Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
“His business?” she asked. “What do you mean?”
They all shared looks. “You didn’t know that Billy is now a partner in the construction firm that used our plans to undercut us?” Quaid asked her, peering down at her as though he could see all of her secrets.
“What? No, he’s a lawyer. I didn’t know he had any interest in design and construction. I thought he stole the plans for a client.”
“A client who he became partners with.” Slade shook his head. “The people he’s in partnership with . . . they’re shady. Crooked. Billy has never been afraid of working with criminals, though.”
She swallowed as she thought of the guys that she’d met in their apartment building after Sunday lunch. They’d looked like thugs in suits. Well, except for the guy in charge. He’d seemed like a wolf.
Scary and deadly.
“But that’s not for you to worry about,” Quaid told her. “Billy is dead to you now. Nothing he is involved with, nothing he does, will ever touch you.”
“We’ll see to that,” Slade added as Spencer nodded.
Indie wished she could believe them. But she wasn’t sure she could trust them again.
She glanced at Rock to see him staring ferociously at the wall. What was he thinking? And why was he over there?
Did he still not believe her? Why couldn’t he look at her? Did he think she was a liar?
“He’s still out there, though. And he’s not going to give me up easily. I was so stupid. The apartment is in Maggie’s uncle’s name so that Billy couldn’t find me that way. I was being paid under the table. And then I went and had an ultrasound. That’s how he found me.”
“Are you saying that he somehow hacked hospital records to find your address?” Spencer said, glancing at Quaid. “That’s next level.”
Quaid frowned. “He must have had someone set up a search for her name and when it pinged at the hospital, he had them hack in. Or he bribed someone to give him her address.”
“That seems more likely,” Spencer said.
Great. So someone sold her out? That felt even worse. And it could happen again and again.
She was never going to be safe from him, was she?
Awesome. So much for no stress.
She tried to slow her racing heart.
I’m so sorry I’m failing you, Button.
Moving her hand to her stomach, she rubbed it slightly. That’s when she felt his gaze on her. Glancing over, she saw Rock staring at her hand intently.
Oh, was that why he wouldn’t come over to her? Was he . . . was he horrified by the fact that she carried Billy’s baby?
Well, it was none of his business.
Her anger stirred. They’d all turned their backs on her. Without hesitation. They got no say in her life anymore.
What was she going to do? Was the threat of Billy always going to be hanging over her head?
Probably.
Unless you go to Escana.
That did seem like the only choice here. The problem was that she didn’t want to leave everything that she knew.
In fact, she was kind of terrified.
She’d never been out of the country. Edward and her mum used to go on holiday overseas. But they never took her. Not that she wanted to go. Because while they were away, Slade and the others would move back into the house to take care of her.
Those times were her very favorite memories.
But that meant she’d never left the country. Hell, she hadn’t gone further than three hours away from London. And she was kind of scared of flying.
It just seemed so freaking unnatural.
The air around her shifted slightly and it took her a long moment to realize why.
She was sucking her thumb. She pulled it out of her mouth, wincing as she moved too quickly and her side protested.
“Sorry,” she said, flushing with embarrassment.
“You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about.”
To her surprise, it was Spencer who told her that. His tone was fierce and firm. She stared at him for a long moment.
“No? I’m a grown woman who sucks her thumb for comfort. Seems I should be a bit ashamed of that.”
“You should be ashamed of nothing,” Slade said. “You don’t need to worry about anything, Indie. I know you don’t believe us when we tell you that Billy will never have a fucking chance to touch a hair on your head again. But that’s okay, you don’t have to believe it for it to be the fucking truth.”
She stared at Slade for a long moment. She could tell he meant every word. But Billy had become the grim reaper over her shoulder.
It was only a matter of time before he found her again.
And finished what he’d started.
And she’d thought that the hard part was leaving him.
“I’m so proud of you for leaving him, Boo,” Slade said to her. “I just wish I’d fucking been there for you that day. I can’t stand the thought that he was hurting you all that time and I didn’t even fucking know. I didn’t protect you from that. I never protected you.”