Total pages in book: 225
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
He snickers. “He’s not been made to do anything. Yet. He’s on standby to help me, should I need the help.”
“He’s an actual good guy and there aren’t many of those around.”
“So…”
“So I’d like you to let him off the hook.”
“And I’d like you to give me a shot at making you happy,” he fires back.
“More blackmail? Great. Great way to start a marriage.”
“Is this going to be a marriage, Chloe? It is to me, but what about you? If it is, there won’t be any blackmail required. Because you’ll be giving me what I want.”
“Which is for me to pretend I’m okay with all of this?”
He shakes his head. “Which is for you to let me do my job. I wanted to be your husband and now I am. Now I have a daily goal and checklist for that. I really think that’ll go a long way for both of us if you let me do my thing. Needing to deal with the gossip blog tonight snapped me out of a bad mindset. Will doing my job as your husband help me stay out of a bad headspace? Maybe.”
I cross my arms and stare out the window.
“Think about it,” he requests. “You’re attracted to me. The sex is incredible. That’s a basis for a relationship to develop, right? Let it develop. Be open-minded.”
I continue staring out the window.
“Think about it,” he repeats.
A while later, I pull my phone out and reply to Craig.
I’m so so sorry about today. I’m trying to talk sense into him to get him to leave you be. Thank you for trying to help.
My phone almost immediately rings. Craig calling.
I answer it.
“Hello?”
“You alone?”
“No.” Though it wouldn’t matter if I was since he’s got my phone bugged.
“Right. I’ll make this quick and I’ll do the talking. Not your fault. Don’t worry about me. I knew exactly what I’d be wading into, and I made the choice to do that. I’ll figure things out. I wanted you to know Adam didn’t push Jeannie to do any of that blog stuff. She works at City Hall and saw you guys when you got your marriage license and went apeshit. The only thing I will ask is for you to please request Derek gives me 24 hours to get her to back off before he retaliates. We don’t need any other casualties. I was instructed not to reach out to him directly, ever, and I wouldn’t normally put you in the middle, but I needed to do that just this once. My dad and Jeannie’s mom are first cousins. They’re close. I can’t just stand by and let her get on the Steele shit list.”
“I’ll talk to him,” I say.
“Who is that?” Derek asks.
“It’s Craig.”
He gestures for me to give him the phone.
“One sec.” I hand it over.
“Jenkins,” Derek greets, changing the phone to his left hand and taking the steering wheel with his right.
I knew Craig and Adam had been friends since they were kids. It’s hitting me now that Craig knows Adam’s history. Another person from his old life that he didn’t cut off when he tried to move on from the childhood trauma. Did they all grow up in Michigan and move here? Did Adam move here to be closer to Craig and Jeannie followed? Did Adam and Jeannie live together, too? Whatever. It doesn’t matter. It’s all moot now. Adam is no longer in my life.
Derek listens for a minute, then says, “Well, my wife is being pretty adamant about the fact that she doesn’t want your squeaky-clean record and conscience sullied, so if my wife plays her cards right, maybe she’ll get her wish.”
I fight the urge to gawk at him. Instead, I bite my lip and fix my gaze on the dark road ahead.
“Well…” Derek says after a moment, “I need to see just what she’s written first, but if you ensure Ms. Gilligan deletes her blog post and any and all negative content about my wife as well as refrains from hassling her any further, ensuring she stops slandering Chloe or anyone else with the name Steele, I’ll consider letting it go. Right. And hear me right now, Jenkins, this is the one time you get away with using Chloe to get to me. Clear? Bye for now.”
“How does your family force cops to turn dirty?” I ask.
“We gather information and use it to our advantage. If there’s a big need and nothing to find, we fabricate. With evidence to back it up.”
“That’s despicable.”
“I know.” He shrugs.
“Your father came from a wealthy family. Why turn to crime if there’s already money there?”
“Most successful people have some degree of corruption attached to them. People just don’t always find out about it. My grandfather and likely his grandfather before him had to get his hands dirty along the way to maintain power and wealth. My father inherited not only the family wealth, but also all those strategic relationships. My dead brother had issues. He was hotheaded and jealous of everyone. Especially Elijah. Thaddeus had substance abuse problems and got sloppy while he had a sometimes public battle with Eli, so it’s just in the past five years or so that the Steele name got enough negative attention to create whispers and rumors. We all run clean businesses. But to do that, sometimes we have to create unsavory relationships and occasionally get our hands dirty.”