by Ruby Vincent
“She’s been running from him ever since.”
I flipped over and hugged him, snuggling into the crook of his neck. “He changes his name and his appearance as quickly as it takes him to buy a new identity. He dumps cars seconds before the license plate alert goes out.”
“You said her parents had money. What about bodyguards?”
“They tried that. He paid one of them twelve times his salary to drive her directly where he was hiding,” I said. “And that’s what it comes down to, Preston. Outside of his family’s sphere, he’s still been able to get to her because if being rich and connected wasn’t enough, he’s also the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen.
“His smile stops your heart. His voice is music. And when he puts even the most basic effort into charming you, you lie down and expose your belly like a beaten dog. At some point I had to ask myself, could he do all he had if his looks matched his soul?
“Would he have been able to seduce the cook and gain access to her house if that smooth, perfect skin was pockmarked and covered with warts? Would the bodyguard have handed her over to a toothless, one-eyed prick with a scar disfiguring his face? Or the teacher that let him drive her off campus and bought his story that she was crying because he had to take her to the dentist? Would that lady have been as easily taken in by a greasy-haired bum in a dirty trench coat? Or did the model looks and Armani make all the difference?”
Preston was quiet.
“It’s not fair,” I said. “I know that. All men aren’t the same. I know that too. But when another handsome face and teasing smirk comes around the corner, I can’t help but wonder what that smile hides. Or what I’ll lose if I don’t figure it out in time.”
He held me close. “I’m truly sorry for your friend, Belle. Saying no one should have to go through that doesn’t cover it because most people don’t. This guy is terrorizing her to a level that’s psychotic. Obsessive.”
“Yes.”
“Is she still in danger?”
I nodded. “He’s never going to stop, Preston. He’ll come after her until one of them is dead.”
He hissed. “There has to be something.” Preston sat up, breaking our embrace. He propped me against the headboard so we could talk. “If she’s gotten out of that town, he doesn’t have his family protecting him anymore.”
“No, but their millions weren’t held back by the town line.”
“But the corrupt cops were. If this guy will follow her anywhere, she can lead him into a trap. Honest cops will pick his ass up and—”
“—his five-thousand-dollars-an-hour lawyers will get him out of jail with a tickle on the wrist and a promise to never do it again.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he replied. “She shouldn’t give up on bodyguards either. It leaves her way too exposed, which is exactly what he wants. My family hires exclusively from Kronos Security Company. They pay their guards six-figure salaries, put them through extensive background checks, and make them sign iron-clad contracts.
“If that’s not enough, I bet my mom would recommend a few guys from her personal detail. Men and women she’s known for over ten years. If she trusts them, then your friend can too.”
A smile played unasked for on my lips.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s just... I hate sharing her story,” I confessed. “I feel so powerless every time. We know who he is. We know what he wants. And like you said, we know he’ll turn up wherever she is sooner or later. Yet that’s not enough to stop him. Thinking about what would happen if he decides number four will be the last time she gets away from him, it terrifies me.
“So, I don’t talk about it, and I’m always alone in my fear.” I laced my fingers through his. “But not right now.”
Preston kissed my palm. “Not ever again, Belle. She’s not alone either. Tell her or her parents to call my mom. She’ll hook them up with her best guys. If this man gets near her, they’ll put him down. Hard.”
“Kind of hard to ask her to trust when teachers, cops, staff, and guards have let her down. It’s even harder to ask her to put more people in the crossfire.”
“I understand that,” he said. “I wouldn’t be so quick to trust either, and as much as I don’t want to say it, you’re right. If his outsides matched his insides, things would’ve been a lot different. There is a cost for being too handsome, rich, and manipulative,” he said. “Your friend has been paying it.”
“Am I batshit crazy now?”
“Less than you were at the start of this conversation.”
I rolled my eyes. “So generous.”
Preston sobered quickly. “Will you give her my mom’s number?”
“I will.” I reclined, taking him with me, and laying his head on my chest. “She’s tried everything else. She has nothing to lose at this point.”
“She’ll be okay,” Preston promised. “If this has to stop with one of their deaths, it’ll be his.”
A shiver went up my spine. It was a dark, unforgiving thing to say. A comment of a man who looked his cousin’s murder in the face and had been willing to let it happen.
This was what existed behind Preston’s beauty and charm.
Perhaps it should’ve scared me. If I was any other person, it would have.
But I knew a real monster.
The twisted depths of Mal’s soul didn’t allow him to give mercy to tears. Trade his choices for his family. Or reveal his true self to a random girl in a garden.
Preston was tough, mischievous, wounded, dark, kind, forgiving, and protective. The swirl of light and dark in all of us on display for me to weigh and judge.
I carded my fingers through his hair, eyes falling shut.
I made my final judgment. For this last summer, the only thing Preston Du Pont-Desai needed to be was mine.
NATHAN
“It’s a good day,” Abraham said. “The appointment went well and she asked for you as we got out of the car.”
“Is that Bug?” I heard her ask.
“Yes, Mrs. Prince.”
