Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“Keep it together,” I whisper to myself as I walk down the hall.
It’s a little past eight in the morning. Jayson left for work a few hours ago—he spends most of the morning on the phone with London dealing with his business there—and I waited until I was sure he wouldn’t come back before making myself go through with my plan.
Three days of agony. Three days of heaven.
I don’t know how they haven’t caught me yet. Jayson said they were going through the recordings on my phone, so why haven’t they listened to my conversation with my brother? Adler should’ve come storming in here already and blown my stinking head off, no questions asked.
Instead, this horrible nothing.
Three days of bliss. Spending time with Jayson, getting to know him on a level I never thought possible. Clicking with him, falling for him.
Sleeping with him. Coming for him.
The best and the worst three days of my entire life.
Now I’m done with it. I can’t keep suffering. I take the elevator down to the bottom floor, gripping the strap of the duffel tightly, and when the doors ding open, I flinch as a couple random guys in business clothes step on to ride it back up.
I hurry toward the lobby. I don’t know this place very well, but my plan is pretty simple. Get outside, find a dumpster, and toss the duffel inside. Get rid of that stupid paperwork and move on. Maybe they hear the recording, but so what? I can say that was all bullshit and that I made it all up to try to make my brother bring me back home because I was still desperate and stupid. Jayson might be a little annoyed, but he’ll get over it.
The paperwork is the real problem. If they find that, they’ll know I wasn’t kidding.
I’m a nervous wreck. If I get caught right now, I’m dead. My hands shake, my palms slick with sweat. I’m so acutely aware of every camera I could scream. There are eyes everywhere—guests, employees, guards—and someone’s going to notice me if I don’t play it cool and walk forward.
“Excuse me? Mrs. Costa, sorry, hold on.”
I could scream. I pause next to a statue outside of the main doors. The head of security hurries over, a guy named Zach.
“Sorry, did I do something wrong?” I ask him, feeling like I might puke on his shoes.
“Oh, no, not at all,” he says, laughing awkwardly. “Actually, Casey’s looking for you. Should I tell her where you are?” His eyes flit to the duffel, and I swear he knows what’s inside.
“Uhm,” I say, trying to come up with an excuse. “No, that’s okay, I can find her later.”
“Are you sure? Hold on, just stay here—” He turns and hurries off, disappearing into the casino. I’m left alone near the front entrance, shifting from foot to foot, feeling like everyone’s staring at me.
How the hell is this happening? I have a bag full of incriminating paperwork and if anyone decides to push me, I’m totally screwed. All I want to do is throw this stuff away, get rid of it, and move on with my life. I want to be with my husband—with this beautiful, intense, protective, incredible man. I never thought I’d desperately want to be a Costa wife, but here I am, risking my life to make sure I don’t screw everything up too badly.
Because I’m falling for him. No, if I’m honest, I’ve already fallen—I’m more deeply in love with him than I ever dreamed possible. He’s my one, this bastard, this monster, this beast. He’s my one, and I was going to destroy him.
I don’t want that anymore.
I want to be in his arms, in his bed, in his life.
This is my place.
And if I don’t get to a dumpster right now, I’m going to lose it all.
“Hey, girl!” Casey comes limping over. More guilt hits me. Why the hell did I make her come to me when I know she’s got a disability? But Casey’s always sunshine and smiles, and she never complains about the discomfort.
“Hey yourself.” I put on my best smile in return. “What’s going on that you sent the guards after me?”
“I wanted to see if you’d have lunch with me. I occasionally abuse the staff to get what I want. That’s okay, right?” She laughs and leans up against the fountain. “Hey, what’s with the ugly bag?”
“Uh, I was going shopping,” I say too quickly.
“And you decided to bring a ratty little gym bag with you? We can always get you something better, you know.”
“No, I brought this from home.” And I’m only slightly insulted she called it ratty.
“Oh, whoops, I’m sorry.” She waves her hands and makes an apologetic face. “It’s a perfectly beautiful bag!”
“Right, you really saved that one.”
“Fine, you go buy some tourist t-shirts from the boardwalk, but when you’re done come find me. The kids are with the nanny this afternoon which means mommy is free to roam.” She grimaces and shakes her head. “Please don’t tell anyone I just called myself mommy.”