Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“That doesn’t mean I have a business reason to fire her, and my uncle will have my hide if I put the business in legal jeopardy.” He sank down into the big chair. Olivia hadn’t wanted the larger office, claiming it was too cold in here and the view from hers was better.
Sometimes he thought it was because she’d known how much responsibility came from sitting in their father’s chair.
“I’ll ask around,” Sandy offered. “Her mother’s been an excellent employee over the years, but I think Alyssa causes too much drama. If you want her gone, we’ll find a way. Now, you’ve got a call on two, and I’ve been told to make Olivia’s flight plans to Bliss. When is someone going to tell her those boys can’t love her the way she needs?”
Josh groaned. “My sister is stubborn. You try telling her the boys she’s dreamed about since she was six aren’t going to give in. I keep thinking one of them is going to find a partner and get married and dash that dream of hers, but then I think about how few good prospects there are here.”
“She’ll go to Dallas and drown her sorrows there,” Sandy said with a shrug. Sandy liked to keep up with the younger generation’s antics.
That was kind of what he was terrified of. “I’ll make sure she goes to Austin. Those are the only Taggarts that don’t scare the crap out of me. Who’s on the phone?” He needed to get ready to go to the very club they were talking about. There were scenes to prepare and romantic gestures to plot. He had a couple of weeks to convince their sub to stay with them. Grim would simply tie her up and fuck her, but he kind of thought they needed a soft touch with her, too. He’d already called his contact at Subversion about ensuring their suite was perfectly stocked. “Is Liv in? Can she deal with it?”
“It’s Harlow Dawson, and she asked for you. I can send her to your sister…”
Josh stopped her. “No. I’ll take it. Thank you, Sandy.”
She gave him a nod and closed the door as she left. Josh picked up his phone. “Hey, Harlow. What’s going on?”
“Josh, I’ve got some news, but you aren’t going to like it.”
His stomach threatened to turn. He glanced over at the clock. It was only an hour or so until he was supposed to meet Grim and pick up Nic at the café. “Tell me.”
What was he going to do if this was bad? How would Grim handle it if there were real problems to face?
“The driver’s license is a fake and a pretty good one,” Harlow said in that matter-of-fact manner that let him know she was in detective mode. It was the same tone she used when she told a spouse their partner was cheating on them.
“All right.” He could handle this. He’d known there was something in her past. “So she’s running from something. Likely a bad relationship.”
“Maybe,” Harlow allowed. “Or she’s running from the law. I don’t know yet. What I know is the only Nicole Mason in the Chicago area is a ninety-year-old grandmother of ten. Also, I didn’t find a Childswood High School or any towns named that in the state of Illinois.”
Not so surprising. “All right. So we’re working from the theory that Chicago is all bullshit and she’s from somewhere else. If someone’s trying to hurt her, she would hide her past. And don’t say or if she’s running from law enforcement.”
“As long as you know the she-could-be-a-mass-murderer part is implied,” Harlow quipped. “Now what I have found is there are twenty Childswoods across the States. It’s going to take me a while to search them. I don’t suppose you want to send me a good picture of her so I can run it through facial recognition. One of the things whoever created her license did well is use a laminator that fucks with the picture. It’s fairly new technology, so I was impressed. She had to have laid out some cash for this sucker.”
Which explained why she needed to work to fix her car. His heart kind of clenched when he thought of how little she had, how vulnerable she was. Would she even think about letting him help her? Or would she run from him? “I’ll see what I can do, but now that I think about it, she’s camera shy. Olivia tried to take a selfie with her the other night but she said she couldn’t stand pictures of herself.”
“Or she understands that pictures of herself could lead to IDing her.”
It was obvious Harlow had suspicions. He wasn’t going to listen to them. “I’d like some other explanation than she’s a criminal on the run.”
“Cool. She’s a vampire and she doesn’t want anyone to know she doesn’t age.”