Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
“The media would eat that up.”
“Yeah,” she agrees. “Then after some time, you find a new partner, a wife who understands this world. Someone who’s been at your side all along, and now you’re finally seeing clearly.”
“Someone like you?” I let it hang in the air between us, and then she laughs, trying to get that mask back on. “I would never presume. But I’ve always believed we understood each other. That we wanted the same things.”
“You understood wrong.” I stand from my desk and open my top drawer, grabbing the folders inside. I let them spill across the table.
Cordelia looks down and then back up at me and down again. “What, what is this?”
“Mable tried to warn me about you, but you knew that, didn’t you? You could at least get a sense for it. You tried to sneak your way right in there. Plant little seeds.” Cordelia tilts her head down. “Mable might have warmed to you because she has a kind heart, but it lingered in my mind. So I started watching.” I brace both my hands on my desk. “And I started digging.” I shove the folders toward her, half of them flying off the table. She jumps out of the chair, trying to not be hit by them.
“Have you lost your mind?” she hisses at me.
“No, I think I’ve found it, along with all your dirty deeds. You’re a busy, busy girl.” I could toss her in jail. That was my first thought.
“So what now?” She tilts her chin up.
“Now you get the fuck out of my country, and you keep this between you and me.” Well, Tomas too. I made sure to have him with me. “Our parents don’t need to know, and my wife doesn’t need to know how your friendship was a lie. How you were planning to stab her in the back and the front all along. I don’t want her to think all Solarians are the way you are.”
I want to minimize the fallout for everyone. If it were only up to me, I’d toss her in jail, but those are my selfish needs.
“Where would I go?”
“That’s not my problem.”
“I can’t just—”
“You can, and if you don’t, I’ll arrest you for your crimes, and I will let everyone know who you truly are. I have no problem ruining you and your family, Cordelia. Or you can leave, and no one has to ever know.” I give her an option. One she doesn’t deserve in the least. She opens her mouth to speak, but I know what’s coming. “With how much money you’ve laundered, you should have no problem handling your exit from Solaria. And just so I’m perfectly clear, this is a lifetime ban.”
She takes a step back. Cordelia’s family has money of their own. Tomas steps out from the private bathroom, camera in hand, making sure we got all of this. Cordelia’s lips purse together into a thin line.
Then she turns, stomping off on her heels as loud as ever.
“Thanks,” I tell Tomas.
“That’s why I’m here: to keep your ass out of trouble,” he says with a shit-eating grin.
I sit back down, glad that’s handled. She might have been helping with the land issue, but nothing is worth risking Mable over.
My girl is full of so much sweetness that when she gets a sense about anyone, you should pay attention. I’ll do better going forward. I’m going to blame it on me being a dumbass. It was new territory for me dating and having a person around my family.
I grab my phone to check to see where Mable is. I’m going to head out early. Maybe I could surprise her at the library.
“I take it you’re heading out?” Tomas smirks, likely reading my expression.
“Yes.” I reach into my desk and grab the small box as I stand.
My eyes catch on something on the floor near the door. Paper. I walk over and pick it up, looking it over. I’m stunned when I realize what exactly it is.
The original deed from 1843, the one we’ve been searching for, randomly lying on my carpet like someone dropped it in a hurry. My blood runs cold at that thought.
“Is that—?” Tomas asks, coming to stand beside me. “Was it on the floor?”
“Mable,” I breathe. She was here.
I pull my phone out, hitting her number. It rings and rings then goes to voicemail. Shit. I try again, panic filling me, but I’m met with the same outcome.
Then I reach out to Jenson, and it goes straight to voicemail. What the fuck? I try the library next. Vicky told me she sprinted out of there a while ago, only solidifying what I’ve been thinking.
She came here; I glance back toward my desk from the doorway to my office. Mable heard me talking to Cordelia. The urge to vomit hits me suddenly, but I force it back. I don’t have time for that. I need to do everything in my power to find her. To explain things.