Page 35 of His

“Add it to the list.”

“Right?” I take a deep breath. “So what now?”

“Honestly? I don’t know, Sabine. Brittney is in there with her now, and she’s going to come get me if anything arises.”

“Get you where?”

“Here. In the guest room.”

I exhale, shake my head. “I told her that’s where I sleep. You know, me, the housekeeper.”

He lifts his hands in surrender, as if the new nurse knowing we’re having a passionate love affair is the least of his worries. “Let her think it, who cares. She signed a non-disclosure agreement. I couldn’t care less what she thinks of us.”

I agree because we have way too much else to think about it.

Another moment passes before I take his hand. “It’s almost one in the morning. Let’s try to sleep.”

He snorts.

“Try being the key word,” I urge but knowing damn well that neither of us will take our eyes off the doorway until the sun comes up.

Twenty-Four

Sabine

I wake the next morning to a note on Astor’s pillow.

Fresh coffee in the kitchen, I’m in the office. FYI, Jackie is coming by this morning so she might be here when you wake. Yesterday sucked, but today is a new day. Let’s punch it in the face together. I love you.

PS. Sorry for cursing so early.

PPS. You looked so hot sleeping.

Love,

Your young, hormonal teenager lover.

I chuckle. I love this man so damn much.

After brushing my teeth and getting dressed, I grab a cup of coffee, and peek through the house, looking for Brittney.

The master bedroom is closed so I assume she’s with Valerie.

I can’t get Brittney off my mind. Something is spooking the poor girl and it’s making me uneasy. Is it only Valerie and her strange behavior, or is it something else?

I peer out the kitchen window she’d been staring out of the night before. I decide that I’m going to search every inch of the garden that was in her line of sight today. What am I looking for? I have no clue. But there’s something about her that piques my interest, and it starts with figuring out whatever she’s so scared of.

Also, I feel bad for her. Brittney is in that weird, difficult young adult stage. Not a teen anymore, but also not a woman. She’s riddled with anxiety, has money issues (as we all do at that age), and seems like she’s one bad decision away from a breakdown.

God knows I understand that.

When I was around her age, I accepted an underground job to manage a millionaire’s assets, illegally finding and securing financial loopholes for him. I had no idea at the time how that single decision would alter the course of my life.

Carlos, the man I worked for, was Astor’s archrival from high school. Their feud heated up when Carlos threatened Astor after Astor’s mother, a district attorney, sent Carlos’s brother to prison for tax fraud. Astor responded by sending Carlos into bankruptcy, igniting their feud. Carlos then kidnapped Valerie and staged her death, with the plan to lure Astor to his. Thankfully, Carlos’s plan was thwarted, but the aftermath left two people dead. Carlos and Valerie’s sister, Prishna.

I linger in the kitchen. When Brittney doesn’t emerge from Valerie’s room, I make my way down the hall.

Astor is sitting behind the computer engrossed in whatever is on the screen.

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