My girl's body was trembling in my arms as she spun in a slow circle to greet her mother. The woman who paid a monster ten million dollars to take her daughter off her hands. Searing rage and hate swamped through my mind. Willow pulled my arms tighter around her. She huddled against me. "What do you want, Beverly?"Beverly jerked as if the words were gunshots. "You know I hate it when you call me that. What are you doing here?" Her voice changed from soft inquisition to hard and impersonal in a matter of seconds. "Why does it even matter to you?" Willow asked. "You paid Ethan ten million dollars to take me off your hands. I can't imagine you're overly concerned with my well-being." I felt Willow lock her knees and stiffen against me. Beverly stalked forward, her dark blonde hair a stiff helmet around her head. She shared her mossy green eyes with her daughter. "How dare you say something so vulgar to me!" She raised her hand as if she were about to slap her daughter across t
Abigail pushed into the room. She had a thin folder, a laptop, and her phone with her. She was busy tapping at the screen. She looked up after she hit a final button. Her smile was curiously mysterious. "Just making my excuses to the consult team."I nodded. "What the hell happened, Abigail? When did this become a drive-thru for people to pick up patients?"Abigail stiffened. Narrowed her eyes at me. "You know better than that, Mr. Penn. I take each of my patient's care very seriously."I nodded again. "Yes. You do. The same obviously can't be said for the others. If we need to move Corrie to a different facility where this kind of shit won't happen again, simply tell me and I'll get her moved."Abigail shook her head. "Wait for the hospital admin to get here. I can't discuss the internals without them in the room.""They've got five minutes before I start calling the media and making a fuss." I tipped my wrist, took note of the time. Abigail sighed. "You're a hard man, Mr
Memories washed through my mind in a wave of misery and torment. As if transported through time to the past, they were all I could see. I stumbled to the wall. Giggled as my heel caught in my dress. Ethan had picked it out. Said I looked lovely. I thought it was ugly, but when Mother had agreed with him, I'd shut up. It wasn't worth it to fight over a stupid dress. Not when I was getting married to the man in less than a couple weeks. A small group of men came from one of the backrooms. One of them was pulling his zipper up as they joked and ribbed each other. "Best piece of ass I didn't have to pay for."They all chuckled. "Oh, you'll pay for it. But at least this way your wife won't find out."I ducked behind one of the curtains. I hated these galas. They were nothing more than opportunities for my heartless parents to lie to the masses of New Trenadie. For dirty deals to be made. I held my breath as the men walked by. "That Penn snatch was a lot tighter than I'd thought
"Is there anything else you need from us?" I asked DA Jerrod Wright. He looked at the mountain of paperwork on his desk. A slight frown marred the skin between his brows. "Got any extra time you can lend me? I think a full month would do it."I shook my head. Far too familiar with the pressure of deadlines. "Even if I did, I'm not sure I'd just give it away."Wright looked up. Smiled. "I wouldn't blame you." He shook his head. "No. With the copy of the recording and everything else we're finding on the drives from the bunker, this case will likely never see an actual criminal courtroom. If you decide to file criminal charges against the hospital, let me know."He looked at Willow. "Are you okay to give your statement now?" He very carefully kept his gaze on her. She nodded. "I'm not sure how much more I can tell you about before. I've done quite a bit to push it from my mind. Most of the salient information is going to be in the copies from Nico."Wright stuck a finger up
I smiled at Daphne. She smiled back, nodded. "I'd like to speak to you privately once we both have some free time. Is that okay?"I nodded. "Yes, whenever you're ready, I'll make time."She smiled again before turning to address the whole room. "First, sorry to my son and Willow for commandeering your home. Second, what I'm about to tell you must never be spoken of outside of these four walls or I could lose my job."All the Amatuccis smiled and nodded."We know how to keep secrets, Momma Penn," Momma said.Daphne jolted. "Sheridan. Mrs. Sheridan.""She didn't mea-" I began. Momma waved me off. "I am sorry, Momma Sheridan. I did not mean to cause you pain."Daphne chuckled awkwardly. "I haven't used Ryker's surname since my divorce was final. You just startled me." She waved that away. "Next order of business, I need to know if Antonia de Silva is dead. The progression of the rest of this meeting hinges on that answer.""She is dead," Mas answered. Daphne le
Everyone was squished around my kitchen island. We men were all standing as the women took the four available barstools while we enjoyed another home cooked meal courtesy of Momma and Papa Amatucci. I was willing to front the money to give them their own restaurant. Or just become my personal chefs. "Maria, Angelo, this was the best meal I've had in ages. Thank you so much for letting me join you," my mom said as the Amatucci kids cleared the table. She patted her belly. "My husband is going to be so jealous."Momma's eyes widened. "You must take a plate to him." She rose from her barstool and bustled around my kitchen. I was fairly certain she knew it better than I did and I'd lived here for the past five years. Mom came over, brushed a kiss to my cheek. "I'm going to steal your girl for a moment." She looked at Willow who nodded. They both moved over to the elevators. I kept an eye on them as I helped clear away the remaining plates and glasses from the improvised table. M
My eyelids fluttered open as my body made its need to relieve itself an annoyance I could no longer sublimate. I glared at the ceiling. Cursed my body for needing to pee and interrupt one of the best nights of sleep I'd had in ages. Ryker came out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam. A gray towel was hooked at his hips as stray beads of water slid down the ladder of his abs. A different part of my body woke up, chased away the urgency to pee. "Good morning, hero," I said, my voice froggy. He smiled. "Sweet fuck. That's it. We're getting married as soon as possible. One, I need to wake up to you every. Single. Morning. And two, Momma threatened me."I chuckled. "As long as Momma's threats are number two."He leaned down, caged my head between his hands. "Momma's threats aren't even a factor for me. I just figured I should mention them in the interest of full disclosure. You, cupcake, are all the reason I need." He pressed his mouth to mine. Minty freshness invaded my sen
I held the door open as Willow walked through into the show space of her bakery. It was still cheery, if a little distant, but I think it echoed its owner perfectly. My girl had up walls and they were unscalable unless she gave you access to the secret map. Luckily, I'd gotten to glimpse that map. And I'd stormed her battlements until I made her mine. She'd done the same to me, thank her goddess. Boring and normal. Normal and boring. This might be the hardest test we set for ourselves, but I had no hesitations that we were going to ace this test as well. We were meant to be. The other half of the coin. And every single other cliché known to mankind about soulmates. "You're not actually listening to me are you?" she said, a laugh in her voice.I grinned. "No. Sorry. Just ruminating on our awesomeness. What did you say?"She smiled. "At some point, I think I want to have a full service bakery. A little place where people can come in and hang out. Eat delicious baked goodies.