Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
“I never did anything with Pirate,” I said through clenched teeth. “Except live in a constant state of fear that he’d touch me again.” I snapped my mouth shut, furious with myself for saying anything more. I’d held this secret in for years, and now it seemed to be coming out like vomit when I opened my mouth.
“What does that mean?”
I wasn’t telling him any more. I was done talking about it.
“Decided not to make up a lie after all?” he asked.
I snapped my head back around to glare at him. “I wasn’t lying! Yes, I kept Pirate’s sick, twisted thing he had for me from Kash because I feared he’d kill him, but I didn’t do it to save Pirate. I hated my brother. I did it to protect Kash.” I paused and took a deep breath, then blew it out. “But I couldn’t. And in the end, I protected him the only way I knew how. I loved Kash. I would never have betrayed him.”
I turned to look out the passing trees, not wanting to see Bane’s reaction to my truth. I didn’t care if he didn’t believe me. Kash had.
“If you loved him, if you still care, then stay away from him. Make no contact. You aren’t what he needs.”
If that was true, then it was a cruel twist of fate that Kash Savelle was the only person I would always need.
The one-bedroom apartment had a kitchen and living room in an open layout with one bathroom in the hallway and a bedroom at the other end. It was located in a safe area, clean, with extra security, requiring a key card to get in the main door of the building and the elevator. I wouldn’t have been able to afford something like this even if I’d stayed and worked for Glenda an entire year.
Bane had dropped me here just over two hours since he had picked me up at Glenda’s. If anything, the man was efficient. After he opened the door to the apartment, handed me the key card, he told me to have a nice life and that he never wanted to see me again. I nodded, and he turned and left. Like he had said, a key fob to a Ford of some kind was on the counter, and there were three separate sets of papers stapled together and an envelope. The first set of papers had information about my job, which was working as a front-desk administrator at a doctor’s office and a salary that made my jaw drop. I had to read it three times, then sat down.
Eighty-five thousand dollars a year was insane. What would I do with that much? My head was still reeling from that when I looked at the next set of papers, which detailed my lease and contact info for the company that owned the building if I had any issues. Last, it was a bank account welcome packet. My account number and current balance of ten thousand dollars.
“What the hell?” I gasped.
Reaching for the envelope, I opened it to find a debit card for my bank account and a book of checks. There was also a small key that looked like it belonged to a mail slot.
Shaking my head in disbelief, I sat there, letting this all sink in. I no longer had to hide or run. Arthur was never going to find me here, nor was my father. I wouldn’t be sleeping in a box on the street. I should be relieved. Thrilled. Yet misery sat heavy on my chest. This was a payoff. An oddly generous one. They could have dumped me on the side of the road and driven away. Yet they had made sure I was safe and secure. Why? For Kash? Had he asked Bane to do this? Maybe this was his goodbye.
The truth had come years too late. His heart wasn’t mine anymore. When he’d held me, it was for the loss of the girl he had once loved. Unlike the night in the woods, that had been his closure.
Dropping the papers onto the cushion beside me, I closed my eyes and allowed the tears to once again fall.
Nineteen
Kash
The office was tidy. Annoyingly so. There wasn’t anything out of place. It smelled faintly of cologne, which was the only sign that someone had ever spent time in here. Otherwise, it appeared ready for a photo op at any moment. I picked up a pen from the container on his desk that held five of the same kind. Nothing terribly expensive, but uniform. Flipping it through my fingers, I looked over at Gathe, who was going through the bookshelf that was packed with self-help and business books. He smirked at one of them and tossed it over onto the desk.
The title said Can’t Hurt Me.