The next few days were a blur that I really couldn’t have gotten through without Paul. He was as solid as a rock, never leaving my side, pampering to my every whim and making sure I was okay. He buffered unnecessary people away for the time being, giving me time to adjust and take everything in all in my own time.
It turned out Tim had paid off the local coroner to agree with his version of events and upon having another autopsy done, it was true that the kick on Mum’s face had happened approximately six hours before her death. I could only presume this was why Tim wanted her cremated.
Unfortunately, though, she was still going to have her final resting place out here. There was too much red tape and not enough time to get her back home.
Today was Tuesday, and she’d been buried at the local cemetery yesterday. The funeral was the perfect send off for her. I was surprised to see how many friends she’d made in her short time out here.
The police searched Tim’s house and discovered a stash of GHB underneath his floorboards. I knew this was why my dreams had felt so real yet so dreamlike, and I also knew I wasn’t the first victim. They were going to investigate the previous reports from the female guests who had been here.
Along with that, Tim had also been formally charged with Mum’s murder after our recording of the entire thing on my phone. Paul’s contact had also put his part in and joined several missing dots together to make sure Tim was locked up for good and the key thrown away.
The real twist came in that Mum was Tim’s next of kin for all of his assets and belongings. With us being the beneficiaries to Mum, it meant everything of his was now ours. He had already signed over his rights to everything being relinquished to Mum’s estate. There was a lot of legal proceedings to get through as a lot of it was classed as evidence where it concerned money, but as it had been written into wills that it be left to Tim, it was a tricky area.
Ash and Paul spent the whole of yesterday going through all of his affairs and were immensely surprised to see he had twenty-four million dollars in the bank. Why someone would want more than that was beyond me. I couldn’t understand it.
Paul was going to enter into negotiations with solicitors to see if he could return the stolen money to the children who had been left behind in Tim’s past. It would still leave us with half of what he had but we planned to give that away to charity if we could. The money Mum had left us would easily set the both of us up for life; we didn’t need anymore.
Ash announced he wanted to stay at the ranch. I didn’t know quite how to take it and presumed it was just a phase he was on. He couldn’t mean permanently, surely?
I was booked onto a flight back to England at nine tonight. As I hugged Ash goodbye and climbed into Paul’s rental car, I found myself smiling for the first time in days as I felt that, finally, maybe things would be looking up.
The flight was long and silent, and I found myself asleep through most of it. I really couldn’t have asked for much more from Paul as he held my hand and said nothing, always waiting for me to speak first. He wouldn’t push me and he knew I would talk if I wanted to.
He surprised me when he drove past my house.
“Where are we going?” I said as he guided his car through the dark back roads.
“To mine,” he replied, smiling. “I’m not leaving you.”
He reached a hand over and rested it on my thigh. I smiled as I took hold of his warm offering and squeezed it. He flashed me a dazzling smile as we continued on. My heart began racing when we approached his driveway.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“I don’t care,” he said.
The impressive house was sheathed in darkness, looking nothing but peaceful as we pulled up to the front door. I got out of the car and went to the boot to get my stuff.
“Leave it,” he said, grabbing my hand. “We’ll deal with that later. You need a decent sleep.”
I smiled at his caring nature as we climbed the stone steps and stepped through the wooden front doors. He led me up the staircase lined with a plush red carpet, turning us left when we reached the top. Leading me through a white door straight in front of us, I stood in awe at the room around me. Dark wood lined the walls, exquisite carvings of flowers and gargoyles detailing the expensive material. A deep royal blue carpet splayed out over the room, a queen-size black metal frame taking centre stage. And to top it off, a fantastic bay window looking out over the splendid landscaped gardens.
I followed his delicious body towards the bed, eager to see if it was as comfortable as it looked. As upset as I’d been over the past two weeks, I couldn’t deny it had been pure torture for me having his body close to me every night for the past week and not touch him. I knew he wouldn’t make a move and I didn’t know where we currently stood with each other so I wasn’t going to make a move either.
I watched him strip off before he lifted the duvet up and patted the bed for me to join him.
“What’s going on?” I asked, stripping off.
“What do you mean?”
“With us?” I settled in beside him, cuddling up against him.
“Do you really want to do this now?” he asked, stroking my hair off my face.
I nodded, telling myself I had to do this now.
As brilliant as it had been having him there for me over my recent upheavals, I didn’t want to continue on with him if he was always going to reject me. I had given in to my true feelings for him after realising Scott had been a complete and utter lie because I had done nothing but crave Paul. But at the same time, if he and I weren’t ever going to happen, I needed to know so I could do something to get past it and move on properly, not rush into something because I was desperate for something I currently wanted from him.
“It’s complicated, darling, you know it is,” he said.
“Take the complications out of the situation for the moment. Ignore them. Then what?”
“What do you mean? If it was just simple and straightforward?”
I nodded.
“Well, then I’d be asking you to consider being with me,” he said, tracing his index finger down my cheek.
“Okay. First complication?”
“My parents.”
“In what way?” I knew the answers but I needed him to spell them out.
“The business.”
“Okay,” I said. “Is there a way to get around that?”
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, when they hand it to me I could always sell it I guess,” he said. “Or go into partnership and remain a silent partner.”
“Okay. That’s a start. What else?”
“Mr. Peters.”
“Surely, though, if he undoes whatever he did, he would be taking himself and your father down too as accomplices?”
He nodded to me.
“Can you not use that as a bargaining chip?”
“It’s proving it.” He sighed. “You’ve heard lately of all these cases being uprooted as new evidence is discovered etcetera; that’s what they would do to me.”
“So catch them out,” I said, meaning record them like we had done Tim.
He gave me a wry smile. “I’d already been thinking about that.”
“So what other complications are there?”
“Well, I guess work isn’t a problem anymore seeing as I own the company so that’s one down. I suppose all that’s left is my living situation once my parents kick me out and what will happen financially.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, a lot of our finances are tied up in several joint ventures. It would be very messy and a right headache to get around.”
“I guess it all boils down to one thing,” I said.
“What’s that?” he asked, running his hand through my hair.
“How badly you want this. Us.” My heart rate increased by the second at the heaviness of the situation combined with his gentle touch.
“You have no idea,” he whispered, inching his face closer to mine. “I’m absolutely crazy about you.”
He glanced a feather light kiss over my cheek, coating me in goosebumps. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the delicate kisses he placed all over my face.
“I would have thought after everything you might have figured how I feel about you?” he said.
I fluttered my eyes open, immediately drawn to his swirling, twinkling eyes. I faltered with a response—I didn’t know what to say.
He pulled his arms tighter around me, cushioning our lips together. I felt nothing short of giddy as I revelled in our kiss, the feeling of being back in his arms once again. Nothing could stop this ascent to heaven.
Or so I thought.
His bedroom door burst open, making us both jump. “You’re home, then?”
I peered over the top of the duvet to see Roger stood in the doorway, absolutely fuming mad.