Page 43 of Royal

I smile. How lucky am I? “She stole my money, and she owes me millions of dollars,” I tell her. I can see the dollar signs in her eyes. “Let’s make a plan. If you can get me your daughter or that boy of hers, I will ensure you get paid well once I get my money back.”

She grins, showing her teeth that probably haven’t seen a toothbrush in years. “Deal.”

Then we plan.

Chapter 10

Naomi

The girls burst out laughing when I tell them about how Royal threw out my birth control pills.

River, Julia, and Nicole all hold their stomachs as they laugh. I try to hold back my wince because I know the feeling too well when I was that large with Donovan. I was almost forty-one weeks when I finally went into labor. At the time I was almost sure I was going to be staying pregnant.

When I was eighteen, I never dreamed that my life would be what it is now. To have these friends. A man who came into my life and just took over, and seeing my son thriving and happy.

“Do you have everything ready for the babies coming? I thought about seeing if Meghan wanted to come over, and we can make a bunch of those meals to freeze that you can then stick into the oven?” I look at Meghan to see if she is interested.

“I would love to help! I was thinking about doing something like that myself. I also want to set up a schedule for us to keep the girls because napping with a newborn and toddler sounds like hell.” She blushes at the end part to see if any of the kids have heard her.

I giggle. “Just be glad your kids aren’t as wild as Donovan.” They all wince at that. Speaking of the devil, he runs by us headfirst into the sandpit.

Penny is on the swings, her little legs kicking up in the air to see if she gets higher than her record.

Gavin, the prospect, looks like he is on the borderline of having a heart attack. He lifts his arms randomly like he is readying himself to catch her.

River turns to look at where I’m looking. “I like him. Usually, the prospects are shit.”

I laugh at her blunt tone. “I’m going to go inside and get you girls another drink.”

We are all outside in the back of the clubhouse, where the guys operate the grills, trying to bet and see who has the best skills.

One thing with men is, they are all the same when it comes to grilling. Inside of the clubhouse, it's empty, almost eerily so. It is a hot day, so I grab the kids a few juices and the girls some water.

Then I hear it.

I tilt my head to the side to look at the front entrance. The door is swinging shut, but I don’t see anyone there.

Maybe the wind made it open?

The door doesn’t shut all the way, so I walk over to close it and shrug when I don’t see anyone.

I take the drinks, walk back outside, hand the girls their drinks, and go to the kids, trying to chase them down because they are everywhere.

Donovan is on the digger that goes in the sand. “Here, sweet boy.” I run my hand over his head. He is so sweaty.

Penny is not on the swing when I look for her. I turn around to see if I can spot her.

Hmm.

I have the drinks for the other kids. Annie is sitting on the side reading a book, so I approach her next. “Did you see Penny?” I'm trying not to panic, but I start to panic whenever Donovan is out of sight, and that feeling crawls up my spine right now over Penny.

“She saw a small puppy by that tree over there and wanted to see if she could grab it.”

The hair on the back of my neck stands up, not liking that she wandered off. “Can you do me a favor and tell Royal that I’m going to look for Penny?” Annie does as I ask, running to the guys.

I start at a fast walk, but it scares me when I don’t see her. I take off running, and at the edge of the gate, behind a bush, I can see her crawling, her legs sticking out.

“Penelope,” I call for her, and she jumps up when she hears me screaming for her. “Hi, there was a little puppy,” she tells me.

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