Page 23 of The Renter
Dani Sommer
I’ll meet you at the cottage. 6:00 p.m.?
Adam Harris
Perfect.
I’m surprised to see a black Tesla SUV in the cottage’s driveway.Another car?Who’s here?As I step inside, I hear Adam’s voice coming from the patio. My footsteps halt as an all-too-familiar figure comes into view.
Declan fucking Kruk!
The shock of seeing Declan after five years—and now in my aunt’s cottage with Adam—is impossible to hide.Why is Sorin’s younger brother here?Is this because of Adam punching Sorin? My mind races as Declan and I make eye contact.
His blond hair no longer hasSons of Anarchyvibes. It’s cut short on the sides and longer on top. I glance at his tatted hands, neck, and arms.He’s looking too much like Sorin these days.
“Dani!” Adam greets, standing up from the oversized lounger. He plants a small kiss on my lips, and I’m too stunned to kiss back, my mind racing with memories and questions.
Declan’s transformation since 2017 is stark, but those big blue eyes still look at me the same way. He sits there, a man in his early thirties who looks like he stepped off the golf course—a collared shirt. You’d never guess he’s connected to the Polish mafia. I wonder if Adam knows that. Is this a friendly visit, or is there something more going on?
I scream internally,What are you doing here?Then I remember—Declan is part of the elite circles around here now. He’s cosplaying as Waspy and the new owner of a Geneva Lake mansion, which made headlines for breaking the local real estate price record—forty million fucking dollars.
Adam glances between us. “You two know each other?” His tone is surprised, to say the least. I could ask him the same thing. They’re both in the investing world—rich people know rich people—so I guess I shouldn’t be shocked that they are familiar with each other.
I want to say, “That’s Sorin’s brother,” but I hesitate.
Declan’s face is a matrix of emotion. “Surprised to see you,” he finally says.
“I’m here for the summer.”
“Sounds familiar,” he deadpans.
The memories of my summer with Sorin flood back, and I excuse myself to the bathroom. Staring at my reflection, I thinkabout the hard drive of Bitcoin Declan gave me. The last time I saw him, he hinted that he’d broken Sorin’s legs for hurting me. Then my mind flashes to all the photos I sent him in Italy.Cringe.
He never responded, but I kept sending photos as a way of saying thank you—for the good time I had with the extra Bitcoin money. I still regret sending him that one sexy photo. I cringe again, gripping the sink.
I’ve been lurking at his life for years. It’s easy when he’s always in the news. Declan is the face of crypto investing, owning a trading platform headquartered in Chicago. He’s doing exactly what he said he would. At this point, I’m sure he’s cleaned all his family’s dirty money through crypto. With Bitcoin skyrocketing and his platform being an industry leader, he’s had to have made ungodly amounts of legitimate money too. Or so I assume, given how public of a figure he is now.
Why did he give me twenty-one Bitcoin?It came with a birthday card, but there’s no way it was just a birthday gift—it was too much money.
In September 2017, I cashed out ten coins for nearly forty thousand dollars. Well, it was a lot less after the Bitcoin ATM fees. When I got back to Chicago, I converted the rest to cash. After all the fees, it was a little over a hundred grand. If only I’d known how high crypto would go last year—I’d be a multimillionaire. Even with crypto tanking now, those twenty-one coins would still be worth over six hundred thousand dollars. Instead, I have nothing.
A light knock on the door pulls me from my thoughts. “Everything okay?” Adam asks.
“Yeah, one sec,” I manage, my heart still racing.Why is Declan here? Why have the only two blonds who’ve ever made my heart race reappeared? Why is the universe dragging backghosts from the summer of 2017?I take a few more deep breaths before rejoining the guys on the patio.
Sitting next to Adam, he puts his arm around me. Did Declan just clench his jaw? My mind replays him saying, “You’re with the wrong brother.” He could’ve responded to any of my texts. It can’t be jealousy, right? That would be insane.
“Can I get you something?” Adam whispers in my ear. I notice he’s drinking whiskey on the rocks while Declan has a glass of water in front of him.
Was Declan really so serious about “I only fuck sober”? A line that has plagued me since he said it five years ago. Like, if only I had been sober, he would have …What?Slept with me? Asked me to be his girlfriend? It’s all so ridiculous.
“Wine.” I squeeze Adam’s thigh, stuffing down the flood of emotions I’m experiencing.
Knowing we have only a few moments alone, I ask what’s most on my mind. “Are you here because of what happened with Sorin the other day?”
Declan tenses, his rage palpable. “What did he do?” he growls.
“He …” I pause, surprised by his reaction. I guess the last time I told Declan about Sorin, he … I don’t even want to think about it. “He confronted me at a coffee shop.”
