Page 40 of Billionaire Retreat

Griffin gave him a devilish smile that for some reason made me jealous.

“Kenny, don’t you have something you need to take care of?” I cut in, ducking under his arm to join Griffin on the other side of the door.

“No.”

“Bye, Kenny.”

I walked out the door leaving Kenny pouting. “Have fun you two!” he called. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Griffin smiled and tried to wrap an arm around my shoulders. I pushed his arm down.

“Well, this night is getting off to a great start.”

“Tell me about it,” I growled. “Oh, you’re actually driving.” For some reason, I had expected to see the Bentley, but instead there was a large luxury SUV sitting in our small parking lot.

“Well, I didn’t plan to, but my driver, who you met in the parking garage that time, insisted on spending this evening with his wife celebrating their 20th anniversary.”

“How selfish,” I joked.

“That’s what I told him.”

He opened the door for me and tried to help me in. It took all my strength not to hit at his hand.

“Aren’t you the perfect gentleman?”

“I try.”

“Not hard enough.”

“This is going to be a great evening. I can already tell.”

I laughed.

I was silent in the car. And grateful for the darkness and spacious interior. It gave me room away from Griffin and time to think. I didn’t have anything I wanted to say that hadn’t already been said. I was just waiting for him to speak.

“So, how’s your brother?” I asked when I couldn’t take the silence much longer.

“Great. He’s expecting a baby soon. I think in a month or two.”

So, Sadie was going to have a little cousin, I thought to myself.

“That’s great. Tell him I said congratulations.”

“I will.”

We pulled up to a stop sign and he took his hands off the wheel. “I don’t even know where to start,” he said, turning to me. “So, let me start at the beginning.”

“What beginning?”

“The island.”

“Yeah, that’s a great place to start.”

“I left that day on the island because my sister needed me. Well, my niece needed me. I got a call from my niece’s nanny. My sister had been gone for a week, no call, no show.”

“Did something happen to her?” I was instantly worried, but didn’t want to show it. What if this was all a well-orchestrated lie?

He nodded, “Rehab... eventually. She was in the hospital. She’s in recovery now.”