’t,” I told her and strolled past the desk toward the bank of elevators on the left.
“You can’t just walk in without warning,” she barked at me, her heels clicking at a fast clip behind me. “You need an appointment and an escort.”
“I’m here to see your boss, Savannah. She’s available, right?”
Ms. Heels sighed and nodded toward the sleek black desk. “Why don’t you follow me, and I’ll see if I can get you in to see her?”
“Or you could just escort me up?”
A moment later, a burly security guard came down on the second elevator and eyeballed me warily. “You Madison?”
“Yep.”
“Come on,” he grunted and stepped back inside the elevator. The ride up wasn’t that long but the guard managed a few good warnings. “Next time, just call.”