Page 23 of Her Outlaw Prisoner
“How much do you owe?” I ask.
Her head snaps up. “Excuse me?”
“Your loan.”
“It’s a lot of money, Ronan,” she says with a weak chuckle.
“How much?”
“Sixty thousand.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
She blinks, stunned. “What?”
“I’ll pay it off,” I say again. “Every damn cent.”
She lets out a disbelieving laugh. “H-how? You don’t…” She trails off, throwing her hands up in defeat. “I don’t even know how to respond to that.”
“How about you pay me back by finding a safer place to live?”
“But…how?” she asks, shaking her head slowly. “You’re in prison. How the hell do you even have money like that?”
I grin. “You don’t think I had a life before Oakdale?”
She clears her throat, a guilty blush spreading across her cheeks. “What did you do? Before…?”
“Crypto.”
She stares at me. “Cryptocurrency?”
“Yeah. Got in early, made some smart moves. Built an empire on the outside by the time I was twenty-five. Investments, trading…a few blockchain startups too.”
Eleanor just stares at me like she’s seeing me for the first time.
“That’s…impressive,” she admits.
“You sound surprised.”
“I am.”
I lean in, voice softening. “I wasn’t always this guy, you know. I had a life. A big one. I still do, in some ways.”
She chews her bottom lip, and I can tell she’s processing everything. Thinking. But I also see the way she pulls back. The way she’s trying to build a wall.
She lets out a heavy sigh, shaking her head. “I appreciate the offer, Ronan. Really. But I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because…it’s something I have to do myself. I need to be able to say I survived this part of my life on my own. Without anyone bailing me out.”
That hits me deep. I know about her deep need for control. I get it. But it still stings.
“So, no to the offer,” I say slowly. “How about I find you a new place, then? Safer neighborhood. Somewhere you don’t have to sleep with one eye open.”
She chuckles, rolling her eyes in that adorable way of hers. “You’re relentless.”
“I’m worried,” I reply with a soft sigh. “You live alone, Eleanor. And I can’t be out there to protect you.”
