Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
The one thing I was sure of, and I was quickly getting to the point that I didn’t care about that either, was that I was back to where I’d started from the moment Titan had died and Frank had walked into the woods and disappeared from my life.
I no longer had a home in any sense of the word. I’d reached too high for one of the many stars that had guided me for so long and I’d ended up burned.
Like a little kid who’d been warned over and over not to touch a hot stove, I’d done it anyway.
I’d learned my lesson, but there was little comfort in knowing I’d never reach for that warmth again. And I no longer feared that moment where I’d feel shooting pains in my left arm and so much pain in my chest that I couldn’t breathe. It would be such an easy way to go.
I’d survived a damaged heart not once, but twice. Unfortunately, I was only just now learning that living with a broken heart was an even crueler form of punishment.
Punishment that I had no idea what I’d done to deserve.
Chapter Twenty
JULES
“What are you doing locked away in here?” my lawyer, Louis, asked. I could hear the slur in his words, so I wasn’t surprised when he placed a glass of champagne on my desk. It joined the other two still-full glasses that Louis had brought me in the last half hour.
“Just finishing up a few things,” I said, keeping my eyes locked on whatever document was on the computer screen in front of me.
Louis lumbered around the desk and gave me a gentle slap on the back. “Your uncle would be proud, kid,” the older man said.
“Thank you, Louis. For everything,” I responded. “Tell everyone out there to go home and be with their families. We can celebrate our win on Monday.”
“Good plan,” he responded. “You coming?”
“Um, in a few. I’ve got to finish some stuff up here.”
Louis sent me a thumbs-up, but before he could leave my office, common sense hit me. “Louis, hold up. I’ll walk you down and make sure you get a cab.”
I sighed because my plan had been to cry like a baby as soon as Louis shut the door behind him, but that wasn’t an option at the moment. I was responsible for making sure that everyone, including Louis, made it safely home. The impromptu celebration my legal team had decided to throw themselves in one of my conference rooms hadn’t been my idea. Thankfully, the majority of my employees who’d decided to work on the day before Christmas hadn’t stuck around past noon, so I’d only had a handful of people I’d needed to pour into cabs or confirm they were safe to drive themselves home.
At least an empty office building would mean I could cry my eyes out in any room and not be discovered. Hell, I could lie down on the floor of my office and do nothing else for the next several days and no one would know. As I got up to follow Louis, my cell phone rang. The sight of Brooks’s name on the screen made it all the harder to tamp down my emotions. I hadn’t spoken to my friend since I’d left the ranch in the middle of the night other than to send him a text to apologize for taking the Range Rover and that I’d paid the rental company to return it to him as soon as possible. After that, I’d mostly kept my phone powered off, and I’d bought a second phone to communicate with my staff and legal team. I’d only turned my regular phone on when I’d been disgustingly desperate to see if the one person I wanted to call me ever did.
He didn’t.
I didn’t really pay attention as Louis regaled me with all the trial’s biggest moments over the past couple of months because I’d been there through all of them. I hummed whenever he took a breath so he’d think I was listening as we made our way to the conference room. I was surprised to find it empty.
“Oh yeah, they went home,” Louis said.
“When?” I asked as I took in the empty bottles of champagne and half dozen glasses on the table.
Louis simply shrugged and then swallowed the rest of the champagne in his glass. “Guess I gotta go home and face the music,” he said with a goofy smile. The sight of one of the most powerful, talented, and very expensive corporate attorneys in the city blabbering like a toddler would have been amusing if I were capable of feeling that particular emotion.
“Okay then, let’s get you a cab,” I said as I led Louis to an elevator.
“The missus is comin’ to get me,” he responded. “Think she’s been out front for a couple minutes. She’s gonna be maaaaad.” Louis let out an ungodly belch and then whispered, “Got the in-laws staying over. ’Least they won’t be expectin’ me to go to mass like this. Wait, don’t they have wine in church?”