Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“I suppose I should have known that you four wouldn’t go into this blindly.”
I nod.
“My family has kept it a secret, but four billionaires can find out anything.”
“Yes, we can.”
Come on. Don’t keep me in suspense.
She nibbles on her lower lip. “It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I was adopted.”
Adopted? That’s her big secret? Fuck. But I show no disappointment.
“My parents never told me. I stumbled across some papers in one of my father’s desks.”
“What were you doing in your father’s desk?”
“Looking for the combination to his safe. I wanted to wear my grandmother’s diamond necklace to a social event, and only my father knows the combination. He’s old-school and keeps everything written down.”
“Why not just ask your mother or father for the necklace?”
She looks down. Of course. They wouldn’t have let her wear it. Spoiled to a fault. Doesn’t know the meaning of the word “no.”
“They still don’t know that I know,” she continues. “I couldn’t tell them because…”
“Because then they’d know you were snooping.” Time to redirect. “I don’t care how you found out, Misty. I only want to know what you found out.”
She lets out a nervous laugh. “Right.”
“Tell me all your secrets, Misty.” I lick my lower lip, hoping it looks sexy.
“You must already know that my biological mother was a woman named Lisa Patterson. She died nearly twenty years ago. Or I'm assuming she did. She seemed to disappear off the earth, but I couldn't find a death certificate.”
My heart drops to my stomach, but I take care to keep my expression blank.
Lisa Patterson.
A name from my past.
Lisa Patterson was the mother of Jake Patterson.
The fifth of our group.
The one who…
Fuck…
Misty may know something after all…
I rack my brain while taking another sip and never letting my gaze stray from Misty’s. Jake’s father died shortly after he was born. Did Lisa have another child? If she did, Misty would be Jake’s half-sister. But Jake and Lisa lived in our small town since Jake was a toddler. I don’t recall Lisa being pregnant…
Misty is twenty-eight, so Lisa would have had her when Jake—and the rest of us—were seven.
Then again…Lisa Patterson isn’t an uncommon name. This could all mean nothing.
Except I’m lying to myself.
This means something for sure…and Misty knows it.
“Yes,” I say calmly. “Lisa Patterson. Why don’t you tell me how that all came about.”
“How I was adopted?”
“Yes. About how Lisa’s child came to be the daughter of a hotel magnate.”
And why Lisa and Jake lived in squalor while her other child was brought up in riches.
She sighs. “I honestly don’t know the whole story. I guess my parents tried and just couldn’t get pregnant. That’s pure conjecture. I couldn’t ask them. They’ve kept it from me—and everyone else—all this time.”
I nod slowly. “Go on.”
“I was adopted as an infant, and apparently they paid my birth mother for me.”
Yeah, something’s off here.
“How much?”
“Twenty thousand dollars.” She huffs. “I know that sounds like nothing to you and me.”
Maybe now. But back then? Twenty thousand dollars would have been a godsend to any one of us. Especially to Lisa and Jake.
Hell, money’s the whole reason…
Fuck. I can’t go there. I’ve got to keep my head.
“Anyway,” she continues, “I did some research into my birth mother. Where she lived. What happened to her.” She grabs another shrimp, swirls it in the vinaigrette this time, and then slithers her tongue around it before popping it into her mouth, chewing, and swallowing. “And that’s how I found out your secrets.”
Twenty Years Earlier
“Here’s how it goes.” Brett’s voice is low as the five of us gather in the old shed on the far end of my family’s small ranch. “It’s buried outside Old Man Larson’s barn.”
“You sure?” Seb asks.
“I told you. I saw him put it there myself when I was taking a shortcut going over to River’s.”
“You sure he didn’t see you?” Seb again.
“Hell, no. If he had, he’d probably have pulled his shotgun on me. It was lying right next to him.”
“Why would he bury it?” Alex asks.
“He doesn’t trust banks,” Seb says. “I heard him tell Larry over at the hardware store one time when I was in there.”
“What is he? From the fucking eighteenth century?” Jake pushes his shock of blond hair out of his eyes.
“Whatever, man.” Brett shoves his hands in his jeans pockets. “His distrust is our gain. What’s the old motherfucker going to do with it all anyway? He’s got no relatives to leave it to, and he hates everyone anyway. It’ll rot underground if somebody doesn’t use it. And man, we could all sure use it.”
I hate the idea, always have, but I’ll never forgive Larson for what he tried to do to Ernie. And money like what Brett’s talking about could erase the dark circles from under Jake’s eyes… I might never have the guts to steal just for myself. But for him? Jake’s looking at being a father at fifteen.