Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Better man than me.
And without Silver … I was staring at a window into my future.
I glanced down at Main Street. “It’s never too late. Taran’s here. You sure you want to give up yet?”
“Am I to take advice from a bloke who let his woman go?”
“Will you watch Akiva while I go to New York?”
Quinn grinned. “I can watch Akiva.”
“If I go to New York to bring Silver back, you have to try again with Taran.” I pointed a warning finger at him.
He scowled. “I think I’ve laid my pride at her door enough times.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You tried to find an opening with her just after her mum died. After her fiancé left her. It was never going to happen then. She needed time. She might even need a wee bit more time. But you will try again.”
Quinn’s brow wrinkled as he considered my words. “I’ll think about it. Not saying I will. Just that I’ll think about it. But you need to go to New York.”
I held out a hand to him. “Shake on it.”
He shook his head but took my hand in a firm grip. “Deal.”
“Deal.”
40. Tierney
This had to be one of the longest weeks of my life.
I hadn’t seen London since that first day.
While trying to remain incognito, I’d visited the apartment building in Soho every single day and been turned away. London wasn’t picking up the phone or answering my texts.
I left her a daily voicemail too.
I’d been trying to consider what hold Nick had over London. My best friend had always been so fiercely independent because of how shitty her parents were. She’d always been the one in the driver’s seat in a relationship because that’s what made her feel safe. In the past, if a guy had tried to take control, she would dump him at the first sign.
Nick had somehow emotionally manipulated my friend. She feared him. I could feel it emanating from her.
How, then, did I convince her that she didn’t need to be afraid of him?
Last night I’d left her another voicemail.
“It’s me again, Spoon. I wanted to say … no one is too big or too powerful that they can’t be fought. Haven’t I proven that with Halston? The sad reality is that there are people out there who don’t have any power, who bad people target because they can. But you aren’t one of those people, Spoon. We grew up with a privilege that means we have a certain amount of cache too. We can find something on Nick. Is it playing dirty? Yes, but I don’t care if it means getting you out of there. You can come back to Scotland with me. Be the chef at the B and B. You’ll be safe there. No fear. No guilt. No shame. Not anything but safe. Please. Please, London. Talk to me.” I was careful not to remind her she was the only family I had left. Or make it about me. I didn’t want to be another person in her life emotionally manipulating her.
Because I was sure that’s what Nick was doing.
I was certain of it.
Striding into the coffee place around the corner from my hotel, my worries weighed down my steps. I could see Perri already at a table, tapping away on her phone while she waited for me.
The New York Chronicle’s building was in Midtown, and I’d arranged to meet Perri around the corner from it to catch up in person.
My friend, because I thought of her as a friend now, stood as soon as she saw me and enveloped me in a warm hug. I squeezed her, holding tight to the tears of gratitude that wanted to spill out all over her. We pulled away, and I gave her a watery smile instead.
She chuckled and gestured for me to sit. “Don’t look at me like that or my ego will get out of control.”
I laughed and sat across from her. “How are you?”
“Things have been a little crazy since the article. But more to the point, how are you? What brings you back to the city?”
I didn’t tell her my worries about London or that I missed my friend.
We chatted for a while. I told her my lawyer had called yesterday to tell me the case against Shawn Prescott was going to court and the court date would likely be set for some time next summer. We still didn’t have word on the case against Halston Cole because it was more complicated, but we’d hear from the presiding judge in the next few weeks whether it would go to court.
My lawyer had no doubt that it would.
“It’s a tough time ahead.”
“But worth it?” Perri asked.
“It’s worth it for me.”
“And for Ben’s family,” she reminded me. Ben’s family didn’t have the evidence to prove Ben’s death had been ordered by Cole, so their only hope was that he’d pay for what he’d done to my family and to the islanders he’d regarded as a nuisance he could plow through.