Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 126580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“I’ll ask it again. Do we need to know what that was about?”
I’d not made my decision if I was coming back to work. Val knew. She knew everything at this point, but there was something nagging me. A little voice whispering in the back of my head, but I couldn’t make out what it was. The feeling of something coming, something more happening, was in my stomach, and it was growing along with those whispers.
Maybe it was because of that feeling that I hadn’t said when I was coming back or if I wasn’t.
Leo’s betrayal had rocked me, to the point where I couldn’t talk about it.
I would have to. I knew that day was coming, but not yet. Leo had been like my father, and all the revelations from that one call—I was off balance.
The foundation under my feet was cracked.
I didn’t know where to tread anymore, but hearing Val’s question, I couldn’t tell her about Justin and Kelly. When I told her, it hit me when I was leaving.
In a way, Kelly and Justin were the true innocents here.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
JESS
My phone was ringing when I left Bear’s.
I answered as I got into my own car. “You tracking me again?”
Trace chuckled, but the warmth of his voice slid over me, and I welcomed it. I needed it. He’d been a rock for me in the midst of everything. “I got a notice that you were leaving. How was it?”
I reached to start the engine but paused and sat back. Maybe I’d just take this time and enjoy a phone call with him. Felt nice. Felt like a momentary sanctuary.
I knew it wouldn’t last because we were both in this weird place.
Ashton had offered to take over Trace’s family business. The fallout from that night had hit everyone, including Trace, Ashton, and me.
All of Ashton’s uncles had been killed. Trace’s father had disappeared, and his uncle Steph had been gunned down by one of his own men, Bobby. I didn’t know who that was, but Trace said his name with such derision that I knew that betrayal hurt.
Bobby worked for Dominic. Bobby had also lied about Trace’s mom, telling him that she was still alive. It’d been a whole ruse to distract Trace even more, but it hadn’t worked. I knew it wouldn’t have. Trace didn’t operate like that. He researched. He took his time. He had the capabilities to be a mastermind, which his father so clearly wasn’t.
But while Trace was stepping into his uncle’s position temporarily, until he decided what he wanted to do, Ashton made his own decision. He was the new head of the Walden Mafia family. That’s where his offer came in. While I’d not seen Ashton since the torture session and Trace was having minimum contact with someone he used to consider a brother / best friend, Ashton offered to take over what both families handled. Whereas most times those offers would be a sham, extended as a “favor” but in reality they wanted the power, it was not the case this time. There was a lot I didn’t know or want to know about Trace’s family business and especially Ashton’s, but Trace explained to me one night that their two families had always been linked.
They were almost a yin and yang sort of deal.
His family handled the businesses, the shipping yards, the distribution in the city. Ashton’s handled the law enforcement and the bribes. For one family to take over all of it would be a lot of change and chaos. It’d take time.
I hadn’t wanted to know. I’d been keen to keep that boundary because of my job, but it didn’t seem to matter as much anymore. Not if Trace was going legit, like he’d been planning.
“It was okay. Good to see Val, a few others.”
“They’re not turning their backs on you?”
I hesitated, but what was the point? “A lot of them have. It’s obvious, but not Val.”
“If you go back, will that be a problem?”
“Yeah. We need each other in this work. I get iced out, and that could be dangerous.”
“Okay, you know you have my support no matter what you decide.”
I did. Warmth spread through me. “I know. I love you.”
“I love you too. Are you going back to your mom’s right away or . . . ?”
Another smile from me, even though there was so much bad that had happened that maybe I shouldn’t be smiling at all. But I was because there’d been one surprising silver lining out of everything. “That gallery called, and they want a few more of my paintings.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I guess the ones she had in her gallery sold, so she’s asking for more. And I got an email. An art magazine wants to interview me.”
“That’s great. I’m not surprised.”
The gallery owner saw my paintings while I’d been moving them out of the studio the day I was moving into my mom’s house. She’d asked, then and there, for a few, and I’d been in such a mess that I’d forgotten about the whole deal. I’d gotten the call when I was leaving Bear’s funeral.