Page 52 of The Billionaire Who Saved My Cat From The Mafia

“I’ll give you the Twitter version, and even that’s a lot to take in.But if you insist...”

He explains that Finn’s first wife died giving birth to Jasmine and that Finn always blamed himself and never believed he deserved happiness.

“That’s awful,” I say.

But that ended the day Emma answered an ad to work as a ranch housekeeper and captured Finn and Jasmine’s hearts.

“That’s awesome,” I say.

And while this was going on, Aunt Phyllis—who had a family from her first marriage—discovered that she was Emma’s biological grandmother.It turns out Emma had been in foster care her whole life, never knowing who her parents were, but Phyllis unearthed that the wayward teen daughter who’d died in an auto accident was actually Emma’s mother.

At the same time, Emma encountered the foster father who’d abused her, and Special K and his brothers served up justice for her, causing the asshole to lose his livelihood, his reputation, and his freedom.

“Wait.What now?”I stare at him, incredulous.

He nods, serious.“Can’t make this shit up, I know.But it’s all true.”

I’m quiet for a moment, taking it all in.“So, what you’re telling me is that the MacLaines are just simple country folk, living simple lives.”

He points at me.“Exactly!Just five Navy SEAL brothers back home on the ranch, ropin’ and ridin’ and raisin’ hell.”

I feel my eyes pop open.“Allfiveof you are SEALs?You didn’t mention that!”

“Oh.Yeah, we were SEALS, all of us.”

“What the hell’s in the water out here?”

He laughs.“If you think that’s bad, next door at the Travis Ranch, all five of Phoebe’s brothers became professional athletes.”

“Travis…” The name sounds familiar for some reason, and then I remember.“You mean the football quarterback?The hockey star and the baseball player?ThatTravis family?”

“You follow sports?Yeah, that Travis family.There’s also an MMA fighter and a boxer.”

Oh, yes.I know all about the Travises.The MMA fighter’s a helluva tipper.So’s the quarterback.

He’s watching me carefully, putting the pieces together.I can’t let that happen.“And you’re the only MacLaine brother whose story hasn’t been written, right?How will you ever compete with allthat?”

“Won’t need to.”His expression turns somber “I’ll never find the kind of happy ever after my brothers got.It’s not in the stars for me.”

CHAPTER 27

Frankie

“I’ll never find the kind of happy ever after my brothers got…”

Something about his statement hits me hard.Special K’s got his own secrets, it seems.

But how sad that he’s already ruled out his own future happiness.That he doesn’t leave room for something unexpectedly good to enter his life.I wonder why he’s done that?Why he thinks he doesn’t deserve good things?

I nearly laugh when it occurs to me—that’s what I’ve done.I’ve convinced myself that for the rest of my life, I’ll be paying for the biggest mistake I’ve ever made—Niko Koslov.And because I fell for him, there’s no room for anything good in my future.All I have to look forward to is a life on the run.

Well, whad’ya know?

It seems the stripper and the cowboy have more in common than it appears.We’ve both given up on our own happiness.

“All right, Boots.Your turn.No more stalling.”

I straighten.“My turn for what?”