“Populate it,” I giggle-snorted in his face as he kissed me. “Make like a really big house, with a huge island garden, and nobody would ever get to us, because we’d have this huge area of water around us like one of those—thing—you know.”
“A moat,” he said, kissing me on the tip of my nose. “I love all these ideas, but island cost hundreds of millions, or the kind you want at least.”
“Ok, another idea.” I had a lot of them. Ever since I was a kid, growing up in a broke household that scraped by with paycheck to paycheck, food banks and whatever family handouts my family could get. That was all before I was given away—between family members and group homes. The last I heard from my mom, she was panhandling on social media, using whatever advances in AI to fabricate doctor’s offices and broken down cars.
“Hey,” he whispered, “where did you just go?”
My mind was wicked sometimes, telling me I could go back to that family, show them I was someone now, someone with money, someone they’d want to pay attention to. But nothing was worth their attention, to be used by them, sucked dry of every single cent and then thrown back to the world broke just like them.
“You were telling me about another idea,” he said. I think he knew what my mind was doing—this wasn’t the first time it had infiltrated me in front of him, and basically controlled my actions. “I think I actually remember you telling me about one idea. Vermont, I think, somewhere with trees, land, a whole lot of animals.”
Breaking out of it with a memory of visiting a farm-ranch in Vermont. “Right, yeah. When I was at Whitespire, I went to this place, Wilde Ranch, I think it was called. I always thought it was such a fun name, so many puns they could’ve used on their website, but it was pretty much a standard place with chickens, goats, and I think an alpaca—or was it a llama.”
“Ok, ok, so you want a farm now,” he laughed, rubbing his hands up and down my back, caressing me just like he knew I needed, especially when it came to being held. “We can do that. A farm. But maybe less of a farm that Conrad had.”
“Yeah, I can’t believe the police raided that place,” I grumbled. When we first met, Donovan had been working with a guy named Conrad Deluce who was part of some maple syrup empire in Vermont. It was also where I’d met Lachlan. He’d almost been kidnapped and trafficked like me. Although Conrad was there saving us, I liked to attribute it to Donovan because he was smokin’ hot—he still is.
“We could buy it, I bet it’s going cheap,” he laughed.
“It’s a graveyard, right?” I shuddered. “I don’t want that place.”
“But super cheap,” he continued. “Although I bet it’s still seized. They’re probably not going to get rid of it for years. Until they’ve identified every body buried there.”
I didn’t want to think about that. I knew Conrad and Lachlan were somewhere warm, sipping cocktails and living the good life. It’s what we could’ve been doing, except, I wanted revenge. All the anger I’d contained from growing up, attendingWhitespire College, and then being kidnapped—well, it was the tip of the iceberg that pushed me into this.
From this position, facing the TV screen, I saw the news. There was a larger investigation happening into the Ashford family. It was all subtitled on the muted TV. “Do you think they’re going to actually put him prison?”
He turned to see the screen. “No, they’re worth billions. I always thought Maya was strong for what she’d done, and she definitely needed us there as he reprotection. Could you imagine if we weren’t? Jinksy was running surveillance for drones and spotted several potential shooting.”
“I hope she’s ok,” I grumbled. I had so many questions for her, and I knew she wouldn’t—or couldn’t answer any of them. “Maybe we could find a house near her.”
“I doubt she’s living anywhere open enough for her to walk the street,” he said. “That family is going to get payback. The injunction they filed to stop the publication of the article didn’t go through. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re back on her protection detail.”
As much as I liked Maya, the last thing I wanted was to be back as a prisoner beside her. Although since she’d demanded all that food, I’d be ok with a weekend visit—and a lot more ring donuts. I’d never been hungry and horny at the same time.
“We’re not going back to that,” I said to him. “We can do so much more work here, and now.”
The screen replayed the arrest of Julian Ashford, and the banner subtitled talked about several boxes of information collected by the FBI. It was wild to know we’d seen those boxes, but we hadn’t gone through a single one—which now felt like a shame. But I didn’t know if I’d be able to handle it. I certainly couldn’t handle what I’d heard from those two women we met.
“You think he’ll flip on his family?” I asked.
Donovan let out a single loud laugh. “They’d kill him. Family’s like that plug leaks. No ethical billionaires and all that.”
“A billion dollars,” I said, almost in disbelief. “What would you do with a billion dollars?”
He grabbed me in a hug and wrestled me to the ground at the foot of th bed. “No more of those games,” he said, tickling me. “You don’t want a billion dollar. I’d never want it. A couple million—or tens of millions, you know, a nice amount to never worry.”
Laid there, I hugged his waist with my legs like a koala around a branch. “And you said there was no retirement.”
He pressed his lips to my lips. “There isn’t,” he said with another kiss. “We’re playing pretend, Art. But what isn’t pretend, is this.” And another kiss. “You and me. I don’t care about money. If I did, I’d have been out of this game and a very rich man many years ago.”
“But money buys happiness,” I said, moving my head so that he kissed my cheek. “I know that’s true.”
“Money buys a lot of things,” he said. “But—it doesn’t buy love,” his voice turned quiet, raspy, a whisper.
I kissed him this time, squeezing his face against mine. It didn’t buy my love, but it was a nice bonus. “Love you,” I said with my lips pressed to his lips.
24. DONOVAN
