Page 13 of Dauntless

I touched my hot cheeks. “I don’t know. He’s just as complicated as Dane…. He doesn’t want to attach himself because of his sexual interests. I agree in a way. They’re unlike what I’m used to, but they are similar when it comes to sex. I’ll admit the sex the three of us had together was amazing.”

“That all?” Astrid teased.

I smiled and lifted my shoulders. “But seriously, I like them both. When I think of not seeing Dane again, I get depressed. When I think of not being with Elliott, I feel like my heart would break. I won’t be able to choose, but really is there any real future for two men and one woman outside of erotic romance books?”

“You have to figure that out,” she replied. “It doesn’t sound like you’re done with either one of them. Why not just date them or will that mean an open relationship and you’ll all date other people too??”

“Maybe,” I said and frowned. “And I’m not sure I wouldn’t want to claw the eyes out of the woman they date besides me,” I half-joked, and that set us off laughing again. It was great to have Astrid around to talk with. She took the possibility of me with Dane and Elliott seriously and gave me more to think about. All and all she was a true friend.

I took a bite of my spring rolls that were now cold. “Yuck. We’ll need to reheat the spring rolls, but really let’s just hang out and have some fun.”

“Sounds good to me,” Astrid concurred.

We finished our food and watched a light-hearted comedy movie before Tim pulled up to pick up Astrid since she had been drinking. As she hugged me goodbye, he waved at me from the car. I was certain he wouldn’t be able to get Astrid to quit her job at Perfetto, but I could see some of the negative press had caused a strain on their relationship. I’d have to find a way to make it right. In the meantime, I brought a cup of coffee to Tove and convinced him to at least come onto the covered porch since the temperature had dropped below freezing outside. Once he was set, I cleaned up and checked my voicemail. The first message was from Patrick:

“You can’t keep dodging me. If you want to avoid a very public lawsuit against you for your sex scandal ruining my chances for re-election, you better call me back with how you plan to make this go away.”

I seethed. Dodging him? I was in the hospital. That call should have been more along the lines of “Hello, Gia. I’m glad you weren’t killed by The Agency members I sent your way when I was trying to sale off your company behind your back.” If one thing positive came out of this, Patrick wouldn’t be able to use me or the connections I had for campaign leverage. Of course, that made him more vulnerable and dangerous. Either way, it was more than I wanted to deal with on my first night back home.

Message deleted. Next message. Liz.

Hi Gia. It’s Liz. I was wondering if we could talk? Please give me a call.

I glared at the phone. You want to talk after you lied about what happened? Deleted. Final voice mail message.

Hello, Gia. It’s Stuart. I received a new offer from The Agency for twenty-two million to settle quietly. Call me.

My doorbell rung, and when I answered, I found Tove standing there holding a floral delivery.

“One of your neighbors told me the delivery was accidentally delivered to their house and only just returned,” Tove said. “He was going to leave it on your porch so as not to disturb you.”

I smiled amicably at the beautiful bouquet. “Dane.” I thanked Tove and went to place them down on the table in the dining room.

Dane had flowers delivered to me every day at the hospital. I smiled and carried them inside, depositing them on my dining room table. I noticed a card in the mix of the blossoms and went to take it when my phone rung; I was quick to answer: “Thank you for the beautiful flowers, but you didn’t have to.”

“You’ve received them finally? Good. I’m glad you like them.” My blood went cold. The voice on the line wasn’t Dane’s. It was garbled, I couldn’t place it.

“Who is this?” I demanded. My voice shrilled.

“The flowers came with a card. Go read it. I’ll wait.”

I pressed my lips together. I wasn’t playing whatever game this was. “No. How about you tell me who you are now, or I hang up the phone?”

“It’s Simon, and I say take the settlement. You’ll need it.”

Before I could hang up, the call ended. I tossed my phone down and called Tove who came running in with Elliott behind him. He took one look at me and rushed to my side.

“What happened?” Elliott asked.

I pointed to the vase of flowers and card sticking out the top. “I had thought the flowers were from Dane, but they are not.”

“The small card at the top says, ‘To Gia From Dane.’ It must have slipped through the vines,” Tove said as our gazes turned to him.

“The first card was so you would accept the flowers,” Elliott replied as he took out gloves and carefully dug through the vines and produced the small card from the floral company that had Dane’s name printed on it. “I assumed the second card was personal, but I’ll go have another talk with the neighbor that brought over the flowers,” said Tove.

“Yeah, you do that, but let’s find out what’s in the card first.” Elliott opened the second card and pulled out the paper that was folded inside the envelope and unfolded it.

He dropped his head forward. “Shit.”

I couldn’t see what it was from where I stood and moved to go around him. He immediately tried to block my view. “No. Tove, please phone the police. I’ll call my team.”

“I need to know what it is,” I insisted and stalked over to see. Even though Elliott continued to try to hide it away, once I saw a part of the image, I recognized what it was instantly: a naked photo of me on the boat at their party, sitting on Dane’s lap with his hand between my legs.

My knees buckled in despair, and I went down to the floor. “I can give a statement, but I can’t let you turn in the photo and risk people finding out about it. I’ll be ruined.”

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