Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 80689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“Yes. I should explain. This first job was…a test. I needed to see if I could trust you, and you’ve earned that, Jonas. So now I have another task in mind for you. This will be more complicated, but the reward would be even greater.”
His worry shifts to what looks like interest, but only for a moment before he blinks and says, “I think I should probably just go.”
“Don’t you want to at least hear it? I think you’d be very pleased with your compensation.”
He bites his lip. “No, thank you. It’s better if I just go, but I do appreciate the opportunity.”
“That’s fine. You’ve already been away from your family, and I’m sure they want you to get back to them. So that said, you have your money, and you’re excused. If you want to head upstairs and get your things together, I’ll have someone arrange your flight and get you to the airport. And until your flight, feel free to enjoy the house. I’ll let Ryan know.”
“I can tell him.”
Anger pulses through my chest, but…it also gives me hope.
Before he can head out the door, I say, “If you change your mind, I’d love to tell you about how I could make sure your sister is taken care of for the remainder of her life. Your sister and your aunt, really.”
It’s so satisfying to hold the cards close to your chest and then show them at just the perfect moment. I revel in the way he’s halted at the door, his hand reaching for the knob.
He’s a puppet, my words his strings.
“My sister?” He turns back to me. There’s that worry in his expression again, and I know I’ve won.
Silly Jonas. I always win.
8
RYAN
I’m enjoying my day off, and I have to admit, stressful as this Jonas situation has been, last night was nice.
Even knowing my brother was watching us.
Even knowing, as I sealed my eyes shut, that he looks like Kieran.
It was nice having a cock inside me. Nice to have a reminder of what it felt like to have that pressure against my prostate, urging me on to release.
Although, Jonas must have been fucking miserable.
He said he’d never done that before with a guy. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that he could be straight and willing to do something like that.
I just hope Simon got what he wanted out of that and that he’ll give Jonas his money so he can move on with his life and pretend this never happened.
Given how he was with me last night—careful, patient, considerate—it assures me of what I’ve suspected from the start: he’s a kind man, a man who deserved better than to be used like a pawn by Simon.
While I’m eating my lunch, Nell brings out extra dumplings she’d reheated for me. As she sets the bowl beside my plate, she says, “How’s the new workhand coming along?”
She’s convincing at sounding mildly interested, but I’ve known her long enough to know she’s poking for intel, which I have no intention of offering.
“He’s a hard worker.” Like the work he put in last night. “And he’s getting along well with Morgan and Forsyth.”
“Suspicious that even you won’t state the obvious.”
“What do you mean?” I can’t help but smirk as I turn to face her.
She glares at me, her forehead wrinkling. “You know what I mean. I have eyes too. And I’m the only one who’s been around long enough to know what I’m looking at. I just don’t know why I’m looking at it.”
Nell is, in fact, the only person still employed with us who knows that Jonas is a Kieran look-alike, and I’m wondering why she decided to bring it up today.
She adds, “Just like I’m wondering why you’re suddenly in such a good mood.”
“Maybe I’m just having a good day.”
“Ryan Hawthorne, I’ve known you and Mr. Simon since you were thirteen years old. You think I can’t tell when you have a little pep in your step I haven’t seen in, say, four years?”
That’s why she’s asking: she knows me well enough to intuit what I’ve been up to. Or, just as likely, Simon or his butler mentioned something to her.
“Are you insinuating something,” I ask her, “or just making an observation?”
“An observation, of course. I wouldn’t dare do more than that.”
Sly Nell.
“I just figure it must be very difficult to have him around,” she says. “I know how close you were. How much you adored him.”
Kieran. Wisely, she doesn’t speak his name.
Her remark takes me back to a time when all the staff were talking about Simon, Kieran, and me. Heat burns in my chest, and I struggle against memories fighting their way to the surface, threatening to pull me under.
“Nell, I’d rather not discuss it.”
She raises an eyebrow. “As you wish. Just keep in mind, if you cling to the past, it just might take you with it.”