Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
He'd just been blessed genetically with unfairly flawless skin, great lips, green eyes, blonde hair that was somehow neither dirty nor white, but somewhere in the perfect middle, with a jaw meant for cutting glass, great brows, and a well-proportioned nose.
So his stupidly good-looking face was right there in a bunch of files. On my computer. Looking oddly determined.
My gaze moved downward to one in particular. One where his lovely green eyes were hidden behind black-rimmed glasses.
Glasses.
Gary didn't wear glasses.
But this Gary - computer Gary - Gary who wasn't supposed to be on my computer Gary - he wore glasses.
I sat there, heartbeat slamming against my ribs, making me queasy, moving through the videos, watching, listening to the click of the mouse, the tap of the keys, before the camera feed turned off, only being programmed to run for two minutes.
It was the final one when he finally spoke.
And the words sent a shiver down my spine.
Got you, bitch.
Why did I automatically think that bitch was me? I wasn't sure. But I knew. I knew like I knew I would get a headache if I wore my hair too tight that he was talking about me. About getting me.
And that video was dated just an hour before, still wearing the suit I had picked out for him for the ceremony, tie pulled loose.
He got me.
I have no idea what made me sure of it, what made my hands move to the search history, sure of what I would find, not even feeling a sinking feeling when it was confirmed.
My bank's website.
Taking a deep breath, I typed in my login information with numb fingers, and hit the enter button on a sharp exhale.
And it was gone.
Every last hard-earned penny.
Every penny that represented an early morning, a late night, an achy back, sore feet, headaches, sleepless nights, frazzled nerves.
Years.
Years of carefully saving for security, for my future.
All gone.
I felt the sting in my eyes even as I went to the transactions, sure there was no way he could get the money out. Not without me.
Maybe a part of me was naively hoping that there was simply some banking glitch, some screw up that would explain it all away. Maybe all the transactions were gone, were in some server somewhere, not lost, just momentarily misplaced.
But they were all there.
Right up to the last one.
The one that transferred every bit of my pennies to some unknown account somewhere.
I didn't even bother to sign out as I pushed away from the computer, tears starting to stream.
What was the point in signing out, being safe, when there was nothing left to take?
I tore through my apartment, looking for anything of his, finding nothing, infuriatingly nothing, even as my makeup smeared, my dress getting ruined.
And then I finally found myself in the closet, locating that one box he brought right at the beginning, loaded up with just enough stuff to get him through a long weekend. Before he began hanging things on the racks beside mine.
It was still there.
Full of seemingly random things. Clothes, grooming supplies, a few receipts, nothing to go on.
That was when I was aware I wasn't alone, that someone had snuck up on me.
Kai had snuck up on me.
Of course it was Kai.
Kai with his sweet smile and too-big heart.
Kai who was maybe the last person I wanted to see me like this.
A mess.
I mean, I never wanted to look like a mess in front of anyone.
But more so with Kai.
For obvious reasons.
Because - while it was a while ago - he used to put me on a pedestal; he used to think I was perfect.
That being said, he was there.
He was there, and I was losing it.
And I needed to purge some of it, spew it out onto someone else before it consumed me.
"He took it all," I told him, cringing when my voice hitched again.
"Honey, he took what?" he asked, voice doing that soft thing it did when I had a headache, or when I was barely able to keep my eyes open at work. That sweet voice that made my chest feel tight.
My eyes closed for a long moment before opening, watching those dark eyes of his, finding a bit of strength there. "He took all my money."
Kai's lips parted slightly as the words sank in, as he tried to find something to say. "How do you know that?"
"I have a security camera on my laptop. He was on it. Today. He said he got me. And my savings is gone."
"Can I go look?" he asked, making an odd, insecure part of me well up, thinking he just wanted to get away from my hysterical self.
I simply nodded, watching as he turned and left, moving through an apartment he'd never been in before like he knew all the secrets hidden within.