Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
I sat up straighter now, wide-eyed. Was he lying to me? I’d seen interviews with Juliette Romeo. She’d been on the Today show, and there was a movie coming out about one of her books.
“You’re kidding,” I said to him.
He raised an eyebrow. “Why would I kid about that? Or even know the name of a romance author? Google it. Her real name isn’t a secret. It’s on her Wikipedia. Noa Carver, married to Ransom Carver.”
I started to reach for my phone before remembering once again that I no longer had one. He’d taken it.
“How do you propose I google it?” I asked.
He chuckled. “You still think I’m lying?”
No, not really, but it was hard to believe. She was well known, and if she was married into this family, then that meant…that meant she was part of this drug world. She seemed so nice on television. Clean-cut, classy, and not at all like a criminal. Wasn’t she worried that her connection would get out? That could ruin her career.
“I take it, you’ve read her books,” he drawled.
“No, but she’s well known. I’m going to read the one that has a movie adaption coming out. I haven’t had a chance yet.”
He nodded his head toward the door. “There is a copy of it in the library. It’s even signed. You can have it if you want it.”
I blinked. He was serious.
“Dinner is almost ready,” he then told me.
Had I really been sitting here an hour?
Slash nudged his head under my hand, and I began to gently run my nails behind his ears the way he enjoyed while mulling this new information over.
“You’re a conundrum,” I blurted out.
He tilted his head slightly as he met my gaze. “How so?”
I shrugged. “You…you abducted me, humiliated me beyond anything I could have imagined, and are clearly involved in something illegal, but you are good to your dog; you’ve got kids, a successful daughter-in-law, and a daughter, if you were honest about her; yet you have a female in your house you’re holding prisoner and giving her a signed book by a famous author.” I could go on, but I stopped because he looked like he might laugh. I didn’t think this was funny.
He wasn’t married. That much I had come to be certain of, and I wondered if she’d left him because of his criminal involvement. Maybe taken his kids when they were younger to get them away from the danger that this man dwelled in. No woman would want to raise her kids in some drug cartel. Even if it came with a fabulous lifestyle. Well, okay, some women would. I was one hundred percent sure Lillibeth would have no issue with it. If only he’d abducted her.
“I’m assuming the humiliation was the strip search.”
He was grinning. Asshole. Nothing was funny about that.
“You’ve got a nice body. I don’t see why getting naked was such a big deal, and I’ve been honest with you. I’ve not lied.” He paused. “And it seems you were being honest too. I apologize for that.”
Not a big deal? He was crazy. That would forever haunt me. And when had he decided I wasn’t lying? This was a turn of events.
“What caused this change in opinion?” And did that mean I was going home?
“Vilmer,” he replied. “He didn’t know you. It was an unfortunate coincidence. But your past with Harland made that hard to believe.”
Vilmer was 1A. It seemed where they couldn’t believe me, they did believe Vilmer McKenzie.
“Then why am I still here?” I asked somewhat hesitantly. I didn’t know when this man could snap and become the darker version of himself that he must be masking.
He took a drink from the water bottle he was holding, then shrugged. “Haven’t decided how to handle the situation with you just yet.”
What situation?
“I would have thought you’d be ready to get rid of me. It’s not a secret you’re not thrilled with my being here,” I said.
The corner of his mouth quirked, and then he pointed at Slash. “My dog is though.”
That wasn’t an answer.
“Am I going home soon?”
“Most likely.”
Not the answer I had been looking for.
“I’m starving. Let’s go eat,” he said, then began to walk back toward the door.
That was it. We were just going to sit at a table and eat. Together. This bizarre world I had been forced into was just getting weirder.
Twenty-Seven
Bay
This wasn’t a room I had been in yet. The opulence didn’t surprise me, but it seemed odd for two people to dine at such a large table. Like the rest of the house, it had a high ceiling with rustic wooden beams exposed. Dark craftsman woodwork on all four walls with the room being illuminated by a massive, round chandelier made of branches. The table sat fourteen, but only the far end seat and the spot to its right were set. This felt intimate, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to have a meal like that with this man.