Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
“Yeah, but he’ll find a way to wriggle out of it,” I growl. “You’re the one who gave me his location. I’ll make him squeal.”
I drive down the street in my unmarked car. I’ll need to replace the windows in my sedan, fix the door, and hide the bullet holes. I grip the steering wheel hard. “Focus, kid,” but then Imaginary Jack is gone. It’s my woman instead. It’s Lena. “You can do this. For us. For the family.”
“So you could monitor him. Scope it out. Not whatever you’re planning.”
I change lanes, maybe a little too aggressively. “Who says I’m planning anything?”
“You sound like you’re fixing for a fight.”
I change lanes again. “Can you fucking blame me? This prick thinks he’s untouchable. He thinks he’s got us all under his thumb. He thinks he can risk my woman’s life and get away with it.”
“Wait, what?”
“Nothing,” I grunt, coming to a reluctant stop at a red light.
“Jamie, are you talking about Simone?”
“Lena,” I snap.
“Lena?”
“Lena,” I almost roar. “I’ve wanted it ever since I saw her. Say it, man. Tell me she’s too young. Call me a creep. I don’t give a damn. I can’t give a damn about anything anymore. I can’t afford to. Just my family.”
“How does she feel?”
“She wants it, too.” Green light. “We’re going to have it—a future together. I’ve never wanted anything more. Hell, man. I never knew a man could want anything this badly.”
“I’m happy for you,” Russel says. “I’ve never heard you like this. We used to think you were made of stone back in the teams, but I mean it. This is good. You’re going to love being a dad.”
I swallow, gripped with emotion, knowing he’s right. It was like Lena and I said. We already love our kids. They’re not even here yet, and Lena is still a virgin.
“Hold on, bro…” Russel trails off, the line going to hold. I keep heading toward the sushi bar just off the Financial District, where the billionaire playboy sadistic douchebag is probably dining with a grin on his face, surrounded by his security, no clue I’m about to charge in there and…
And what? I need to think and plan. I can’t forget the look on my woman’s face when she shot the gun, the recoil blowing it from her hand, and the unearned guilt that flashed into her features.
“Turn around,” Russel snaps when he’s back on the line. “You need to get far away from there.”
“What? Why? What’s going down?”
“The FBI has moved in on him. I’ve sent you a video. They must’ve had a case cooking this whole time. If the Feds are on this, it’s only a matter of time before they get the files from The Answer. If this tech douche could get our info…”
“The Feds will have it eventually,” I say, swallowing. “Jesus, man. I’m sorry. Your family.”
“I’ve got a tropical place in mind. They’ll live. We planned for this. We knew this day could come.”
“When will you leave?” I ask.
“Realistically, we could have some time. It depends on how quickly Lionel decides to talk. It depends on how quickly it becomes public.”
“Don’t forget his men,” I say, bringing my car to a stop in an alleyway. I’m close to the sushi bar. I can hear sirens in the air. “They know who we are, too.”
“Hired guns, brother. They don’t give a shit about us. They’d be our friends if we paid them enough.”
“Still, we can’t risk it. We’ve got our families to think about.”
“You’re damn right.”
We hang up. Then I watch the video Russel sent me. It was taken on a cell phone and uploaded two minutes ago.
Lionel Strafer is an average-looking man in a plain black T-shirt. He could be anybody. Nobody would ever suspect him of anything if it weren’t for his money.
As the Feds escort him to the car, he lifts his head and shouts into the sky. “I am the answer! I am the answer! I am the answer!”
I pull out of the alleyway and drive toward my apartment. It’s time to initiate the disappearance. Jamie King has to vanish. Then I’ll be a new man with a family and wife that I’ll never stop loving.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Lena
“You and Mr. King were in a relationship, Miss Harwood?” Officer Ramirez asks, leaning across the coffee table. She looks formidable, the type of woman I hope my daughter becomes. When she asked if she could speak to us, I couldn’t think of a way to make her go away.
Mom glances at me and smiles, almost like we’re in on some secret joke. Their relationship was my biggest fear before. Now, it’s just one more angle to the insanity.
“Is something… funny, Miss Harwood?”
“It’s Mrs. Harwood,” Mom says, sitting up, seeming like the woman she was before Dad died. That must’ve been while she was still living her own narrative, a happily married woman. It was always part of her, even if it went away. “And I don’t see how this is appropriate. What does it have to do with anything?”