Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89093 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89093 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“I do. I’m just…” I pause to think of a good word to describe what I’m feeling. When my mind comes up blank, I mutter, “Shocked. Izzy only gave birth a couple of weeks ago. He should be home with her and their kids.”
Regan screws up her nose. “That would be odd considering they’re all here with him.” She bumps me with her hip as if to say, jeez, you don’t know Isaac at all, before she returns my focus to the screen of her phone.
For someone out of the loop on social media the past couple of years, JR’s video is surprisingly advanced. While peering down at the screen, text pops up next to his head stating his name, date of birth, and connection to the Petretti entity.
Aware people are skeptical when it comes to claims of infamy, he holds up a photograph. I don’t know whether to cry or smile when the face in the image registers as familiar. He is the man I helped the night Ophelia Petretti died. There are no misgivings to that now. Even with his eyes full of apprehension and his body not battered and bruised like it was the night we met, I’d never forget that face.
“Why did he put this up?” I ask, confused as to why he wants the world to know he’s a Petretti when he’s tried so hard to hide his heritage.
Regan slips her phone into her soft leather briefcase. “Because he thought thrusting himself back into their line of sight would save you as you had done for him seven years earlier.”
I snap my eyes to hers, confident I heard her wrong.
I didn’t.
When she spots my bewildered expression, she smiles before muttering, “JR isn’t the only one deserving of a cape. After Cecil’s death, JR wanted to die too. The only reason he held on was because he didn’t want you to face what he and Cecil had gone through.”
I’m lost as to what she means, but mercifully, Isaac joins our conversation. He doesn’t pussyfoot around anything. He gets straight to the point. “The cabin Cedric mentioned during his brief stint undercover is in your name. The deed was transferred to you when members of a crime syndicate in this region of the country instigated proceedings to have Colum Junior Petretti declared as deceased.”
“But he’s not dead. He’s right there,” I thrust my hand at JR, confident no one could miss a man of his size and impressive stature.
“Yes, but no one knew that,” Regan informs. “His last confirmed sighting was the night of Cecil’s suicide.” I almost interrupt her to correct her that Cecil didn’t kill himself, but I’m left speechless when she adds, “It was a local sheriff who claims to have seen his father shoot him down.”
“What?” I gabber out, utterly stunned. “Why would his father do that?”
“Because Col’s greed was always greater than his wish to shelter his children from harm,” Isaac replies on his behalf. “The cabin CJ—”
“JR,” Regan corrects before I can.
“The cabin JR…” Isaac’s glare has no heat to it whatsoever. Well, not for me, anyway. Regan isn’t so lucky. “… resided at with Cecil is on a portion of land a Sicilian crime syndicate has been trying to get their hands on the past two decades. The mineral in the ground makes the land’s value incalculable. It is well into eight figures…” he gives me a second to swallow my shock before muttering, “… and you own half of it.”
“That’s not possible. I don’t…” I stop talking, having no plausible excuse for the evidence Isaac presents. My name is on the deed of a property I never purchased. “Why is this newly endorsed?” I ask, confused by the date on the bottom of the deed. “Cecil died almost seven years ago, so why did the transfer only occur last month?”
“Because—”
“In some states, it takes seven years to declare someone is dead in the absence of a body,” I interrupt when my smarts finally kick back in.
As Isaac nods, Regan runs her hand down my arm in a supporting manner. Nurturing isn’t in her nature, but before I can interrogate her on a number of unusual quirks she’s grown the past couple of weeks, she says, “Even with your phone switched off, Hunter was able to strip some files from your device. In the minutes leading to JR making his TikTok debut, something must have alerted him to the fact he had been removed from the deed.”
“That was me,” I murmur, my tone high with disappointment. “I told him he was on land owned by my fiancé’s family, and they wouldn’t take kindly to trespassers.” I scrub a hand down my tired face when I’m hit with more truths. “That’s why he made a video.”
Isaac nods, agreeing with me. “By announcing to the world that he’s still alive, he effectively removed the heat off you. It was a smart move. One I would have encouraged him to do if he hadn’t thought of it himself.”