Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“You can’t threaten me with my own money.”
“Then why are you here, Dawn?”
“I want full access.”
“Then you have two options. One, you can apologize and fix your head to respect the woman of my life when you see her later. Or two, and this is my favorite one, you can go back to daddy and beg him to give you access.”
“She’s not even here. She didn’t hear me.”
“Say sorry.” I held my hands out. “Jasmine and I are one now. To disrespect her is to insult me. I’m here. I need to hear it.”
She spat the word out. “Sorry.”
“Thank you, and make sure we have no more problems.”
Dawn stepped forward. “How dare you! How dare you think that—”
Wendy seized Dawn’s hand and pulled her back. “Let’s not argue.”
Dawn huffed, but said nothing more.
Troy took that time to come to my side. His voice lowered to a whisper. “We should talk after this.”
“About what?”
“These broads.”
If it had been another time, I might have laughed. Troy couldn’t say the word women or lady to save his life.
I continued to watch the opened limo door as I waited for Lucy to come out. “Okay. Let me get them to their rooms and then I’ll meet with you.”
Troy placed his hands in front of them and cracked one of his knuckles. “I’m staying with you.”
“What?” I chuckled a little. “Are you my protection?”
“No way. I don’t get in between a man and his chicks.”
“They’re not mine anymore. They’re from my past.”
Troy snapped his attention my way. “Just make sure they stay in the past then. I get a whiff of something going on with you and these three, and I’ll kill you.”
I raised my eyebrow. “Are you threatening me?”
He directed his view back to the car. “Boys threaten. Murderers take a life with no warning, but real men, they tend to tell you the truth as they know it. What I understand about myself is that when Jazz is hurt, I am too. Could be cause we’re twins or that she’s just someone I love over most. Either way, none of that matters when the reality is, I like you, but I would just as soon put a knife in your neck if you hurt her.”
I touched my neck. “Got the message.”
“Good.” He squinted. “Where’s the third chick?”
“Lucy always takes forever to get out of the limo. She crochets a lot. Probably has yarn and needles all over. Anytime we go somewhere she would dump it all out and start making whatever she loved to create.”
“Okay.” Troy centered his gaze on Wendy and Dawn. “You getting any weird vibes from those two?”
“No.”
“I got the reports back on the lab tests for Wendy’s bottles.”
That got my attention. “Anything interesting?”
“Maybe.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
I took my time gaining control of my anger. With Troy, I had to tread carefully. “You had one of my labs do the test. I paid for the cost and results. They’re mine.”
“Then call them up yourself.”
In jeans and sneakers, Lucy got out of the limo before I could respond. As I suspected, she carried her bag full of crochet needles and yarn with her. I’d remembered traveling with that big burgundy bag many trips. A few times, I’d been forced to hold on to it myself. She had her strawberry red strands up in a ponytail. It bobbed around as she rushed to get her bag under her arm. Yarn fell out.
“Sorry.” Lucy rushed for it as the ball of colors rolled away from her. “Okay. Just. . .a minute.” She cleared her throat, dove for the multicolored yarn, caught it, and stuffed the thing back into her back. “Hey, Chase.” She looked around. “I can’t believe you came here.”
“Why?”
“Because. . .” A sad, distant look glazed over her eyes as she took in the surroundings. “I. . .just never thought I. . .or all of us would ever come back.”
Once Mom died, I had only had to return to the Atrani house a few times. When I took over Dad’s companies, I gained control of the house and made sure the staff kept the place clean and empty.
“I came here out of desperation,” I said.
“Desperation?” Lucy widened her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“When one of you shot Jasmine, I decided to take matters in my own hands and be proactive. I needed her protected.”
Lucy dropped her bag. Tons of yarn spilled out as she touched her chest. “Jasmine was shot. Is she okay?”
Is this all an act, Lucy? Have you been fooling me all these years?
“Let’s go inside.” I turned around. Troy didn’t come. He continued to watch as I made my way back to the house.
“Wait. Chase?” Lucy rushed up to me. “Is she okay? What do you mean someone shot her?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know.”
She grimaced. “I-I didn’t. Why would I?”