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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Kassandra

They weren't lying when they said the house was leveled. There wasn't even anything to go through. The house was nothing more than smoldering rubble on top of cracked foundation.

"Do we know what happened?"

David and I stood on the sidewalk and looked out to where the front of my house used to be. I thought it was best for Mikey and Nate to stay at David's house until we knew more. The team he had watching us was back in Boston, and two of the guys from another of his teams sat outside in an SUV.

"I had John pull the camera footage from yesterday. Someone managed to hack in and put all the cameras on a continuous loop. That's why I wasn't notified of the explosion until Jacob called. I have my team backtracking from the hack but it could take some time. Whoever did it is very good."

"I don't get it. They gave me two weeks with no way to contact them. It hasn't even been a week yet. It doesn't make any sense. They can't get their money if I'm dead." I was beyond annoyed at this point.

"I don't think they were trying to kill you. I'm guessing this was another way for them to threaten you."

I threw my hands in the air. "So they destroy my livelihood? Because that makes a lot of sense. Leave me with nothing so I have no money to pay them."

"Exactly, which means you would be indebted to them. That's how loan sharks operate. They want you to keep needing them so they can blackmail you into doing stuff for them. Unfortunately, that's how the world of crime works."

Wonderful.

"Is that who you think Michael stole from? Loan sharks?"

He merely shrugged. "Possibly. It would make sense. I won't know for sure until my team figures out who Michael ripped off."

"Well, it's not happening. I don’t want to take the money from you, but I’ll do anything to keep my kids out of this. I would rather owe you than criminals."

“I told you already, it’s ours.”

It wasn't how I wanted to start our relationship but it was better than owing money to people who thought blowing up a house was a good idea. David might be convinced that they weren't trying to kill us, but I wasn't so sure. No one knew we were going to be out of the house except David and his team. David trusted the men who worked for him, and I trusted him.

"We can call the insurance company today and get the ball rolling on that. In the meantime, you can stay at my house."

"Are we going to talk about that?"

David looked at me confused. "Talk about what?"

"About the house you own barely a few blocks from where I've lived since I got married. How come I never knew it was owned by you?"

"Because then I would have had to explain why I bought the house, and I wasn't ready to do that."

"Why did you buy the house, David?"

He pulled me into his arms so that my head was resting just under his chin. "I wanted you to have a place to land in case you ever needed it. It killed me that Michael cut me out of your life. I never thought he was good enough for you, so I created somewhere for you and the boys to go if it ever came to that."

Tears pricked my eyes. Even with us not talking for years, he was always in the background taking care of me.

"You know, Michael didn't support my decision to start my own business. He wanted me to be a trophy wife that depended solely on him. I’m glad I didn't give in to what he wanted. It required me to take out a huge loan, but it was worth it in the end. "

"I figured as much. I had your name flagged over the years just in case. I knew when you applied for a business license and when you applied for the loan. I wanted to give you my support even if you didn't know it was me."

“Wait . . . the projects you provided me were at least a quarter of my business. If it wasn't for you, I would still be paying on the loan I took out. But because of you, I was able to pay it off much faster than I ever planned.”

“Not because of me. I just provided you the foundation to start your portfolio and gave you the occasional job over the years. The rest was all you.”

He was too damn modest but who was I to argue.

"Decorating your properties have been some of my favorite jobs."

"Because I let you have complete control?" he snickered.

"I'm not going to lie. I put my own personality into every single project."

The smile he bestowed upon me was dazzling. "That was the plan. I wanted a piece of you everywhere I went."

"Why?" I looked at him with a confused expression. “I assumed you spent all this time hung up on Madalyn.”

David scoffed. “Not even close. I was mad she left without an explanation. In my eyes that was selfish and not someone I wanted in my life anymore.”

“Ohhh.” I didn’t know what else to say to that.

"You, on the other hand, were my best friend. And even though I didn't recognize the feeling until recently, I think I've always loved you."

My heart was beating so fast I was worried it would pound right out of my chest. "Really?"

"Yes." He cradled my cheek in his palm. "You're not just my best friend. I told you already, you're the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. The woman I want to go to bed with every night and wake up with every morning. I want to be sitting next to you as we cheer on Mikey and help Nate every night with his homework. I want to get to know you all over again while learning everything I can about the boys who own your heart. I love you. And even though it sucks it took this long for us to figure it out, I look forward to what our future holds."

A single tear ran down my cheek. "I love you too. I always have. I spent years punishing myself for loving my best friend but I wouldn't change a single thing. It brought us to where we are now and there's no place else I would rather be."