Escorting the Billionaire #3(33)

 

“Okay,” I said, a nervous pit forming in my stomach. “When you asked me to move to California with you… that was free will, right? So has something changed?” I asked nervously.

 

“No,” he said. “Yes.” He ran his hand through his hair again. “Being with my family these past two weeks has had me thinking. And all of this horrible stuff about my mother and Danielle—it’s made me realize some things.”

 

He paused for a beat. “Do you remember what I told you Todd said to me? Right before the wedding?”

 

“No,” I said. I looked at him blankly. “Was it something like, where the hell is Audrey running off to? ’Cause that’s when my mom showed up.” He was scaring me, and I was just babbling, afraid to hear what he had to say.

 

“No,” he said and sighed. “That wasn’t it. It’s something that’s been bothering me.”

 

“Okay,” I said again. I braced for whatever was coming next.

 

“He said that when you finally figure out what you want in life, you’re pretty ready for forever.” James came and sat on the bed next to me. He reached for my hand. “Like I said, these last two weeks have had me thinking. About family. About what I want… for my family.”

 

I held my breath.

 

“Audrey, it’s taken me a very long time to find you. And we haven’t been together very long. But I’ve finally figured out what I want. And I am pretty ready for forever.”

 

He got off the bed and knelt by me. He pulled a small black box out from his pocket, and I was pretty sure I was no longer holding my breath—I’d just stopped breathing. He opened the box, and inside there was an enormous, square-cut diamond, fit for a princess.

 

“Are you?” he asked.

 

I was stunned. I just blinked at him. “Am I what?” I asked stupidly.

 

“Ready for forever?”

 

I blinked at him again.

 

“I don’t want to wait anymore,” he said, watching my face. “I love you. I want you to know that I mean it forever.”

 

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t find my breath.

 

“Audrey, will you marry me?”

 

Finally, comprehension dawned on me and I nodded my head up and down.

 

“I’m going out on a limb and guess here—is that a yes?” he asked hopefully.

 

“Yes,” I whispered, finding my voice. And then I threw myself at him. “Yes, yes, yes.”

 

 

 

 

 

James

 

 

 

 

 

The next two days passed in a blur. We’d gone to the police and given statements. We’d also given them my parents’ flight information; the detectives said they would be waiting at the airport when they arrived. They wouldn’t tell us if they would make an arrest, but we knew they would at least question both of my parents. That was something.

 

I was still having a hard time adjusting to my new reality. This was real. My parents were involved in Danielle’s death. I let the shock, betrayal and disgust course through me as Audrey and I went about our other business. This was my new reality, and it was going to take some time getting used to it.

 

My parents had always been difficult, but now I found them abhorrent. No matter how distant we’d become, that wasn’t an easy thing for a son to feel.

 

Audrey and I went to New Horizons, and I’d finally met Tommy. “This is James,” Audrey told him. “I love him, and you will, too. He wants us to move to California with him.”

 

“What about Mom?” Tommy had asked.

 

Audrey had shrugged. “She’ll probably come out and visit, even though I don’t want her to. Because she’s Mom.”

 

They both laughed at that.

 

Then we paid a visit to East Boston. Because before we got to my horrible mother, we had to deal with Audrey’s. We had to make sure she was completely on board with my proposed agreement. She had to promise not to blackmail us and/or communicate with my mother, in exchange for my private investigator’s silence on her ongoing parole violations and a large sum of money being wired into her bank account.

 

Mrs. Reynolds was wearing an old Pour House T-shirt and hadn’t bothered to clean her apartment, but she did say she was happy to see us.

 

“You’re happy to see me?” Audrey asked, flabbergasted.

 

“Mostly him,” Mrs. Reynolds said, lighting a cigarette and jutting her chin out at me.

 

Audrey gave me a quick look and turned back to her mother, her brow furrowed. “Didn’t that investigator come over here?” she asked. “And tell you about his file?”