Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Who is this Cain person?” Beau sounded irate.
For me.
“He’s some super special tech billionaire that thinks he owns the world,” I explained. “Used to letting money solve his problems. But this time, Rose outsmarted him. She left Iris with me then…”
I didn’t say it.
I didn’t have to.
His eyes filled with understanding, and then he pulled me into his arms. “She hurt herself. To save her daughter.”
“I guess I’m just naïve and didn’t realize what she would be doing,” I admitted. “I thought that she would just go back to him. But after she killed herself, I got a letter in the mail. She explained it all. Why she said she had to do it. She said that he would never stop. It was either die now where she could control it or die when he deemed it done. When he could make it hurt.” I felt sick to my stomach. “Plus, she was so scared that he would see the changes in her body after giving birth to Iris. She had her in secret. Hid the pregnancy for the whole nine months.”
He sat there, leaning against the counter, staring at me in stunned silence.
Then he asked, “How did you just pass off a kid as your own?”
“Off-season and lies. Lots and lots of lies,” I admitted. “It worked out. No one questioned anything. They just commented on my genetics and hiding my pregnancy. Which was totally understandable by my teammates. They’d traded several other women over the years that had found themselves pregnant. It was understandable that I would keep it quiet so it didn’t happen to me.”
“You said you told your boyfriend at the time.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“I did,” I confirmed. “Well, he doesn’t know where the baby came from, but honestly, it wouldn’t take much to guess whose child it actually was. I trust him enough not to tell anyone my secret, though. If anything else, he wouldn’t betray me in that way. And I know that he loved me. He just seriously didn’t want kids.”
Beau grunted, surprising me with his next words. “Any man that’s a man at all would fight to keep you.”
My stomach somersaulted.
“Thanks,” I said quietly.
“Now,” he said. “Let’s get you to bed. If you’re set on playing in the morning, we’ll need to get you some shut-eye.”
I kind of hated that he didn’t suggest “hot, sweaty sex.”
But he was right.
Tomorrow was a big day for him.
“We’ll win,” I said quietly.
He blew out a frustrated breath. “I have a solution.”
I blinked. “For your sister?”
“I think so,” he admitted as he jerked his chin toward the long hallway again. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”
“What’s your solution?” I wondered as I kept pace with him.
He flipped on a light in the first bedroom right off the living room, and my lips twitched. “This is really sweet.”
“Lysander has a son. He really liked race cars,” he said. “When I bought this house, he was barely two and demanded to decorate one of the rooms. Seeing as I didn’t care what it looked like, I let him. But now he’s nearly nine, and race cars aren’t his thing anymore. Nor is hanging out with a teacher from his school. ‘All the kids make fun of him.’”
“I doubt that.” I grinned. “He’ll be pretty popular having you as an uncle.”
“As for my solution,” he said. “As of a couple of hours before the accident, the Cowgirls and the Condors have new owners.”
I gasped. “What?”
He explained his vision to me, telling me about his friend, Courtland. He also explained about his other friend, Charleigh, who also had some shares in the company.
“So when will the news be shared?” I wondered.
“My lawyers say it’ll take about twenty-four hours to hit the news,” he explained as he turned on the light for the en suite bathroom. “We’re probably going to be halfway through that game tomorrow when my sister finds out.”
“So your dad owns ten percent of the company now?” I asked as I took a seat on the edge of the bed. “How is he able to remain the owner?”
“I think it was just an obligatory title,” he explained. “He’s still the CEO. The board voted him in as such shortly after he’d switched the shares over after Sonja’s death.”
“Do you like your dad?” I found myself asking.
He leaned his broad shoulder against the door jamb and shrugged, his amber eyes darkening. “At one time, I liked him. But since Sonja died…I haven’t exactly liked how he’s been acting. It’s always him protecting Seraphina. After Sonja passed, he spent all of his time at the police station trying to get Seraphina bailed out of jail. Didn’t help with Sonja’s funeral. Nothing.”
“He should’ve left her there to rot,” I admitted.
“Exactly,” he growled. “But he didn’t. He lost a day and a half helping her. Literally hours left to live, and he chose the kid that helped shorten Sonja’s life.”