Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Then my thoughts turned to the bureau. I hated the pace my office worked. My intruder had given up solid information about Ruin’s organization. He hadn’t been able to say it was the senator’s son who ran the business, but he had given the date for the next auction in exchange for full immunity. Unfortunately, the auction couldn’t come soon enough. I wanted to see Shawn again and share the ultrasound picture of our child.
Instead, the landline rang, reminding me of a visitor I expected. I buzzed him through and waited by the door.
My half-brother, David, breezed in like he owned the place.
“Why did you want to see me?” I asked. I’d agreed to the meeting during a late-night call where I’d been too tired to argue.
“Is he living here with you?”
“Not this again,” I said and rubbed at my forehead. I could feel a headache coming on.
“Does the FBI sanction this relationship between you and a criminal?”
I shook my head. “He’s not a criminal.”
His eyes closed to slits. “He hasn’t told you, has he?”
“What are you talking about? They freed him after what happened to me.”
“He hasn’t,” David said, ignoring my statement. “You don’t know who he is, do you?”
For a second, I wondered if he knew Shawn’s real name.
“He’s Shawn Stanton. A former Chicago PD officer who worked off duty for the crime lord Nicolas Cortez.”
I’d heard something about that in the news. I’d been back from training when it came out. My focus had been on my sister that day. The day I’d been taken.
Shawn Stanton, Shawn Rook, Matthew Moore. All the names circled in my head, and I was dizzy from it. I almost blurted out Shawn’s real name.
“You don’t know him,” I said instead.
David got in my face and put his hands on my shoulders as if he wanted to shake some sense into me. But he didn’t. He pulled me into a hug. “I don’t blame you for falling for him. He had me fooled, too.”
I stepped out of the embrace. “We’ve been down this road before. He’s a good guy who paid two million dollars to free me as a favor to you, I might add. He didn’t ask you to repay him, yet you tarnish his name.”
David looked like he had swallowed his tongue. “He what?”
“Exactly. You asked him to find me. I was at an auction. You know, the human kind. Which meant I had to be bought. Shawn paid two million, and you heard me correctly. I’ll say it again in case you didn’t. Two million dollars to free me. Did he tell you that?”
David stuttered. “It was probably drug money from Cortez.”
“So what if it was? He got me out. Would you have paid two million dollars to free me?” When he said nothing, I said, “Regardless of where the money came from, he didn’t throw it in your face or ask you to repay him, did he?” David remained mute. “So stop talking about him. He’s the father of my child and will be in my life forever because of it. I need you to be okay with that, or we won’t have a relationship.”
“He’s bad news,” he declared before marching toward the door.
I spun to face him. “Before you go, one more thing. Tell our father I want to see him.”
His eyes widened slightly. “I’ll arrange something,” he said begrudgingly.
“You do that. And mind you, I want to see him before he’s dead. I’ve never spoken to the man as an adult.” Then I thought of something. “I don’t want your mother to be around when it happens.”
The woman didn’t like me, and I couldn’t blame her. I was the product of an extramarital affair. Still, she was downright nasty, as if I had some say in being born.
He didn’t respond and left. I closed my eyes. I hadn’t wanted our conversation to go that route. David was too stubborn when it came to Shawn, and I really didn’t understand his resentment. It couldn’t be over a woman that Shawn wasn’t even involved with because that would be childish on my brother’s part.
Days would pass like they were on repeat. I went into the office and came home to sleep. Rinse and repeat. I’d seen the therapist a few times and I felt better for it. I didn’t know when I would be one hundred percent, but I had my baby to think of. I couldn’t dwell on the past. What happened, happened. The most important thing was forgiving myself for getting caught the first time. Bruises could heal. I wouldn’t let Ruin own my mind. It was one of the takeaways I’d gotten from Connor. He seemed to be doing well. I could too.
I’d given up on seeing Shawn because the man remained elusive. Kelsey was still in California, though we talked briefly every few days. My family was halfway around the world and enjoying their cruise, though it, too, would be ending soon.