Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 72308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
“I can’t be in a relationship with her when I have the constant threat of doom hanging over my head. It’s not just her safety I’m worried about. It’s her kids, too. I’d kill myself if something happened to any of them.” Grave looked at neither of us as he spoke, almost talking to himself.
“This doesn’t sound like a dilemma,” Cauldron said. “You already know what you want to do—but you don’t want to do it.”
Grave sank into his chair and looked at his brother. “I suppose.”
“It’s not that bad.” Now it seemed like I wasn’t there. It was just the two of them talking. “I sold the business this morning. I got far more than the asking price. It’s hard to walk away from that part of your identity—but it’s worth it.” His eyes flicked to me and lingered for a moment.
I felt the warmth melt inside me.
“There’s more to life than work,” Cauldron said. “And there are things far more rewarding than money—like a good woman.”
Grave was quiet for a while, and then he gave a nod. “You’re right.”
“Go for it.” Cauldron clapped his brother on the shoulder. “I wonder what Father will think.”
“He won’t be angry,” Grave said.
“You think?” Cauldron asked.
He grabbed Cauldron’s wineglass and took a drink. “Not when I tell him grandkids are on the way.”
When I opened the door, I came face-to-face with Bartholomew.
Fashioned in a black jacket and his boots, he looked like he was born in darkness. Thrived in darkness. His hair was such a deep color that women could only attain it by dyeing theirs midnight black. His intelligent eyes locked on my face, having an entire conversation in silence.
“Just let me get my coat.” I grabbed it from the rack, and we walked out.
Instead of having a driver take us where we needed to go, he was the one behind the wheel.
The silence became so heavy that I needed to break it. “How are you?”
“How am I?” He drove with one hand on the wheel, the roads slick from the afternoon rain. “No one’s ever asked me that before.”
“There’s a first time for everything, right?”
He pulled over to the side of the road. On the opposite side, there was some kind of gathering going on. Everyone wore black, so I assumed it was a funeral or mass.
“Did you lose someone?”
“I have no one to lose.” He looked out the window for a long time before he turned back to me. “There’s someone I need to speak to. Your job is to distract the woman he’s brought. Pretty routine.”
“Alright. But do you think this is appropriate at a funeral?”
He cracked a slight smile before he opened the door. “You think I care what’s appropriate?”
An hour later, he drove me back to my apartment.
“I hear Cauldron sold the business.” He put the car in park and killed the engine. It was warm inside, but after a couple minutes, that would change.
“I hear the same.”
“Did you ask him to?”
“No. It was his decision.”
“What will he do now?”
“He has a couple business plans in mind…”
“Legal, legitimate businesses?”
“Yes.”
He gave a slow nod. “Snooze-fest.”
“Maybe one day you’ll fall in love and do the same.”
He gave me a steady stare, his eyes hard but his mouth slightly playful. “Right.”
I stared at him for a while, regarding him as a friend but feeling like he was a stranger at the same time. “I think I’m going back to Cap-Ferrat…”
There was a subtle change to his eyes, his brows lowering over his face. “Cauldron and I have a deal.”
“I’ll still come here when you need me. I just need a day’s notice. Cauldron said I could take his plane.”
He stared at me for a while, letting the silence flow over us in waves. “I know what you’re doing.”
“What am I doing?” I asked, my bewilderment sincere.
“You’re trying to make me feel bad. But I’ve never felt bad about anything I’ve ever said or done.”
“That’s not what I was trying to do.”
“Then you won’t be disappointed when I tell you the deal is still on. That was my price.”
“And it was a fair price.”
He continued to study me.
“How long is this deal going to last, exactly?”
“Why?”
“I hope to be a wife and a mother in a couple years. Can’t take off to Paris for a few days with my babies at home.”
“Cauldron can’t take care of them?” he asked incredulously.
“If they’re too young, I think he’d lose his mind.”
He gave a quiet laugh. “How about a year? That seem fair?”
“I can do a year.”
“Alright.” He extended his hand to me.
We shook on it.
“But what will you do when the year is over?” I asked.
Bartholomew looked out the windshield again. “I guess I’ll have to find someone else… Wish me luck.”
“A lot of women would kill for this job. It’s exciting.”
“But few can handle it. They lack the professional sternness I require.”