Shuffling on the other end and then Mom came on the phone. “Nathan, where are you?”
“Dodging jellyfish on the beach of Citrine Cove,” I replied. “How are you, Mom?”
“You know me, Bug. Nothing can get me down.”
She does sound good today.
“How are you?” she asked. “Have you met a nice girl?”
“Met loads of nice girls. And it sucks how much I like them.”
“Sucks? Why?”
“Because they’re so nice, they shouldn’t be saddled with me.”
“Nathan,” she scolded. “Don’t be ridiculous. Anyone would be lucky to call you husband.”
A husband who doesn’t love them and is using them for their money. Most wouldn’t call that lucky.
“I sent you something,” I said, changing the subject. “Margaret said she put it on your bed. Did you open it?”
“Hmm. Let’s see.”
More shuffling and the sound of tape.
“Oh, Nathan,” she said. “This is great. Vanilla orange soap, orange sugar scrub, honey orange body wash, and vanilla orange candles.”
“This place is lousy with orange stuff. I thought—”
“What’s going on in here?”
The bellow invaded my ear.
“What are you doing in my daughter’s room, Abraham? How dare you!”
I heard faint apologies and explanations on the other end.
“Father, calm down,” Mom said tiredly. It was eerie the draining effect he had on her. Seconds in his presence and the life, cheer, and color leeched from my mother like a painting drenched in turpentine. “Abraham kindly let me use his... his...” She trailed off, losing the word.
“Who are you speaking to?” His voice was closer. “Hello?”
“Colonel.”
“Nathaniel.”
We both spat the names out like they were poison on our tongues.
“I see,” he said. “You’v
e roped the driver into sneaking you phone calls. I hope it was worth his job.”
My eyes flared. “You can’t be serious. You’d fire a man that worked for you for ten years because Mom asked him to call me? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Watch your language!” he roared. “What my daughter asks for is irrelevant. Yesterday she asked for a spaceship. I told you you’re not to speak to her outside of the designated times when I’m available to observe the phone calls. Speaking to you causes her unnecessary upset. Imagine being told you have a son that you can’t remember? All the progress she’s made won’t be undone by your selfishness.”
My grip tightened fit to break the phone. “She may not remember me, but I am her son. You can’t stop me speaking to her.”
“As always, Nathaniel, you’re wrong.”
“Colonel—”
“I’m afraid Abraham needs his phone to begin his search for a new job. Think about this the next time you con an employee of mine into disobeying the rules. Goodbye.”
“Don’t—!”
He hung up.
“Arrghh!” I flung the phone into the sea. The piercing glare off the waves blinded me. The splash let me know it found its new home.
“Yo, Nathan.”
The guys on the beach stared at me. I wasn’t alone. I rarely was these days.
“You okay?” Pedro asked.
“Fine.”
He glanced out over the waves. “What about your phone?”
“I’m rich, Arroyo,” I replied, stalking past him. “I’ll buy another one.”
I stormed upstairs to wash off the sand and change for special projects.
It wasn’t the best day to sit me down and drone in my ear about excess and long-term thinking. But skipping out on activities might get me the boot. I had to be here.
I had to find a wife.
“—investments,” Hendrix said. “Many a person has lost their shirt. When you have that much money, what is it to lose a little here or there to chance a big payout? It’s important to—”
I tuned him out.
Hendrix set us up in the dining room, and sitting with her group next to the pool, was Belle. She couldn’t have been least interested in event planning, but she nodded along, and spoke up when the girls turned to her.
Seeing her brought the familiar twist in my stomach and tightening in my pants. My body couldn’t choose between one or the other. Arousal or agitation.
The truth is it would likely be both until the day I died. Her sitting across from me, sweet and determined, as she offered to become my wife—sealed my lifelong battle.
How could she not know she offered me Voldemort’s choice of drinking blood that would save me from death, only to live a cursed life?
That night I didn’t go to Kelli like I insinuated.
I took the whiskey under my bed, jacked a golf cart, drove into the grove, and passed out drunk under a tree. I woke the next morning to a worker shaking me awake.
The first reaction was to get drunk. The third thought was to talk to her. The second was the one I landed on—avoiding her and conversation to focus on what I came here to do. I got distracted by Belle and the result was becoming her charity case. We could stand on equal footing again when I had an understanding fiancée.
“Mr. Prince? Are you listening?”
I tore away from her.
“I’d like you to finish those financial plans today,” he said. “We start our second project tomorrow.”
I saluted him.
My report was done. I finished it the first night he assigned it.
Hendrix gave us all a million dollars a year and a set amount we had to pay in taxes, services, and on life. Twenty-five percent off the top for taxes. Then we factored in the other costs.
Fifty thousand a year per child. Sixty-five thousand a year for a personal chef. Forty thousand a year for a driver. Five thousand dollars to take the other half on a fancy week-long vacation. You get the gist.
The long list of services and accommodations community members built their life on were cataloged for us to decide what we needed and could afford.
