A

ndred m

the math, but the numbers were too big and the reality

wenty-first century. "Pfft... Five hundred million? Dad, ple

for a logic that didn't exist. "He meant the company, right Dad? He bought the office and the stocks? Te

e looked at me for a split second, his eyes red and heavy with guilt. He couldn't h

ck at Silas, and my stomach did a slow, sick fl

is a prank, right? Wh

red light, anything. I let out a high, shaky laugh that sounded more like a scream. "Cut the cameras! You can come out n

pop out from behind the heavy velvet curtains and tell me I was the star of a new reality s

atched my meltdown with a calm, steady gaze that m

e reach

im in the eye. His skin was warm, but his grip was absolute. It wasn't the kind of hol

g through the silence of the office

me feel suddenly sm

oming wit

yers. Call the fucking lawye

ife. People didn't get traded like stocks in the twenty-first

ispered. He sounded like a broken man, a hollow shell of the father who used

ed at the man who had raised me, the man who wa

arp edge to his words that cut right through my panic. He wasn't asking

y m

ath. The sarcasm was finally,

erwater," Silas replied, his voice devoid of emotion. "You aren't a d

l wouldn't meet my eyes. He had sold the sails to pay for his booze and the oars

swallowed hard, the reality of it clawing a

dropped to my lips,

my lower lip with a pressure that was both a threat and a promise. "Although, I'm still weighing my

so abruptly my head s

t's

cracking. "And those plans definitely don'

sweetheart,"

nst my lips, contrasting with the lethal, icy intent in those ocean-blue eyes. F

a comeback. The sarcasm simply died in my thr

y not to die in the first week," he add

errifying level of nonchalance, as if he hadn't

ch a waste of m

ll away, but my body seemed to lean into his touch of its own accord, drawn to the very man who was rui

, the only world I had ever known began to slide

wanted to reach out, to scream, to do anything but stand there, but his eyes were glued

e flinch. It was a jolt of the real world hitting me at the worst po

lace I liked. Maybe a "Can't wait to see you, beautiful." The thought of his st

apartment to wipe off my makeup and forget this day ever happen

eing co

look like the kind of man w