Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 19570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
We need to talk.
—Ryder
On the back of it, he’d left the address and the time.
8 o’clock. Tonight.
The candlelight flickers low against the dark stone walls of a private sushi restaurant Ryder owns on the pier. We’re the only ones here—plates cleared, music low, champagne poured.
He hasn’t said a word since we were seated. He’s simply stared at me between sips of his drink, occasionally signaling to the waiter to refill his glass.
I mentally run through the list of things this could be about. No birthdays or holidays come to mind, and I doubt he’d celebrate Adeline’s recent invitation to Seattle’s Symphony without her being with us.
“Can you say something?” I say finally. “You’re starting to scare me.”
“Are you happy?”
“At this moment, no.” I smile. “I will be if you tell me everything is okay.”
“Everything?” He returns my smile, sending butterflies fluttering in my chest with ease. “Business-wise, I’m about four hundred thousand short on a small deal, and two people are trying to get out of paying me what they owe me. Oh, and the feds are still trying to make something stick on me.”
“You could always just turn yourself in and admit to everything you’ve ever done,” I say. “Saves you the time of worrying.”
“I’m not worried at all.” He lets out a low laugh, then reaches for my hand atop the table, slowly strumming his fingers over my skin.
“Tell me the truth, Autumn,” he says. “Are you happy?”
“Yes.” I nod. “You?”
“Very.” He pauses. “But I need you to know something important…”
“Just because I’ve neutralized Rush Banks and anyone else who might’ve posed a threat, that doesn’t mean someone new won’t try me.” His eyes meet mine. “There’s always someone willing—and waiting—to try to kill the king.”
“This is the only life I’ve ever known,” he adds. “Even if I pull back, restructure, make it cleaner, smarter, more distant—this world is still mine. And it’s all I can offer you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not asking you to pretend it’s something it’s not,” he says. “But I’ll give you what I can. The dates. The normal. Whatever version of this life that makes you feel safe in it—even with the danger that’s bound to come. Can you handle that?”
“It’s been months and I’m still here,” I say softly. “I just wish you’d told me more before I had to find it out the hard way.”
“Hmmm.” His expression doesn’t change. “Would you have stayed if I told you more earlier?”
“Probably not…”
“I thought so,” he says. “On a scale of one to ten, how tempted are you to leave if someone tries to take me down again?”
“Negative fifty.”
A flicker of relief edges into his gaze, quiet and soft, and then the waiter returns—rolling out a silver cart with a domed tray and two frosted bowls.
“For the lady,” the waiter says, setting a small dish I didn’t order in front of me.
Confused, I look down at the bowl of mint sorbet.
Before I can tell him he’s made a mistake, I see something half-buried just beneath the pale green surface.
Something that’s shimmering. Something that looks a lot like… diamonds.
“I lied about the last job being the ‘last’ job,” Ryder says, moving closer. “I need you to agree to this one, too…”
I’m utterly speechless.
“I’ll say what you’re going to say for you.” He lifts a spoon and presses it against the sorbet, freeing the stunning diamond ring from its place. “This is all moving very fast, and you still have whiplash, and you don’t have any more love to ‘waste,’ so you need to be sure that this isn’t a game or something that’s not permanent.”
“I wasn’t going to say that at all.” My voice cracks as he lifts my hand and slides the ring on my finger.
My chest swells with a rush I can’t name—equal parts terror and clarity. And yet…
“What were you going to say, Autumn?”
“Yes.”
End of Season 3