Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“That’s not the Tara I remember,” he says, following. His friend Finn comes along, hands in his pockets, strolling after. “You were one hell of a firecracker back then.”
“You mean when I was a teenager?”
“Running around with my sister getting into trouble.”
“I’m different now.”
“Yeah, how? You’re still here.”
I stop and face him. “I’m clean. I’ve been clean for a long time. I’m not the girl you remember.”
“I bet you’re not,” he says quietly, lips tugging into an infuriating smirk. “Except people don’t change that much.”
“I did.” I stomp through the bushes and head toward the garden. Kellen keeps pace, shadowing me. It’s hot and I’m sweating already, and I don’t need this asshole making my job any harder.
Although I knew this would happen the second I spotted him digging shirtless in the dirt in the middle of nowhere, burying some strange box for no apparent reason.
He grabs my arm and my mind flashes back to that moment in the hallway, his intensity, his anger, and a shiver of terror runs down my spine as Finn watches on impassively like he’s used to his boss manhandling people all the time. Kellen leans forward, lips tugged up, and I hate how handsome he is, and how I know why he despises me like this, and there’s a bleak part of me that despises myself for the same reasons.
“You’re up to something here,” he says, watching me intently. “Nobody would stick around this place as long as you have without a reason. Not with everything that happened.”
“Get off of me.”
“You can do the right thing here. You think Hugh’s going to be better for this family? You think any of my cousins can handle this twisted carnival sideshow of a business? Help me, Tara.”
I’m trembling in fear but I tilt my chin up and stare him in the eye. “I have work to do,” I say and my voice is steadier than I expected. “Let go of my arm.”
He holds me a moment longer, fingers digging into my flesh, before releasing.
I walk on and he follows. “You know, I’ve been wondering something for a long time.”
“You’ve been wondering about a lot of things, haven’t you?”
He laughs and keeps talking as if I hadn’t said anything. “My father wasn’t a kind man. There wasn’t a shred of humanity in that shriveled, shrunken little slab of rotting meat he called his heart. Why did he let you stay here, help you get clean, and give you a job?”
My hand tightens over the shears and I struggle to keep my breathing under control. It’s a question I’ve asked myself a thousand times since everything happened, and even all these years later, even after living on the man’s property for seven years, I still feel like I don’t fully understand.
I have theories. Guesses. Good ideas.
But the truth?
I came to grips a long time ago with never knowing the truth.
Not in a place like this surrounded by people so used to living in fantasy and twisting themselves into gossamer spider webs of deceit that I’m not sure anyone really knows anything anymore.
And the only man that might’ve is gone.
Good riddance.
Kellen stops ghosting after me and I walk on a few paces. “Think about it, Tara,” he calls after me. “We’ll have lots of time to discuss details but I’m sure we can work out a deal.”
I use my free hand to flip him off over my shoulder.
He laughs and his footsteps recede over the rocky ground.
Chapter 4
Kellen
The conference room in the Hayle manor is tucked back in the far corner of the building close to my father’s former office, which is currently being used by Hugh.
I don’t love the idea of my slimy cousin taking over my father’s former headquarters, but then again, my father was a real piece of trash—so it’s like swapping bad for worse.
Albert Manning sits shifting uncomfortably in a chair across from mine while Finn stands near the door looking angry and intimidating. Albert’s been the Hayle family lawyer for two decades now and he shouldn’t be bothered by a guy like Finn, but I think my crew’s reputation precedes us here. The poor old bastard keeps glancing over and looking away and I’m pretty sure he’s about to sweat through that cheap polyester suit he’s got wrapped around his soft, pale Irish ass.
“Ah, Kellen, uh, yes, good to see you again, I’m happy you called me in today. There’s a lot we have to discuss.”
“You seem a little nervous, Albert. Can I get you something to drink? Water? Tea maybe?”
“No, no, I’m fine.” He glances at Finn again. “Are you sure we don’t need privacy? Much of what I have to say is, ah, confidential family business.”
“Finn’s fine. Are you going to blab about what we say in here, Finn?”
“Probably not.” Finn shrugs.
I gesture at Albert. “See? Probably not. That’s as good as gold, coming from him.”