“Everything about you is mine, Veronica Kayde.”
“Everything,” she responds. “Miles, I need to come.”
“Come, baby, I have you. I’ll always have you.”
Her cries send me over the edge. I come inside her, filling her ass with me. Marking my territory.
“I want it again,” she says as we try to recover from our intense orgasms. “Thank you.” I can hear the emotion in her voice.
I give her what she wants and how she wants it. After I make sure to clean her up. I get some painkillers because I know she’s going to be sore tomorrow. Then she falls asleep in my arms.
I’ve been better about my sleep since she’s been lying next to me. I want Eric found for her sake, so she can move on, but I’m selfish. I want to keep her here. Keep us here. There are so many unanswered questions that have lingered since before our arrival in Colombia. I don’t know when, but I finally fall asleep.
I wake up to the smell of food. What the hell? I make my way down and find Veronica is cooking. She’s attempting to cook eggs and has coffee ready. I hold back a smile because those poor eggs look beyond salvageable. She sees me leaning against the wall and shrugs. “I tried.”
“Yes, baby, you did. How about I take over?”
She winces and lets out a sigh of relief. “How about you cook, and I eat?”
That comment fills me with so much joy. I know how hard it is for her to eat around others. It’s another thing she was so good at hiding.
“How are my babies?” she asks again as we clean up after breakfast. Seriously, this woman and her foliage.
I smile at the image of her talking to the flowers and plants. I always knew she liked talking to them. I’d seen her do it. “They’re fine, for the tenth time. Will said he talks to them too.”
I hear an alarm, and I rush to my phone. I pull up what triggered it and see an image. I run upstairs to my computer and pull it up on a larger screen. Veronica stands next to me as we watch a fire light up the screen.The fire at the construction site. I pick up the phone and start making phone calls.
Veronica runs out of the office and into our bedroom. She begins to pack without me having to say a word. There is only one person who comes to mind for this.
“Baby, it’s a trap. Eric may be responsible for this.” I’m trying to calm her down.
She snaps her head in my direction. “I’ve worked so hard on this project. Fuck Eric if he thinks he’s going to ruin this for me. He doesn’t know who he’s messing with.”
I look at this fierce woman. Fuck, she’s chaos all right, and I think it’s time she lets her chaos reign. We pack in record time and head to the airport. We’re notified that the fire was deliberate; it was arson. The only person who could have done this was Eric. I know it was him. But we haven’t been able to track him. He’s vanished.
Veronica
Chapter 41
I stare at the sky through the window on the plane. We are heading back to Veridian Bay. It seems like I’ve been gone for years when it’s only been weeks. So much has happened. I look at my hands and think back to a couple of days ago.
I’m in the jungle when I hear footsteps from behind me. They are far away, but they aren’t hiding themselves. I turn and hear a gunshot. I’m startled by it and fall into a quarry of rocks. I lose grip of my phone. I can’t call Miles for help or to warn him that someone’s here. Whoever shot at me must think they hit me because they leave and don’t come looking for me. It takes me some time to make it back. My body aches from the fall. I have scratch marks all over my body.
I see it’s Susana. That fucking unbelievable bitch. She’s standing there. She may be checking to see if I walk out of the jungle. I look up to the secondfloor and see Miles is still working. I’ve walked the property enough to know my way back into the house, and that’s what I do. Careful not to make any noise. Moments later, I hear Miles confront her. I hear her tell him everything. My heart breaks for him. This woman lied to him. More than that, she contributed to the death of the most important person in his life. I walk through the kitchen and pick up a knife; I hold the handle tight. I make sure to be as quiet as I can. Not to give away my location. I hear her call me a whore. I gingerly walk behind her as she points her gun at Miles.
I don’t hesitate to bury the knife in her neck. I feel the moment it lodges into the tissue and muscle. I feel relieved. I feel calm. I feel powerful and in control. The realization that I killed someone hits me like a ton of bricks. But I don’t scream, I don’t act hysterical. I just let him carry me to the car and head into town.
“Baby.” His voice breaks me out of my trance. “We’re home.”
When we arrive in Veridian Bay, it’s late, but we head straight to Nina’s Hope to meet with Serena, Ian, Nina, and Andrew. The tension is immediate as we begin reviewing the footage. Miles leans in, his eyes narrowing as he spots a thirty-second time lapse in the security feed. I see a flicker of something dark and knowing in his expression.
“The damage wasn’t as severe as we expected,” Serena says from across the room. I watch her pace back and forth, her movements restless and uneasy. My brother remains perfectly still. He sits like a predator, his gaze fixed on her with a chilling, unblinking focus.
Andrew is reviewing documents. “This is going to set us back a couple of months. The insurance company will be covering the damages, since it was deemed arson, but we need to consider adding security.”
“Consider it done,” Miles and Ian say in unison.
I can’t help but smile. I look at Serena, and she’ssmiling too.
