Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Colt is never going to hand over money to me, not without good reason. I don’t have a good reason. If I tell him what I need money for, he’ll forever hate men and I’ll surely go away for life. If I make up a lie, it still won’t be enough. I have to find another way and that might just mean leaving the man I love forever. If that’s what it takes to protect him, I may have no other choice.
C – Leave the club out of this. I’ll find a way to get you what you want.
Unknown – I don’t care how it comes but know this – I will get what I want, when I want, or you’ll be turned in and not a single day of your life will go by where you’re not staring at bars.
C – You’ve made yourself clear. I got it.
Unknown – I hope so. I have enough on that club to bring him down if you don’t deliver. You’re not the only person I’ll hurt.
C – He has nothing to do with this. Leave him out of it. I won’t be here much longer. Tell me what you want, and I’ll get it for you. Then I never want to hear from you again.
Unknown – I want $500,000.
Gasping, I take a step back.
Who has that kind of money?
Who the hell can cough up that amount without blinking?
Tears burn under my eyelids. I don’t know how I’m supposed to find that kind of cash. I do have an inheritance that was left for me when my parents died, but it’s only half of that and I have it in a fund for retirement. Even with that, I still have another half to come up with. I could sell the house, but it’s the only thing I have that I’ve ever loved. I’ll find another way. I won’t lose everything for this person...this stranger.
Even if I do deserve it.
C – I’ll see what I can do.
Unknown – You’ll get it to me, or the police will start getting hints about the night you so brutally took her life.
I haven’t slept since that night, not without heavy drugs that I’ve had to steal from the club.
There is no way I’ll ever be able to close my eyes again and not see her face, her empty eyes staring into nothing.
Clenching my own eyes shut, tears roll down my cheeks.
I need this to go away.
Sucking in a sob, I open my eyes and stare down at the phone. I know a way I can make money, but it’s a way that could get me into a lot of trouble. I might not have a choice. I can’t sell my home...our home. I can’t do that. I won’t. Which means I’m left with very few choices and one of them involves stealing from the man I love more than life itself.
I’m going to collect it from the club.
I know they do deals all the time, and big amounts of money are passed around.
All I have to do is get my hands on it, and this nightmare will go away.
Right?
If it were truly that easy, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now feeling like my soul is slowly slipping away from me.
I’ll never be free again.
Not from the guilt that consumes every breath that leaves my body.
But I can do one thing – I can make sure nobody else suffers for what I’ve done.
Nobody else should have to carry this burden on their shoulders.
Nobody else should have to suffer.
I’ll finish this, and then, I’ll disappear into the night, never to be seen again.
It’ll be best for everyone.
Especially him.
“COME ON, CHLOE,” COLT snaps. “I’m done with these fuckin’ games. You can’t avoid me forever. Talk to me. Tell me what the fuck is goin’ on because I don’t know the woman standin’ in front of me anymore, and I don’t like it.”
I stare at him, my eyes brimming with tears.
I wish I could tell him. I wish I could explain.
I can’t, though.
“I’m just...I’m having a hard time,” I say, my voice breaking. “It’s not your fault. Things are just spiraling.”
“If this is about the club and havin’ kids, we can work it out.”
“It’s about everything, Colt. It’s about us both wanting different things.”
That isn’t the truth, but it’s all I have right now.
Stepping forward, Colt cups my chin. “We can figure it out.”
“It’s easy to say that,” I whisper, my heart clenching with pain. “It’s not that easy to make happen.”
“Do you love me?”
God dammit.
“More than you’ll ever know,” I croak, my nostrils stinging as I fight back my tears.
“Then we can make it work. Shit ain’t always easy, but we’ll find a way. You gotta trust me. You gotta give me a chance to prove to you that this life isn’t what you think.”