Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 32

I leaned my head back against the tree and took a moment to close my eyes, and that’s the moment it hit me how tired I was. I hadn’t slept as much as I should have last night, thanks to Natashya’s night terrors, and I’d been wired the entire day. First, it was dealing with the strange feelings from Emily when we were in her bed, but that was quickly replaced by concern for Bobbi after spending the night with Astrid. I’d stormed into her steam room like a man on a mission and had left more frustrated and horny than satisfied with our encounter. A quickie with Erin afterward had settled me down, but right after that, we had lunch before flying out here. Of course, the flight had taken a turn for the worst, and I’d been fighting for my life since being tossed out of a helicopter.

Standing against the tree, soaking wet and slightly shivering, exhausted me.

Chloe had filled me in on what happened after she’d shoved me out the door. She had strapped on a parachute first and then turned to see if Astrid needed any help, but the heiress waved her off as she was already scrambling to get hers on. Without hesitating, Chloe jumped out of the chopper but couldn’t find me after opening her chute. She didn’t get a chance to see Astrid or the pilot deploy their parachutes… if they even had a chance to jump from the helicopter at all. I’d hoped that Chloe would have her cell phone on her, but unfortunately, her captors had smashed hers until it was unusable. I hadn’t seen mine since I’d been pushed out of the helicopter and was hoping against hope that it was still there.

When I questioned her about why she’d left Astrid behind, my bodyguard felt justified because she was there to protect me, and the best way to do that was by staying alive. I was her priority. Everything else was a distant second. Part of me felt flattered by her words, while another part felt uneasy. In a sense, I’d always known what it meant to have someone like Chloe around. She’d rescued me from the warehouse and, in theory, was willing to take a bullet for me, but to hear her speak so plainly about how she would be willing to sacrifice others for my sake… that weighed heavily on me.

When I first hired her, I thought her presence would be an annoying disturbance and invasion of my privacy. Since then, she showed that she could keep secrets and watch things occur without giving me any idea of what she thought about them. I was sure she had opinions, but she kept them to herself, giving the illusion of being non-judgemental. I recalled talking to her about Bobbi for the first time around the pool. I felt myself smile as I remembered drinking that scotch.

It felt so long ago…

So many things had occurred since then: the kidnapping, the board meeting, watching her throw my brother around in the coffee shop, raiding my grandfather’s house… that night with Ashlee in Vegas and almost talking about it after I won the vote.

God… we really had been through so much together.

My eyes flew open as I heard something to my left and whipped the gun toward it, ready to fire at the first sign of danger.

Nothing.

I swiped at my eyes and listened intently for something… anything.

There was nothing but the sound of falling rain. I might have found it peaceful were it not for the danger. Crazy how little my money mattered right now.

No… that wasn’t true. I had Chloe—someone I wouldn’t have had without my inheritance. Of course, I wouldn’t have been here in the first place, either.

I spent nearly fifteen minutes contemplating the philosophical implications of becoming wealthy, jumping at every random sound, and shivering—the shivering was getting more noticeable. I missed hiking through the forest—at least that helped occupy my mind.