Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
One year, three months, and nine days.
“And it’s taken that long to rebuild my business and my life.” I was finally close to where I was before Duke slammed my professional reputation online after the breakup with negative review after negative review. My voice softened. “Which I couldn’t have done without your support, Mom.”
Mom waved away my gratitude. “I’d do anything for you, Ruby.”
My heart squeezed. She would. I knew that about her in a soul-deep way. Even though we saw each other a few days ago, we easily chatted about her chakras, and cute guys at her yoga class, and who was dating who until we were near the end of our drinks, but it seemed Mom wasn’t out of gossip.
“So, I heard from Andrew.” She stirred the mint at the bottom of her mojito glass. “One of Eli’s former business partners.”
The name was familiar. “Wasn’t he your old college friend? I did a dive tour for him some time back.”
Mom fiddled with the silvery necklace she’d made and looked away, embarrassed. “Right. I’d worried he’d hold it against me, that I’d introduced him to Eli. At the time, I knew Eli was looking for someone with Andrew’s skills and…”
And the rest was painful history, as it often goes with exes. And Eli was the worst of them. Shame that he’d been such a good stepdad for nearly two decades. He’d helped raise Cole and me after our father died when we were young, and had been like a father to us until he’d screwed Mom over in their divorce, after screwing someone else while they were married.
“Anyway,” Mom continued as if shaking off thoughts of her second husband, “Andrew has been trying to reach him, but apparently, he’s too busy to answer the phone, living it up in Flamingo Key with his new fiancée and his new club, Sapphire.” She breathed the name like it cost her something.
“Flamingo Key?” I asked because life was funny sometimes. “Where I’m headed for the tour?”
She nodded. “Yes. Where we used to go on vacation when you were little. And when you were a teenager too,” she said with a laugh. We’d spent a lot of time there, and I knew a lot of people there, still counted many friends on the island. She paused, perhaps for dramatic impact. “And there’s more. Andrew thinks Eli might have started the club with money he stole from the business. He’s hired a PI to look into it.”
I stared at her, hoping this was a bad joke. Because that was next level. “Are you kidding me? He stole from the company?”
“That’s what he said.” She stabbed the straw into the soggy mint at the bottom of her glass. “Something about shares in a mysterious cocoa bean farm. Did the investment tank or did the money go elsewhere?” she mused.
“Like into his nightclub?” I asked.
Mom lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper and beckoned me closer. “You should drop in on the club and then steal his Rolex while you’re there.”
That surprised a laugh out of me. “He does love that stupid Rolex.”
She reached over and patted my hand. “On second thought, concentrate on your tour, sweetie. You can’t take people rock climbing from jail. And talking too much about my ex is bad for my chakra.”
The conversation nagged at me until my sunset snorkel when I put it aside. After I said goodbye to Lance and my satisfied clients, my mind turned to Eli once more as I drove through the familiar Miami streets toward my condo.
My mom had given everything for love—her heart, her time, and her money. She’d given Eli the start-up funds for his investment firm many years ago. It hadn’t been a loan, but a gift. She’d wanted to help make his dreams come true.
For him to turn around and battle so coldly to keep everything when they split had left me empty inside.
And pissed off too. I wanted what was right. That was how Mom had raised me. Hell, that was how Eli had raised me.
To play fair.
When I reached my home, I headed straight for my laptop and impulsively—or maybe it wasn’t so impulsive since it felt goddamn necessary—changed my flight. I needed some extra days on the front end, and I’d use that time to do some digging.
To find out what Eli was up to because he was obviously up to something.
Then I’d make him do right by Mom.
Play fair. Just like he’d taught me when I was a kid.
3
BAR GAMES
Jake
The Pink Pelican was everything I loved about dive bars. The wood walls were lined with seashells. Jack Johnson played from a stereo system. A dartboard hung on the far side of the joint, and the whole place smelled of beer.
Heaven.
It was an investigator’s paradise too. The bartender, Maris, with her long brown hair braided tightly, was friendly and chatty. A few well-worded questions gave me key details about the nightclub at the end of the block—info I’d never find online.