Page 41 of Her Billionaire Hero
I preferred not to see what was going on. “Preston, we could move to Tahiti. We could live the beach life. Our children would love that.”
With a heavy sigh, he turned away from me. “You’re living in a fantasy world.”
At least I’m living.
“Who says we can’t live some sort of fantasy life?” I thought playing up on that might work. “Hell, we can even change our names. We can open another bank account in whatever country we move to. And you can get your money transferred into that account somehow. You’re savvy like that, babe.” Buttering him up sounded like a good idea. “You’ve always been so smart in so many ways. I bet you could figure out how to take it all with us. If you put your mind to it.”
“The bank account has already been emptied, Sloan. I’ve put the cash in a black bag underneath my bed at home. I’ve been taking it out a little at a time so it wouldn’t be obvious what I was doing. I closed the account down yesterday.” The third grave made no sense if he was planning on leaving the country alone with all his money.
But I didn’t think asking him about that would help things. “Well, look at you, thinking ahead. That’s so like you, honey. Since that’s settled, all we’ve got to do is agree on where to go. I heard you say something about Tahiti earlier. I love that place. I’m game if you are. I can’t wait to get there with you and start our new lives. Do you have new names picked out for us?”
“I’m going to be Dax Sheplar,” he said as he kept digging.
“Sounds familiar. But I like it. So, I’ll be Brooke Sheplar. I like that name. Do you like it?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“I want you to like my new name, babe. Pick one. I’ll take any name you give me.”
“Brenda,” came his reply.
I wasn’t a fan, but it wasn’t like I was really going to go through with it anyway. As soon as he set me free, I was going to run like the wind. “Okay, Brenda it is. So, what will we name our first child, Dax?”
“You need to stop.”
“You should stop digging and come over here so we can talk. I want to make up. Don’t you?” I wasn’t making any headway with the man. It wasn’t like I had tons of energy either. I couldn’t recall the last time I ate or drank. Plus, I’d been knocked out twice, and that had to be affecting me.
“All I really want is for you to shut up.” He stopped digging long enough to look at me over his shoulder. “Do I need to come over there and hit you in the head with this shovel to get you to shut up?”
“No.”
So, I got quiet. Trying to trick him wasn’t working. I needed to come up with another plan.
Thinking about what he’d said about taking all his money out of the bank had me wondering if he’d always planned on doing something like this. Had the discovery of the body spurred him on to move things up a bit?
Was Preston always going to kill me then leave the country?
I thought I might as well know the answer to that question. “Preston, were you always going to kill me after I left you?”
He didn’t say a word. His silence told me that I had hit the nail on the head. And my heart ached that my father had come back home only to meet his end at Preston’s hands too.
If Dad had stayed in Greece, then he’d still be alive. If no body had been found, Dad would still be alive. If I hadn’t divorced Preston, my father would still be alive.
Guilt began to pile up on my shoulders. Like my mother, I’d made a lot of bad decisions in my life. She and I shared the worst decision of our lives—Preston.
As I watched him in silence, a horrifying thought came to me.The grave isn’t for him, it’s for Baldwyn.
There was no other reason for a third grave. Preston had his money ready to go. He didn’t mean to kill himself—only me and then Baldwyn. That had to be the reason he was working so hard to make another place to hide another body.
I had no idea how I had even thought for a moment that he was digging his own grave.How will he put the dirt over his own dead body?“Fuck, I’m stupid sometimes.”
Putting the shovel down, he came to stand over me, looking down at me, his dirty sweat dripping onto my face. “Sometimes you are stupid, Sloan. Like when you decided to go to college and try and act like a man. Like when you decided to leave me. And you’re being very stupid right now. I’ve asked you repeatedly to shut up, yet you’re still talking.”
“I’m sorry.” The last thing I wanted was for him to inflict anymore pain on me.
“I know you are,” he agreed. “You’re sorry that your father got pulled into this mess. You’re sorry that you’re going to die. You’re sorry that I’m going to die.”
“Youaregoing to kill yourself?” It may have sounded crazy but knowing that he was going to kill himself and leave Baldwyn alone gave me a bit of happiness.
