Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
A selfish prick needing to know if she was broken over him.
But I was rooted. Held by the bold, brutalized strength that simmered from her being.
“I knew he had a good job and made a lot of money, but I soon realized it was a lot more than it should be. At the beginning, he convinced me he was really good at investments and playing the stock market. But as the years passed, my suspicions grew. It got to the point where I couldn’t let it go. When it just started eating at me. So I confronted him. Told him I knew something was going on.”
Her throat bobbed as she frantically swallowed, the woman pacing one step to the right then back to the left before she was pleading with me again.
“He tried to gaslight me, tell me I was being crazy and making things up that weren’t there. I guess at first, it worked because I didn’t want it to be true. But it kept eating at me. I didn’t want to be this complacent person, Cash. Didn’t want to just swallow bullshit for the sake of making my life easier.”
Daisy inhaled a shattered breath, and she anxiously scrubbed her palm over her forehead. “I started digging into his accounts and connections, and I discovered huge sums of money. Like, obscene amounts of money, Cash. There was no question he was crooked.”
Rage churned, every word she delivered a blow to my psyche. A dagger to the decision I’d made to turn my back on her.
“Then one of his business associates disappeared.” Horror held her in a fist. “There was no evidence that he was involved in that, but I knew. I knew, and I knew I couldn’t hold onto the things that I actually had proof of.”
I couldn’t speak before her confession continued to rush, “I took all the evidence I had to the police on the same day I filed for divorce. He was arrested for money laundering as well as a bunch of other crimes.”
“Fuck, Daisy—”
She turned him in?
But she didn’t stop. She just kept relinquishing the details. “I didn’t want anything of his. I just wanted to be free. While he was awaiting trial, I got through the divorce as quickly as possible.”
Divorced.
She was divorced and running from her ex who was behind bars.
My head spun through the details, trying to figure out exactly how I was going to get to the bastard.
How I would wipe away the fear that was so blatant on her face.
I recognized it now. The way she’d struggled to hide it. To keep from showing the terror she felt to her kids.
But the guy was behind bars.
And she was here now.
Safe.
I could figure out the rest later.
“But he got off on a technicality.” It was a desperate plea. One that instantly had that violence skimming my flesh, and my gaze immediately darted to the windows that overlooked the front like I was going to suddenly see the monster appear from the shadows.
Daisy took a frantic step forward. “He got out, and the next day, I was certain I was being followed. Then on my way back from the grocery store, someone tried to run me off the road. For a second, I thought maybe it was just someone looking at their phone, being an idiot and responding to a text or whatever. But deep down, I knew. I knew. So, that day I picked the kids up from school, made sure no one was following me, then I drove. Drove until I found you.”
Tears soaked her cheeks. “Because you’re the only person I can truly trust. The only one I knew I could go to.”
Fury whipped me into disorder. Stomach toiling with malice and fingers dripping with barbarity.
I was across the room in a flash. Towering over her as I growled, “Then you came to the right place because that motherfucker is dead.”
She shook her head. “You can’t get to him, Cash. He’s…powerful. I didn’t know it, didn’t recognize it for a long time. But what I saw…” Her words thinned. “He’s capable of horrible things. Things I don’t want to involve you in. I mean, how can I even ask this of you?”
Shame had her dropping her attention to the floor.
Fingers trembling, I reached out, took her by the chin, and urged her to look at me. “You came to me because you somehow knew what I’m capable of. Came to me because you knew that I would protect you with everything I am.”
I owed what was left of myself to her, anyway.
“I will end him, and I won’t blink doing it.” My voice scraped with aggression.
Didn’t care what I was revealing. Didn’t care that I was exposing a piece of who I was.
Daisy blanched, the color draining from her face like she hadn’t expected me to react that way.