Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“I’m going upstairs to sort through Jewel’s clothes. I know some of her little jumpers are too small now. I’ll donate them. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.”
“Okay, baby. Please take it easy. If you need some help, call me.”
She nodded and blew him a kiss before disappearing out of sight. ‘This Must be the Place,’ by Talking Heads played. He turned up the volume, bobbing his head to the music, flipped the other pancakes, waited a bit, then plated them. He proceeded to scramble some eggs, sprinkling them with shredded cheese and topping them with parsley and diced tomatoes. Before he fried a few strips of bacon, he walked into the living room to get a closer look at his baby playing on the floor, still giggling and having a good ol’ time. He smiled as he picked her up and brushed the soft black waves from her face, then fixed the little pink bow in her hair. Beige skin with plump apricot cheeks greeted him with a gummy smile. Bright, light brown eyes widened as she grinned. She only had a couple of teeth in.
“Are you havin’ fun, sunshine?” He buried his face against her cheek and gently rocked her in his arms, then gave her a fast tickle, making her squirm and giggle.
“Dad-deee!”
“Yes, baby?”
“Look!”
He looked where her finger was pointing—at some animated girl talking about different letters of the alphabet.
“Yes! I see it! How exciting!” He danced around with her for a bit, then placed her back down. “Daddy is right here,” He pointed to the kitchen. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to finish making your favorite smoothie.” He finished blending the smoothie, then made his way back over to the stove and fried the bacon. It was a kind he normally didn’t buy, but Porsche said she had a taste for it and picked it up from the grocery store the other day after she’d finished with a client at her office. The smell of the maple-flavored bacon reminded him of his mother. He smiled sadly. Mom loved to put syrup on her bacon.
He reflected on the past years of his life—the ups and downs, but mostly the ups.
His business was booming. He could barely keep up with the orders and needed to hire his former apprentice full time at the store to meet the demand. Dad’s health continued to decline, and he was now in an assisted living facility. He and Porsche visited him often, allowing him to spoil his granddaughter. Nikolai felt blessed that his father at least didn’t have any dementia or loss of mental capabilities. His memory and ability to speak was solid. It was his body that was giving out, some of it blamed on that same back injury from so long ago that had derailed his life, and became the catalyst to a downward spiral.
Mark and his wife were expecting their second child as well. He and Porsche were excited for them, especially since they’d be born a mere few weeks apart.
Nikolai had also successfully sued the police department and received a rather large settlement. He and Porsche had donated half of that money to one of the local, privately funded children’s psychiatric clinics.
Captain White maintained his job and started a special victim’s unit, while Chief Lewis was forced to resign after more information came out regarding him removing evidence for other unrelated cases as well. Dolph was in and out of prison for petty crimes. His last wrongdoing got him five years behind bars. Ethan completed some anger management classes, made a fresh start and, according to Porsche, kept his nose clean. He’d recently gotten married and moved into a new house. He worked in insurance, leaving his acting career behind.
Dmitriy…
Nikolai rolled his tongue around his mouth as he flipped the bacon, and so many old emotions came to the fore: fury, loathing, and revulsion filled him like a cup. He snatched open the refrigerator door, grabbed the orange juice and poured it into two glasses. For almost four years, Dmitriy tried to game the system. At one point, he even tried to say that he was Nikolai, and Nikolai was Dmitriy. He then changed his story and stated that the videos and conversations Nikolai had taken and recorded were all A.I. Finally, he accepted his fate. He was shipped around to face charges all over the country. Some of them he denied. Most of them he admitted to. There were far more murders linked to him in California than originally thought…
He wasn’t certain what had prompted Dmitriy to finally face the music and come clean, but he had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with their father, who’d demanded to be flown to California to have a word with him right before his trial. Nikolai arranged it, honoring his father’s wishes, and went with him. When they arrived at the prison Dmitriy was serving time in while he awaited yet another trial, Nikolai did not go into the room where his father sat and talked with his son for the first time in years. When Dad came out of that room, exactly twenty-two minutes later, something was definitely different. Nikolai looked at his brother sitting there in a chair, while the door slowly closed behind his father. Dmitriy looked white as a ghost…