AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My father was shot and robbed, left to die ass naked on his bedroom floor. He’s alive, though his pride is a bit disintegrated. No man wants to admit a whore bested him.”
I waited for him to go on, not seeing what any of that had to do with me.
“Do you know what my father almost died for?” He circled to behind his desk, unzipped a small duffel bag, and dumped it out.
Blood tinged bundles of cash hit the wooden surface. “And this.” He picked up a black leather book, holding it high for me to see. “Do you know how many people died because of this?”
Keeping hold of the book he circled back in front of his desk. “I hired a man to find it. After some…negotiating the other night, he didn’t stop until he had an interesting easter egg not so easily handed over to him.”
His golden eyes kept me rooted in place. I was clueless and felt severely disadvantaged because of it.
“I don’t even know what that is. What the hell does that have to do with your name on my father’s estate and my car being torn apart?”
“Well, it was found in your car. Under the passenger seat, ironically enough.”
“I’ve never seen that before. I’ve never even met your dad. I–––.”
“Don’t you think I already know all of that? Give me some credit. The problem, Elena, is that someone close to you wants to get to me and you’re their pawn. I’ve known from the beginning something was off about this whole situation we were in. Though I have to admit that this, was a bit…unexpected.”
My brain told me to shut the fuck up and think carefully before I responded but my mouth was already moving.
“I was going to use you. You were my in to find Eva. I-I needed someone with connections and power and you were right there. I thought you would eventually trust me enough to help. I didn’t have anything to do with whatever that book is.”
Too late to take back a word of my confession I waited with bated breath for his reaction. I knew none of that sounded good, but it was the truth. I’d never seen his book or that money until now.
“You were going to use me?” He asked quietly. “That’s very ambitious of you, but no one uses me Elena.”
He moved again, returning behind his desk. He pulled open a drawer and removed a white box with a blue ribbon on top of it. “This wasn’t supposed to happen this way. The book has nothing to do with the game, but seeing as we’re here already we might as well get the ball rolling,” he began, “Trust takes years to build, you never had mine.”
I stood awkwardly, clutching the manila folder, unsure what to do with the clusterfuck in front of me. “What game?” I finally asked.
“You want to be my enemy, and that isn’t a place anyone with a brain wants to be. I have a better idea. I’m going to make you my whore––exclusively. You’re going to take my last name. Then we’re going to play a game.”
“You want to play a game?”
“No, we will play a game,” he corrected.
“And then what happens?” I had no intention of being his whore or taking his last name. I definitely had no intention of playing whatever game he was talking about.
“If you make it to the end, I’ll tell you where your sister is. Better yet––I’ll show you where your sister is. I’ll also consider not leveling your father’s estate and building a playground in its place.” He smiled, waiting for my response.
“What…game?” I struggled to get out, processing everything he’d just said.
“Old Money Roulette, of course.”
“You said that was a myth.”
“Did I?” He rubbed his stubble, “I lied.”
“You’ve known where my sister was this entire time? You knew she wasn’t dead? You–––”
“Now before you get ahead of yourself, no I didn’t set up the hit on your aunt. That was sloppy and one thing I don’t do is sloppy. As for your sister, of course I knew she wasn’t buried. I’m the one who paid for the funeral.”
“What?”
He waved my question off. “All that can be explained later.”
“How do I know you’re not lying now? That my sister isn’t dead?
