Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 101254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“I’m not going to prison for a little cunt like you,” Garrett seethes.
“Uh…yeah. You are.”
“Let’s put it this way,” he says. “Open the fucking door, Tessa. Because if I go to prison, your boyfriend goes too.”
“You’re full of it. Now get out of here.”
Garrett shakes his head. “We tried to warn you. Have it your way.”
They walk down the hallway and out of view of my peephole.
I shiver as I slide down the wall into a sitting position, my phone still ready to call 911.
Rita rushes to me, but I can’t bring myself to pet her.
I’m numb. Frozen. My heart has gone mad. And my skin feels like ice.
Do they truly have something on Ben?
They can’t. It’s not possible.
Still…
I can’t call their bluff. I can’t risk it. I delete the one, the one, and the nine.
Then I wrap my arms around my knees and stay there.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Ben
After my ten o’clock meeting, I grab Braden’s arm while he’s returning to his office.
“We need to talk.”
“I’ve got a lunch meeting in half an hour.”
“Cancel it.”
Braden raises an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
He doesn’t mean to be rude. He’s reacting because I take this business as seriously as he does, sometimes even more so. He’s confused as to why I’d tell him to cancel a meeting.
“I have to talk to you, Braden, and it can’t wait.”
He cocks his head, raises the eyebrow again, and then rubs his stubbled jawline. “All right. My office.”
We’re silent as we walk together.
“Cancel my lunch meeting,” Braden says to his assistant Claire when we turn the corner of the hallway.
I follow him to his corner office on the opposite side of the top floor as mine. They’re both the same size, but his is decorated in his classic downtown-style flair with large picture windows looking out at Boston.
“What is it?” he asks once his door is closed.
“You’d better sit down.”
“Thanks, but I’ll stand.”
I sigh. “Have it your way.” I run my hands over my head, trying to ease the ache erupting in my brain. “Then I’m going to sit.”
That way I’ll have to actually get up if I change my mind about this.
But no.
No more changing my mind.
I’m laying my fucking cards on the table, and I’m calling. My hand is shitty, but I have no other choice at this point.
If I don’t, Dirk Conrad will never go away.
I plunk my ass down in a chair across from Braden’s large desk.
Here goes nothing.
“Something has come back to bite me in the ass,” I say, “and it’s not pretty, brother.”
“We’ll make it go away, then.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Benji, we’ve got billions at our disposal. Whatever is going on, I promise we can fix it.”
It doesn’t escape my notice that Braden used my childhood nickname. Brady and Benji. He hasn’t used it in at least a decade. He must sense this is bad.
I shake my head. “God, if only…”
Braden takes a seat next to me. Next to me, not behind his desk. Guess he decided to sit after all.
“I’m your brother. Spill it, and I’ll take care of it.”
“Braden, if that were the case, I could have taken care of it myself.”
I could have, and I thought about it. I could have hired someone to off Dirk Conrad. But that makes me guiltier.
I didn’t kill anyone all those years ago, but if I have Dirk offed? Then I may as well have plunged a knife into a chest same as he did.
“Bray, do you remember back in the day, during my senior year of high school, when I didn’t show up to work one day after school?”
He wrinkles his brow. “No.”
“You read me the fucking riot act. How can you not remember?”
“I read you the fucking riot act a lot back then, Ben. How am I supposed to remember each specific time?”
He’s not wrong. “All right. Here’s what happened. Fuck.” I sink my head into my hands. “I can’t believe I have to tell you this after all these years.”
“Tell me, and we’ll fix it.”
“God, I wish you could.”
“I can. But not if you don’t tell me.”
I look down at my lap, clasp my hands together. Then I look up, meeting my brother’s blue gaze. There’s care in his eyes. He thinks he can fix this.
He’s wrong.
“I got in with some bad guys at school. Only one time, but I was sick and tired of working all the time. Never having a minute to myself or a penny to spend on myself. So I met these guys after school one day, and they wanted to rob the convenience store.”
“For God’s sake, Ben. You robbed a convenience store?”
I shake my head. “I wish.”
“Fuck. What happened?”
“They wanted to rob a store that’s open twenty-four-seven and only holds about a grand in cash. It was a stupid idea.”
“True that. Good for you.”
“Not so good for me.” I draw in a breath, determined to just spill everything quickly. “Remember that small warehouse Dad used to do business with? The one we had a hunch was dealing in stolen goods?”