Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“No,” he says. “I absolutely do not.” He lifts up on his elbow. “How did you go from our wedding to this? Because that doesn’t seem like a positive thing.”
“No, it’s not about us. Or it is. We’re good. I feel happy. When my mother died, my life was good. Almost too good to be true. I loved my job and my new city and I was close to talking Dash into moving here. I felt guilty after she died for going out on my own, and not working for the company.”
“You were chasing your dreams like she did. I remember very clearly you telling me that’s what your mother wanted for you.”
“Yes,” I say. “She knew I had the Nashville bug, but the thing is, about a week before it happened, I had this clawing feeling something was wrong. I called everyone to check-in. I took NyQuil to sleep, I was so uptight. I’m there again. That’s what that memory is about. Just like then, I have a clawing feeling something is wrong. I don’t feel like everything is okay, Tyler.”
He sits up. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. Gavin gives me weird vibes. The uncertainty with the will is concerning. I just think something is off.”
He sighs and shakes his head before he lays back down and pulls me down with him again, folding me close. “I do, too, baby. I do, too.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Bella
It’s strange to feel as if everything is wonderful, but something is wrong.
I don’t shake the idea that trouble is brewing, but I do enjoy this time with Tyler.
Starting with the wedding announcement that has everyone talking.
For a week solid, clients call, studios call, the staff gossips and many of them come to me to see my ring. When I’m asked how it happened, I tell them the truth. It happened over time. Remarkably the whispers are more about my ring than me sleeping with the boss. There are a lot of comments about how much we as a couple make sense, about how different Tyler is with me by his side.
Apparently, he only scowls half the time, not all the time now.
Unfortunately, we have made very little progress when it comes to the will. Tyler worries about the board, he worries about another will surfacing that is not in our favor, as we’ve hoped. The more he talks about all the head games his father played with him, the more I worry he’s right.
We’ve gone through all the Allen case files though and found nothing, and now Tyler is going through each case, one by one, for a total of five. It’s an incredible number of files. Tyler is relentless in his search for another will to the point it’s disrupting him in other areas of his work.
By week two of our engagement, Tyler has a new secretary. Debbie actually never came back to work, and the talk over our engagement has calmed down. Tyler is also all moved into my place, and he’s put his up for a lease so that it remains a real estate holding. We’ve settled in together at the house, and Molly is growing like a weed. By week three, I’ve convinced Tyler to take a break from the Allen files.
“Just take a week off.”
“What if we don’t have a week?”
“You originally thought the will would grant you your rights now, not later, and that’s why you wanted it. Now you think it’s something that can be used against you. Why?”
“You knew my father, Bella.”
It’s really all he has to say. He’s right. There’s no telling what he might have done to trap Tyler, but I also can’t help but believe we’re missing a clue. When I bring this up to Tyler, he assures me he has someone digging around. “Is that smart? They’re dangerous people.”
“He’s ex-CIA. He knows what to do to stay off the radar.”
That morning I call Hawk Senior’s old secretary. “Tyler’s mother threw out almost everything of his father’s. There’s a document that is missing we really need for a litigation. Do you know where he might have kept personal items that I might recover?”
“That his wife wouldn’t get to? Probably the Brook Club, but the police probably already went there. I told them about it, too.”
We disconnect and I dial Tyler. “Your dad had a locker at the Brook Club. Did you know that?”
He appears in my doorway with his phone in hand. We both disconnect. He shuts the door. “How do you know that?”
“I called his old assistant and told her we were looking for a document that is missing pertaining to a litigation. But she also said she told the police about it, so it might be gone.” I glance at my watch. “I’m meeting a client at the bookstore to review a contract over coffee. I need to go.” I grab my purse and round the desk and stop in front of him. “Withers, your dad’s attorney, has to know the truth. Why not force him to tell you?”