Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Oh, no, that had never crossed my mind,” he said sarcastically.
“You’re infuriating.”
“Yes, well, you normally find it charming.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, wincing as I moved a bit, trying to get more comfortable on the cot. “I don’t think I do.”
Owen scoffed. “You do. You act all growly and grouchy, but secretly you love it when I give other people crap.”
I thought about it a minute and then smiled at him, realizing everything was sort of shiny and a weird lightness was suffusing my body. Of course, I knew what it meant. “I think my fever is spiking.”
His hand slipped across my forehead, and he bit his bottom lip. “You’re burning up.”
“Figured,” I said, reaching out and running my thumb over the lip he’d had between his teeth. “Don’t do that. It’s a bad habit.”
I kept my hand on his cheek, loving the way he closed his eyes and leaned into my palm. He was craving attention, affection, and I’d been keeping it from him because I thought I shouldn’t, that he wouldn’t want that from me. But if I was being honest with myself—and now was the time to be, given the precariousness of our situation—I could admit I’d been smitten ever since he’d come home from college and I started spending all my time with him, listening and learning how his mind worked, seeing his great heart. He got me the way no one else did, and at night, in my bed, all I wanted was him there beside me. The fact that he was the child of my dead friends didn’t enter my mind. He was himself, a man I could easily see loving if I could ever stop worrying about the life he’d be missing out on if he spent his with me.
“Jared, are you listening to me? You’re supposed to focus on what I just said. Did you even hear me?”
I cleared my throat. “I didn’t, no.”
He passed me another cup of water. “Drink this.”
I did as told.
“I was saying,” he began, scowling at me, “that they won’t find the breadcrumbs I’m leaving because I’m very good at this.”
“I know.”
“Suwan has his own man checking up behind me, but he’s just verifying that I’ve done the proper fund allocations and amounts.”
“He’s cutting someone out,” I told him as he poured me more water. “I suspect his employer. If I’m right, they’re going to come looking for that money. And I want to be able to track it back to them when they do.”
“I still don’t know what this is all about.”
I met his gaze.
“I mean, I know it’s about you, but what about you?”
“Suwan suggested they made a deliberate decision to grab you to get me here. Initially, when I first got the news you were missing, I thought it had something to do with Sutter. But pretty quickly, I realized it was something else, and then the other day, we all started noticing that everyone was focused on trying to kill me.”
“That’s great news,” Owen said snidely.
“I just mean that I’ve made a lot of enemies over the years, and I think this is one specific person with a grudge.”
“But you haven’t done any intelligence work in years.”
“Yeah, I know, which makes this really well planned and executed,” I said as he scooted closer so we were shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee. “Suwan said I was untouchable in the US, which was why he had to lure me here.”
“So my job at Sutter’s has basically been one big setup.”
“Yeah,” I murmured, leaning against him. It was nice to be close to him, talking like we used to. “Were you mad all this time because you were pissed I didn’t see you as a man?”
“Interesting subject change, but since I know this is your fever at work, I’m going to say yes, that’s exactly why I was mad.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” I asked without turning to look at him, enjoying his touch as he carefully took my other scraped, bloody-knuckled hand in his.
“Because I knew you’d do exactly what you did—try to keep me in the box where you put me, which, in your mind, is that I’m too young for you. For whatever reason, even though it’s ridiculous, you think of me as your ward.”
I snorted. “Like Batman and Robin without the bodysuits.”
“Oh dear God,” he groaned, turning to kiss my cheek. “If I didn’t know your blood was boiling, I’d think you were drunk.”
I closed my eyes when he kissed my temple next. It was nice.
“Jared…I am not now, or have ever been, your ward.”
“I know,” I agreed, because it was true.
“All right, so if what we’re thinking is true and this whole thing has been a long con, that means the contract Sutter has with Chanthara Holdings is bogus?”
“Not bogus.” I opened my eyes, scared that if I didn’t, I’d fall asleep, and I wanted to be awake when Fang and his goons came back. “I think Chanthara is a real builder, and they’re in business with Sutter to make their real-estate venture happen, but they made sure, or someone within that organization did, that you were in the mix to come to Thailand.”