Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 127368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
I felt my lips purse.
“You were correct in your deductions,” he informed me. “Brittany was furious Daniel was perfectly fine allowing her to serve his family and see to his new girlfriend. She was making more threats and demands. Alas, he had nothing more to give, so she told him she was going to tell Portia about them. He went out that morning to meet her away from the house to try to reason with her. His efforts, as we know, failed. And this, my love, is the real reason why he packed Portia up to escape later that day. He wanted to get her away from Brittany.”
This was annoying.
However, now, everything was explained.
Except.
“Did you have suspicions it was Clifton?”
He took another pull from his cigarette and nodded. “Yes. He’s the only stranger in recent memory who had been shown to the areas of the house he utilized. Including the Brandy Room. Dad showed him some papers there, and shared that Clifton was with him when he opened the safe. Although I suspected, I didn’t want to entertain it. The fact someone on staff was letting an outsider into the house to wander at will unseen while we went about living our lives none the wiser was unsettling.”
He could say that again.
I shivered.
He noticed and murmured, “We should go up. You’ve had a trying night.”
“We all have. Finish your cigarette,” I replied.
Ian being Ian acquiesced by taking another pull and wrapping his arm around me.
“It all came together when you saw him,” I guessed.
“Yes, and no. When Kathleen called to warn me he was approaching the property before it culminated, she’d already told me they’d tracked him to a grubby flat in town. So he was staying close, which made him the prime suspect, and therefore she was keeping an eye on him. Sadly, they discovered this after his earlier visit and mad dash from you. But yes, after she shared that, I realized his intent was to terrify anyone who might happen upon some scene he created, and from what was already reported to me, his motive was clear. I know these types of maneuvers well. He was hedging his bets.”
“Mm,” I hummed.
His attention on me changed, and I knew why when he asked, “Did you have a nice chat with Mum?”
Nice wasn’t how I’d describe it…exactly.
“Yes,” I said.
“Care to tell me what you two discussed at three in the morning?” he requested.
I put my head on his shoulder and replied, “Perhaps someday I will.”
“All right,” he gave in gallantly. But then, his tone changed, it was very quiet, when he queried, “She knows, doesn’t she? And now you do too.”
“About?” I inquired cagily.
“Everything.”
I sighed.
Then I turned and kissed his neck.
I settled in again and answered, “Yes, honey. She knows everything. Though, I suspect, the lady of the house always does.”
Ian didn’t reply.
He smoked his cigarette, and I sat cuddled into him while he did.
And when he was done, arm still around me taking me with him, he leaned forward and crushed it out.
“I’ll ask Stevenson to dispose of the rest of these in the morning,” he murmured, indicating his cigarette box.
It wasn’t right, and I didn’t have the energy in that moment to protest, but I was going to request he didn’t. It wasn’t healthy, but he could at least finish them. They had to be expensive, and it would be a waste.
Mostly, though, it was about memories of me and Ian in the Conservatory, and I didn’t want to lose any part of our time there.
However, I supposed I’d get used to it.
He pulled the throw off me and helped me to my feet.
He went to the tablet and extinguished the lights.
Then, holding each other, Ian’s arm around my shoulders, mine around his waist, we walked through the shadowed paths lit faintly with the coming day, into the deserted foyer, turning lights off along the way.
And we returned to the Hawthorn Suite.
To tie it all up…
Daniel and Portia didn’t make it.
They gave it a go, but in retrospect, I believed everyone knew they were doomed to fail.
Daniel’s expanded app launch was a resounding success, however. He and his mates dreamed up another one, and it, too, performed swimmingly (Ian invested in that one as well).
Nonetheless, all of this meant he was very busy and didn’t have time to give my sister the attention she thought she deserved.
A mutual decision, they broke it off.
Though mutual, Portia was Portia, so it was also dramatic.
Daniel then turned his attention to launching a new social media platform, which was highly successful (Ian invested in that too).
Not long after the breakup with Portia, Daniel found a no-nonsense woman named Jenny, who took absolute zero shit. They married in a tiny chapel on the coast with only very close relatives and friends in attendance (Jenny’s idea).