The lesson wasn’t lost on me, but I knew it was lost on most of the guys here. They’d be living on much more than a million dollars a year after we were set free from this place. Taking over billion-dollar companies. Inheriting trust funds containing twice the amount of the national debt. I suspected only two people in the room would ever know the experience of scrimping, saving, and living on a budget.
Me and Hendrix.
“I’ll leave you gentlemen to it,” Hendrix said. “If you need help, you can find me in the theater, setting up for movie night.”
Chairs scraped the floor as the guys took the invitation to break up.
“I’m going upstairs to knock this out,” said Carter.
“I have to catch my mom.” Preston stood up too. “Something important we need to talk about.”
“You good, man?” I asked as I drifted to Belle.
“It’s not me with the problem,” he said. “But it’ll be fine.”
They headed out, leaving me and a few stragglers behind. Through the window, Belle started massaging her temples like she did when she was prepping to use the headache excuse. It was almost scary how well I knew her.
Kelli sat on her other side, talking animatedly and using her hands to describe.
Kelli was who I should be looking at.
Katherine Elsie Donahue. Kelli for short. Daughter of Earl Raymond Donahue and heir to their streaming video empire, DoubleFeature.
Kelli could buy my mother and me three new lives and it wouldn’t put a dent in her fortune. More importantly, she’d been dropping hints that she’d be happy to do just that.
My former classmates didn’t know the complete story of my life, but they knew my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. They knew about my inheritance situations. And those unfortunate enough to meet him, knew my grandfather was a raging dick.
Anyone the least bit perceptive understood our wedding would save me from him. From Kelli’s gentle prodding, she was also discerning enough to know my mom would come with me.
Kelli is perfect, I thought. She’s smart, funny, and sweet. She doesn’t tackle me into the dirt. Call me a jackass. Play mind games. Or dump me and then ask me to marry her. I should sit Kelli down that night and lay it all out on the table.
My future budget-planning consisted of buying a secure property, taking on a live-in nurse, and rehiring a driver. Time to find out if Kelli could see that in her future too.
Belle rose from the pool chair, drawing my attention from Kelli. She gestured at her forehead and even clutched the back of her neck for effect, wincing and rolling her head.
“Hey, guys.”
Finnegan, Colton, and Gunnar blocked my view of the pool, standing in front of the sliding door.
Finnegan elbowed Gunnar. “It’s a hot day. Let’s all go for a swim.”
“Yes, please.”
The three tromped outside.
“Nathan.” Owen pulled up a chair at my table. “Do you have the schedule for today? I can’t find my packet.”
“Yeah,” I replied, turning to him. “I had a pic on my phone until I threw that in the sea.”
He laughed like I was kidding.
“Stuffed it in my pocket instead.” Fishing it out, I read the day’s torture. “After this we’re discussing the right way to fight with Evanston. Next we’ve got a free period to get clothes for the party this weekend. Last is movie—”
“Ahhh! Put me down, Gunnar!”
Our heads snapped around.
Finnegan and Gunnar hoisted Belle and Kelli in the air.
I tipped my chair over running outside.
“You ladies looked hot,” Finnegan crowed. “We’ll cool you off.”
They spun them overhead.
The crowd of guys yukked it up while Kelli and Belle’s group shouted at them.
“Stop it, Finn!” Delilah g
rabbed Gunnar’s arm. “Put them down! When will you two grow the fuck up?!”
Gunnar shook her off. “Fucking relax, Winthrop. We’re just messing around.” He reared, mocking that he was going to throw Kelli in, and her screams reached new decibels.
“Gunnar, don’t! Not in the deep end!” She kicked and flailed. “I’m not a good swimmer!”
Belle was no less vocal. Finn held her under the chest and by the crotch. “Get off me,” she bellowed. “I’m not joking! Put me down now!”
I shoved through the guys. “Hey! What the fuck do you two have between your ears besides urinal cakes and jizz-stained socks? They’re not playing with you. Put them down.”
Finn grinned, edging himself and Belle closer to the rim. “We’re just messing around. Calm—”
Belle threw a fierce punch at his arm socket. “Put me down!”
Crying out, Finn collapsed in the elbow and tipped Belle headfirst at the ground. She punched him again.
“Argh!” Finn reared back and threw her.
Time slowed.
The space between my last breath stretched into an eternity as Belle sailed through the air. She came down screaming and cut its abrupt end on the brutal crack of her skull against the rim.
Belle sank below the depths, billowing a red trail to the surface.
“Belle!”
The crowd surged to help her, steps behind me. I leaped in the water, plunging into the echoey world of shouts, screams, blood, and within it, Belle was still.
More bodies jumped into the pool. They helped me lift her up, keeping her head above water as we rushed her to the steps and carried her out.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry,” Finn cried. “It was an accident!”
“The fuck it was! You threw her!” I ran at him. Finn must’ve known it was coming, but he made no move to put up his hands. My punch snapped his neck around and zinged pain up my knuckles. I cut on his teeth. The blood on my hands was his, mine, and Belle’s. The thought sent me after him again.