Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77611 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77611 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
If he was planning to be an asshole, would he have brought Jake?
Too late, I see the hurt in Win’s expression and realize what that sounded like. Family business. Damn it, I should have chosen my words more carefully.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I tell him, keeping my voice low, for him alone.
He sticks out his chin. “Sure, I get it. It’s either about the reason you quit your job, or whatever was in that will.”
“You haven’t talked to me about that in months, but you told a man you just met?” Bellamy sounds genuinely surprised.
“We met a while ago,” Win informs him shamelessly. I stand a little taller, glad he’s not pretending there’s nothing between us. “At your husband’s pub. You can imagine how surprised I was to be innocently wandering through the forest in a snowstorm only to have him pop up again.”
Jake and Bellamy both look suspicious, and I know exactly what they’re thinking.
“It wasn’t Ken,” I tell them. “I questioned him the other night.”
“You did?” Win and Jake ask simultaneously.
I shrug, feeling uncomfortable with all this attention. “We both know him, and I’d told him about our first encounter. I’d be an idiot if I didn’t consider the possibility that he was involved.”
Win’s eyes widen.
“Not everything,” I rush to assure him.
Before he can comment, Bellamy curses. “You talked to Tanaka. You talked to Win. But you waited until last night to tell me—in a damn text—that the man my father trusted above all others has been embezzling and planning a coup with the same family you have to marry into to get your inheritance? Jesus, brother, we need to talk about your priorities.”
Win’s expression transforms to outrage. “Wait a minute. That’s what your father put in the will? He’s trying to force you to marry someone? Is that even legal?”
“Man, that’s cold.” Jake shakes his head. “He was always nice to me. And he supported Dad’s wedding to Bell. I can’t believe he’d do that to his own son.”
“Ali must have convinced him or manipulated him somehow,” Bellamy says, looking torn between anger and disappointment. “He was getting old. Maybe he was confused.”
My laugh sounds bitter. “I don’t think he was confused at all. He wanted something they had, and they wanted a Demir for their daughter. I was the bastard spare and convenient. I may not have known him that well, but he trusted Ali, and I definitely know him. He’s always wanted to be the one calling the shots. That’s why I reported to him. I found the dirt on prospective investors, and he liked the idea of having that much knowledge at his disposal.”
“If I wasn’t so pissed off for him, I’d be making popcorn right now,” Win mutters to Jake as they both stare at me and Bellamy.
“I’d be eating it,” Jake replies with wide eyes. “This is like that Succession show or something.”
“Oh, I haven’t seen that yet. Is it good?”
“This is not a show,” Bellamy snaps. “This is your future, Jake. Yours and Penny’s, Wesley’s and Sean’s. Ali is family—our cousin—and I trusted him because my father did. I was trying to get him to help me sort out Michael’s will issue, for fuck’s sake. I believed him when he said he would, and because the brother I just discovered doesn’t trust me enough to talk to me honestly, I could have fallen right into a trap and lost everything.”
I shift uncomfortably, already aware that I’d misjudged him because of what Win had rightly called my prejudice against the family. “That won’t happen. I have a USB and more hard files. You take it all to the board and they won’t let him near the company or their money again.”
“Would you look at that? Michael Demir strikes again,” Win says with a sideways grin. “This is your weekend for rescuing people, isn’t it? Teachers with bad directional skills. Oblivious rich dudes you’re related to. Another gold star for you.”
I want to kiss him for that. Hell, I want to kiss him because he exists. My throat is closing, my chest feels tight and my heart’s too loud in my ears, so I don’t realize I’m lifting him off the floor until we’re heading towards the back of the cabin and he grabs my face with both hands, forcing me to meet his shocked glare.
“Michael, they’re watching. Put me down. Why do you keep doing thi—”
I step into the small laundry room and kick the door closed behind me, letting him slide down to his feet before I give in to my need to kiss him.
When I finally lift my head to take a breath, he pokes me in the chest with his finger. “Zero boundaries,” he says breathlessly.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No, I’m not.” I want everyone to know he’s mine. “I had plans for us after breakfast. Any chance we could send them away for a while and skip the party?”