Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
I wanted to take the vacations Runa’s soul was craving, exposing Denali to the amazing things the world had to offer.
I wanted Runa beside, under, and on top of me in bed every night.
I wanted the three of us at a breakfast table every morning.
Being around them had switched something on inside me. Everything suddenly made sense. Things had more meaning.
I knew Runa had some resistance. I didn’t know if that was circumstantial or personal. Did she simply not want to get attached because she was worried she would have to leave? Or was her objection to me, to my lifestyle, my job?
It clearly wasn’t due to a lack of attraction. There was something fucking electric about being with her, being inside her. Something I hadn’t ever felt with anyone else before.
And I couldn’t imagine it was my job, if she was comfortable with me being around Denali. Especially when she wasn’t around.
But I could see her not being sure of me as a partner. I didn’t exactly have any serious relationships to point to and say, “Hey, I can do commitment.” That hadn’t been my reality. But it hadn’t been hers either. Who was to say we couldn’t find that together?
There were too many variables at the moment.
I needed to solve the danger problem so she could focus on the future. On us. On becoming a possible family unit.
And to do that, I needed Arty to lock in.
“Arty,” I snapped.
He glanced over, his gaze still far away for a second. “What?”
“The shrink.”
“I didn’t get to her yet.”
“What do you mean you didn’t get to her yet?”
“I was still working on Runa.”
“Why? Did you find something?”
“Not about any criminal organizations or anything. But I found several ads taken out in newspapers. And posts on social media.”
“Runa swears she’s not on social media, that there is no digital footprint for her.”
“No, she’s right. It’s impressive, actually. No one is that offline.”
“Then what are you talking about? What ads and posts?”
“From a law firm.”
“A law firm?”
“One in Wyoming.”
“Wyoming,” I repeated, a memory surfacing.
“That’s where she’s from, isn’t it?”
She told these stories to Denali about the bison there. About the bighorns and wolverines.
“Yep.”
“Where her family still is.”
“Sort of.”
“Arty, for fuck’s sake. Sentences, please.”
“The ads and posts are from a really big estate planning law firm.”
“What do they say?”
“There’s a reward for information on how to contact her. Got a name and an old picture of her.”
He turned the screen, and there she was. A younger version of the woman I knew. Maybe eighteen, right before she left. It was a candid shot—her gaze focused outward, something hard and tense in her face. Behind her, expansive plains, and further off, jagged snow-capped mountains. Growing up there, it was no wonder she became obsessed with nature.
I could picture her sitting on the branch of a tree, legs swinging, watching the bighorns and bison graze, enjoying the sunset, even though she knew she would get in trouble for not being home for dinner, planning her escape to a life that was fully her own.
“Did her parents die or something?” I asked.
“They did. Just a year ago, actually.”
“Together?”
“Small private plane crash. Her father was the pilot. Seemed like they were just going up for a joyride. But something failed, they crashed, and were found a few hours later.”
Damn.
I got that they were estranged, but I didn’t like the idea of having to tell Runa that her parents were dead, that there would be no chance for reconciliation in the future—if she decided she wanted that. The opportunity had been taken from her.
“Shit,” I said, exhaling hard. “So, what? They had an estate?”
A private plane, an estate, and Runa and Denali were living in shitty motels, scared for their lives.
“No. Everything I can find points to them having a pretty steady influx of large sums of money, but they blew through it all. Planes, cars, vacations. The house was about in foreclosure when they died. Seems like the bank took it from there. I can’t find any kind of evidence that they left something behind for Runa.”
That made it even worse.
The loss would have sucked for Runa either way, even if her feelings toward her parents were complicated, but having a big nest egg to fall back on might have eased it a bit.
“So, we just did that segue for no reason?” I asked.
“You asked.”
“Back to the lawyers, man.”
“It seems more likely that the lawyer worked for the grandfather.”
That bastard.
“What makes you think that?”
“Because a few years back, rare minerals were found on his ranch.”
“I’m not sure I know what that means.”
“Money,” Arty said. “It means money. A lot of money.”
“How much money? A couple hundred thousand? A million?”
Arty shrugged at that. “Impossible to say for sure. But my guess would be twenty or more.”
“Thousand?”
He snorted. “Million.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“Do you think Runa has some kind of trust or something?”