“Come on,” Ash said as he led me towards the kitchen,towards the secret room he had built for himself. “Hide in there until this isover.”
“Who are they?” I asked. “What do they want?”
Ash looked pale. “They’re bad news,” he said. “Verybad news. It’s better you don’t get involved. And it’s better they don’t thinkyou are close to us.”
“Why?” I asked. “Who are they?”
“They’re bad people,” Ash said. “They think Dad owedthem some debt, and they want to collect now, and from us heirs. They think wewill have the fortune to pay Dad’s debt to them.”
It dawned on me who they were now. The mob.
So Sutton wasn’t lying about that. He was right.
Immediately, I was worried for Seb and Thomas who wereout there talking to them. I pulled out my phone. “I’ve got to let Suttonknow,” I said.
“Wait,” Ash said. “If the police gets involved, I knowfor sure we’re dead.”
“But what are we going to do?” I asked. “Hold on…they’re here because you guys already negotiated something with them. That’s whySeb and Thomas acted like they knew who they were and why they were here.” Ilooked squarely at Ash. “Tell me what they want.”
Ash said, “The inheritance in the will. That’swhat they want.”
“But we don’t even know what that is,” I said.
“Precisely, that’s why they’re now interested withwhat’s going on with the will,” Ash said.
“Oh…” I said. “So it gets complicated.”
“Like hell it is,” Ash said.
“Sloane!” I said. “I have to warn him not to come tothe manor or they will see him.”
I pulled out my phone again to call him, but saw atext flash by from Sutton.
SUTTON: Guess who I stopped going way pass the speedlimit on the road heading to the Keystone’s. Sloane.
I looked over at Ash. Showing him the text beforebreathing a sigh of relief.
KALEY: Where are you two now?
SUTTON: On a side road away from the manor. I’mwriting him a ticket.
KALEY: You’re kidding. But good. He should learn tokeep within the speed limit.
Secretly I was relieved Sutton was distracting Sloane,even if he didn’t know it. Both of them were away from the manor and safebecause of it.
SUTTON: I missed you already.
KALEY: It hasn’t been that long since you dropped meoff.
SUTTON: Any time away from you is excruciating. Iwant to keep holding you in my arms.
Ash stiffened besides me. His eyes on my phone.“You’re really that close to him?”
“Ash, I’ll tell you the truth,” I said. “I don’t knowabout him. I fell for him in the beginning, but then I learned a few thingsabout him that made me distrust him, but then he’s proving to be right again,and…”
“So you’re using him for his body,” Ash said.
I smiled. “I guess you’re right,” I said. “How did youguess?”
“Because it must drive you so wild and crazy to bethis close to me, who you know is a Sex God, and not be able to fuck me. So youhave to get a surrogate for all that pent up sexual frustration,” Ash said,cozying up to me.
“Yes, it is so frustrating how I can’t have my waywith you,” I said.
SUTTON: You there, Kaley? Kaley?
KALEY: Yes. How long are you keeping Sloane?
SUTTON: He’s filling out paperwork. It usually takesa few minutes, but he’s reading everything through line by line.
KALEY: That’s what a good lawyer does, Sutton.
SUTTON: He must be a good one then. He seems to readeverything. Nothing will slip by him.
I turned to Ash, whose eyes were on my phone again.“Should I tell him about those guys? The mob?” I thought about it again, andbefore Ash could answer, I said, “I should.”
KALEY: Be careful. The mob is here.
SUTTON: WHAT???
KALEY: Right now at the manor.
SUTTON: Are you alright? I’m heading to the manornow.
KALEY: Two men. One older. One big. I’m hiding withAsh. Seb and Thomas are in front talking to them.
SUTTON: Thx for the stats. On my way.
Ash looked torn. “I don’t know if that was a good ideato let Sutton know.”
I looked at Ash and said, “Why not? It was Sutton whotold me he thought the mob would hit Keystone Manor. That’s why he took me awayfrom Majestic Café last night. He wanted to keep me from going to KeystoneManor so I would be safe.”
Ash’s mouth dropped. “Son of a bitch. He knew allthat, yet he didn’t try to stop it? Man, if he was doing his job as an officer,we wouldn’t have gone through hell last night.”
“What?” I asked. “What happened last night?” I asked,my face stricken with worry. “What happened?”
Ash shook his head. “We were almost killed.Execution-style.” He shuddered. “If it wasn’t for Thomas and Seb being so quickand brave, coming up with something, we would’ve died last night.”
“What did they come up with?” I asked, my handsreaching out to rub Ash’s shoulders. I pulled him close to me to hold him. Icould tell he was really shaken up.
“They have to solve Dad’s puzzles so we can get theinheritance to pay them back,” Ash said. “We only have less than a week or theywill kill all of us.”
My heart dropped. Not only was Sutton right about allof this, but it did confirm that Mr. Keystone was not who I thought he was.
“Don’t worry,” I said, soothing Ash. “We’ll solve thewill. I’ll do everything I can to help.”
“That’s the thing, Kaley,” Ash said. “We don’t wantyou to be seen helping or doing anything with it. They don’t know you’reinvolved. Only the heirs. They want only us Keystones to pay. If they knew youwere involved and what role you played, they’d kill you too, and…” he gulped.“That’s worse than anything they can do to us.”
“So act like you guys mean nothing to me?” I asked.
“Yes,” Ash said. “That you’re not our girl…that you’renot the love of our lives, which you have and always will be.”
“Ash…”
“No, I mean it, Kaley,” Ash said. “My life flashedbefore me last night when I thought I was going to die, but all I could thinkabout was how much I loved you and that I wanted to tell you before I die.”
“Ash…”
Before we could
