Page 48

‘Oh.’
Oh,indeed. Kelsey cringed whenever she thought about it.
‘He… stole it?’
If only. Kelsey wouldn’t have felt like such an idiot then. ‘No… I gave it to him willingly.’ And that’s why it really hurt. Sure, he ran off with it, but she’d handed it over to him without hesitation.
Gullibly, naively, trustingly.
Ari didn’t say anything. But his arms tightened around her a little more as if encouraging her to tell her whole sorry tale. Kelsey hated rehashing it, but wrapped up with him like this, far away on the other side of the world, Australia and all that happened seemed a very distant memory.
And he’d confided in her about his wife.
‘He was a con artist with a get-rich-quick scheme. And I was young and in love. I thought he was a tech genius who was going to be the next Steve Jobs and I wanted to support him, so he could fly to those dizzying heights.’
‘So you gave him your money.’
‘Yep. Between my mother and I, we handed over half a mil.’
He winced. ‘Ouch.’
‘Yeah. I didn’t do it to get rich, although he’d certainly implied that I would. I did it because I loved him. He was funny and charming and wanted to take care of us. Like my father had done before he’d died.’
That was what probably stung the most – not that he took off with their money but that he’d fooled her into believing he actually loved her. Sure, she’d been young when she’d met him – nineteen – and he’d been almost eight years older, but she’d never been an idiot. And they’d been in a relationship for a year before she’d offered him the money.
Clearly Eric had been in it for the long game.
‘It wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been just me, but my mum losing her money too…’
He’d refused her mother’s money to start with but when she’d insisted several times, he’d caved magnanimously.
Fucking. Bastard.
‘My mother had just been diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition at the time and we knew she’d slowly go blind over the next ten years. But that didn’t seem to matter to Eric.’
‘Did you report him to the police?’
‘Of course. It wasn’t his first rodeo, though. There’s a warrant out for his arrest but we aren’t holding our breath. And with my mother’s health situation we knew we didn’t have time to sit around and lick our wounds. We decided his greed wasn’t going to keep us from our dreams so I dropped out of university and got a job with the Oceanós Line with the goal to save as much money as I could for as long as I could to set us up for when mum becomes more dependent.’
‘You’re not exactly paid a fortune, though, right?’
‘Well, no, but my salary has increased year on year, the conversion rate is in my favour, the tips are excellent and with absolutely nothing to spend my money on I can save most of it. One more contract after this and I’m calling it quits.’
‘Because of your mother’s sight?’
‘Yes. She’s lost about 50 per cent of her vision in each eye now. She can still work in a reduced capacity so she’s relatively independent, but she can’t drive and they expect her eyesight to decrease more rapidly over the next few years. Plus, we’ll have enough money for a sizeable deposit and it’s important we’re settled and established with the house modified and supports in place while she still has useable eyesight.’
He didn’t say anything for a while but his lips brushed her skin again, and Kelsey shut her eyes and let her head flop back against his big, hard shoulder. It felt so good here in the circle of his arms.
‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured quietly. ‘About your mother’s sight. That must be tough for you both.’
Kelsey’s eyes fluttered open. It had been a devastating diagnosis eight years ago. But her mother had always been pragmatic. She’d picked herself up after becoming a widow at thirty-one and she hadn’t let impending blindness set her back for long either. ‘It was. But we adjusted.’
‘Is it hereditary?’
‘Yes. Although there isn’t a family history that we know about. But… I’m lucky. I’ve been tested and got the all-clear.’
His arms tightened again and Kelsey snuggled in close to him, aware of the press of his cock against her buttocks. Even flaccid it was an impressive part of his anatomy.