Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 41105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
“Why the hell did you defy me and buy a one-way plane ticket after I told you not to leave?”
“I didn’t.” My voice is hoarse. “I think Kylie did it. Just in case. But I’m not going anywhere.”
He studies me, expression unreadable.
“Good,” he says. “Because you don’t get to run from this.”
End of Episode 12
Dangerous Delusions
EPISODE 13
Ryder
Three Days Later
Autumn hasn’t said a word since we left Resno’s.
We’re both seated in the backseat of a town car, the silence between us louder than anything outside.
She counted four million in real money and eight million in counterfeit. The last person I had in her position miscounted, and it took him six days. Her count perfectly matched the machine’s.
“Pull over here, please,” I say suddenly.
The driver nods and obeys.
I step out of the car and walk to her side, opening the door.
“Get out,” I say, my voice firm.
She obliges, and I pull her close to the bridge’s guard rail. We’re forty feet above the sea, and the hairs on the back of my neck are slowly rising one by one.
“Thank you for your services, Miss Jane,” I say, looking into her eyes. “I appreciate what you’ve done.”
“You could’ve told me this in the car.”
“I didn’t want the driver eavesdropping.”
“On a thank you?”
“You’ve been quite the distraction for me,” I say. “And normally, I would—” I stop myself, letting the first part of that sentence linger in the air. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“That you’ve been a problem for me from day one,” I say. “On the one hand, I would like to keep trying to solve you.”
“And on the other?”
I pull her against my chest instead of wasting my limited time with questions. I press my lips against hers, kissing her, but… she doesn’t kiss me back.
Her arms stay at her sides. Her mouth is still.
And then I know.
She’s not here.
None of this is.
The sea disappears in a blink. The hiss of a cigar replaces the crashing waves.
I open my eyes, and I’m not standing on the bridge. I’m on my balcony, and Chester is across from me, puffing on a cigar, watching me like I’ve lost my fucking mind.
“Guess how much was real and how much was fake,” he says, exhaling a ribbon of smoke.
“Sounds like a double entendre…”
“Twelve million real,” he says. “Six million fake.”
“Noted.” I nod, realizing Autumn will need to be picked up in reality from Resno’s soon.
“Want to hear a joke?” Chester asks.
“Not particularly.”
“I’ll go for it anyway. Knock knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Fucking up.”
I set down my paper. “Fucking up, who?”
“I’m going to fuck you up if you don’t stay focused.”
“That’s a terrible punchline.”
“They’ll be here in three weeks.” He slides a photo onto my desk, and my blood instantly runs cold.
“All of them?”
“Yes,” he says. “Apparently they want to dance on your grave before they kill you.”
I run my finger along the men’s necks, envisioning, like I have so many times before, slitting them, killing them—like they nearly killed me.
“Will you be ready?”
“Always.”
“Good.” He snatches it away. “I’ll do you a favor today then, but this family shit stops after.”
I arch a brow, confused.
“Your daughter wants to make brownies before her violin session, and I’ve decided to help.”
“Thank you.”
“Get rid of Miss Jane once she’s done with the money,” he says. “You’ve used her, and she should be cut off once and for all. Let me know where you leave her.”
“I could’ve sworn I was in charge.”
“You are, but I’m in charge of making sure you’re alive,” he says. “You can’t afford to let decades of work fall away over someone you’ve known for weeks.”
“Months,” I counter. “Technically, years…”
“Except she doesn’t—and will never—know that, so spare me the semantics.” He pulls a bullet from his pocket and slides it across my desk. “Treat her like everyone else who’s ever gotten in the way.”
“There have been exceptions.”
“I’ll stand here until you tell me one.” He glances at his watch, waiting, but I don’t say a word.
He leaves my office, and I take the bullet and roll it between my fingers.
There was definitely an exception before, but we don’t talk about it. We just accept it and move on, and half of me wants to do the same for Autumn.
I slide the bullet into my gun to account for the other half.
End of Episode 13
Behind the Mask
EPISODE 14
Autumn
The Real ‘Three Days Later’
Ryder’s estate spans fifty acres, bordered on all sides by dense groves of towering evergreens that seem to close the world out completely. The winding drive cuts through perfectly manicured lawns and flowerbeds so precise they look airbrushed, but the deeper we go, the more the shadows take over. It feels cinematic. Isolated. Controlled.
My body is still sore from the way he took me before I left Resno’s, but I keep my expression neutral as his head of security—Gunnar—walks me through the estate like I’m just another asset to be logged.