Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Meo’s hands clenched on his thighs. “Wow.”
“It gets better,” I continued. “I called my dad on the leasing office phone since mine was disconnected to get him to help me, and he never showed. So, I had to get my friend to go rent a U-Haul. While I was getting my stuff off the lawn, my ‘sister’ was using my ID and getting on my flight.”
“She doesn’t look that much like you,” he argued.
“I agree,” I said. “But obviously they felt like she did. I don’t know. She’d also cleaned out my bank account with my ex-fiancé’s help. I had literally not a single dollar to my name. I had to ask my boss for an advance.”
“Holy crap.”
“Yeah.” I shook my head. “The icing on the cake, however, was when I went to my dad’s to pick Brawny up and take him to my friend’s place, I found out that Brawny was missing. No one had seen him in hours.”
“Fuck that bitch.” He shook his head. “You win. My parents suck, but not like that.”
I smiled, though it didn’t reach my eyes. “And now I refuse to have anything to do with her, which pisses my parents off because they think she’s perfect. None of them think that she did anything wrong.”
“She stole the man you were going to marry,” he replied in outrage.
“I know.” I threw up my hands. “But they think that she did me a favor. Because after our breakup, she dumped him.”
“Of course.” Meo rolled his eyes. “At least tell me you called and canceled the hotel where you were having your honeymoon.”
“I did,” I confirmed. “I had a great event planner that worked with me through the entire process. She canceled everything and I got my money back on everything but the flight. They canceled her connecting flight to Bora Bora, though. I’ll bet she was pissed as hell.”
“A great endorsement for travel insurance,” he mused.
“You’re telling me.” I shook my head. “When she asked us if we wanted it, I was hesitant. But Morris said it was a ‘good thing.’ I guess he knew better than I did what he was about to do. Maybe he has a conscience after all.”
“Or maybe he was thinking about himself, and thought he might be getting sued civilly after all that bullshit,” he pointed out.
“You may be right. He paid for almost all the other deposits but the honeymoon. But the honeymoon was by far the most expensive,” I explained. “And I’ve actually been trying to gather evidence that Birdee was the one to dump Brawny. But she’s good. She’s been doing this sleuthing thing for a long time. I have to catch up.”
He tilted his head again, his hair falling into his eyes slightly with the move. “How legal are you wanting to keep it?”
Brawny lifted his head and rested his jowls on my bare knees. “I don’t care how illegal at this point.”
His lips kicked up at one corner. “Well, I know a guy.”
Four
Up your butt and around the corner.
—Dru to Romeo
Romeo
The woman definitely didn’t bench press small cars.
In fact, she was absolutely tiny.
And I’d seen her before.
She was the reason that I’d had Apollo look into Brawny.
I’d heard her and her sister talking as I’d walked in, contemplating whether to take a seat at the table or the bar.
I’d heard the two of them talking, and I’d heard the sister’s comment about the woman’s dog.
And I’d thought, what if that’d been me and my dog? How would I feel if someone had stolen him and given him away? Or dumped him?
That’d had me looking at Dog, whose real name was Brawny, differently.
What if he was someone’s pet?
I’d never thought that he would belong to the woman that I’d seen at Meridian, though.
“You know what kind of guy?” she asked.
“The kind of guy that can break into people’s computers and do whatever he wants with them.” I shrugged.
I wouldn’t give Apollo’s information to her or anything, but I knew that Apollo would be willing to help the moment he heard her story.
He’d like the update.
Plus, my sister would force his hand if he didn’t do it on his own. Dru was a bleeding heart.
“Listen, if your friend wants to hack her computer, I’m down,” she said. “Short of murder, I’m probably okay with just about anything at this point.”
Murder.
A flash of shame hit me.
I didn’t have the same moral boundary as she did.
When I’d caught my wife stealing all of my money with the man she was cheating on me with, I’d been much more cold and calculating.
I’d watched and waited, seeing what she’d do and where she would go with my money.
I’d had an eye on that money—she’d taken it all out in cash and stuffed it in our bedroom closet—and her for days. When I’d caught her sleeping with the guy in our bed, talking about how she would live happily ever after with him and our baby safely ensconced somewhere where I could never find them…I’d snapped.