AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You were naked. I mean, I don’t know if you knew you were visible from the street or what you were doing, but I just wanted to let you know in case you didn’t know.” She sighs. “Did you know?”
“I appreciate you letting me know.”
She looks at me closely and then clicks her fingers. “He’s your Dom, isn’t he?”
“Sorry, what?”
“Angelo. You’re submitting to him, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I knew it. I could tell from the way he was looking at you outside. You lucky thing. I used to submit to someone when I was in my twenties. Five blissful years I had with Adrian before he went and disappeared. God, that was so long ago now but I remember it like it was yesterday.”
“You… were a submissive?”
“He used to tell me what to eat, what to wear, punished me if I didn’t go to the gym. So I didn’t go a lot, if you get my drift. I was never brave enough to do anything in public though. I should have guessed at the time what was going on but I’m not going to lie. I never thought you’d be the type. Good luck to you with it. Hell of a rush, doing what you’re told by someone like him. Relaxing and exhilarating at the same time if you know what I mean?”
“I think I do.”
“Just be careful. It can get addictive and if the Dom disappears like mine did. He always warned me not to get too close and then I went and got stupid. Told him I loved him. He was gone the next day. Never saw him again. Don’t get too close to Angelo, is what I’m saying. Don’t want you to get hurt like I did.”
Chapter Sixteen
Angelo
* * *
By the morning I’ve got everything done that I need to do. There’s two days left until the vault burns up. I’ve got a million missed calls from my father. Enough to make me toss my phone and pick up another from the only store in Centerville that supplies them.
It’s a basic model the size of a brick but it’ll do for now. In forty-eight hours this will all be over one way or another and when it is, I’ll either be able to relax or I’ll be dead.
A lot of things in life come down to simple choices. Life or death. Pull the trigger or not. Take the money or give it up.
I’ve got the simplest choice to make. I can give the contents of the vault to Natalie. They belong to her. She deserves them. Do that and she wins. I lose. I get killed by my father.
Or I can take them back with me to Chicago, get rich, leave her penniless and realizing you can’t trust anyone in this life, especially not me.
I could do my job and stay alive or I could follow my heart and get killed.
Simple choice.
Only it’s not so simple. Not now I’ve seen Jasmine with my own eyes.
It was easier to imagine walking away before I saw her. She was a concept, not a person. Now she’s a real thing. My daughter. Our daughter. I could no more take money from her than I could take candy from a baby.
She’s no baby. Not anymore. I missed that time. It’s gone forever. But I can still watch her growing up. I could be with Natalie. I could have a family.
If I was a decent person.
But I’m not.
I’m a criminal.
I’m a bad person. I’m not good to be around them. I would corrupt them. I would endanger them. It’s better for them both if I go.
So my decision has been made for me. I leave but I don’t take the money.
I walk up to her door at eight in the morning and when I knock I can hear two voices inside.
