Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 145155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
“What’s funny?” I snap.
“You are.” He smirks.
“What planet are you from? I’m not dating a cage-fighter, Josh. End of story.”
He scowls. “What planet are you from if you think I’m going to put up with your shit? You are not telling me what I can and can’t do, Natasha. Just because you love me doesn’t make you the boss of me,” he snaps.
I scowl again. Oohh, touché, idiot. Trust him to throw the love-you thing in. “Why in the hell do you want to do this anyway? I don’t get it.”
“Sit and eat your breakfast,” he sighs as he points at my chair with his knife. I sit and start to eat my breakfast in silence, and he smirks at me.
“Seriously, Josh, I’m going to have a shiny new pair of earrings in a minute.” I hold up my butter knife and he laughs.
“Calm down, psycho, I do it for exercise and the challenge,” he says.
“Challenge,” I repeat. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He shrugs. “Apart from you, I don’t really have any challenges. Without sounding conceited, most things come easy for me. I love technology. I would do it for free, but it has paid me a lot more than I feel I deserve. That money has allowed me to buy the thoroughbred horses I love, so I find polo easy as well. My cars, houses and women. Everything comes easy. But when I fight it doesn’t matter how much money I make, or what my brain can do, or how I look. It just doesn’t matter, it’s just me and my opponent and the ring and if I can’t fight then I’m going to get beaten and that feeling of being equal gives me a massive adrenaline hit. I love it.” I narrow my eyes as I listen. “I know it sounds like a head trip but that’s how it is,” he says, deadpan. I suppose that does make sense. I can only imagine how it feels to be so successful. I should be so lucky. I know I’m not going to win this argument and it’s true I don’t want him to have to change to be with me.
“Fine, but I’m not supporting this. There is no way in hell I am going to another fight.”
He smiles and picks up my hand and kisses the back of it. “Deal,” he whispers. “I have no wish at all to tell you what you can and can’t do.” He raises an eyebrow.
Margaret Stanton arrives at her lawyer’s office just after nine. She has travelled to Sydney to see this lawyer. She couldn’t trust anyone in Melbourne. They all know her husband. She is shown into his office by his secretary and she nervously takes her seat.
“Can I get you a coffee, Mrs. Stanton?”
“No, thanks, dear.” She smiles. The tall gray lawyer enters and shakes her hand.
“Mrs. Stanton.” He smiles.
“Yes,” she whispers.
“What can I do for you today?” he asks.
She pulls out a large envelope that is sealed with a wax seal and her nerves are obvious, even to a stranger. “I need you to put this in a safety deposit box for me,” she says nervously.
Her lawyer frowns. “You came all the way from Melbourne to put something in a safety deposit box?”
She nods. “Yes, I need your utmost discretion and my husband knows too many lawyers in Melbourne.”
“I’m intrigued, Mrs. Stanton.”
“Please call me Margaret.”
“OK, Margaret, what are your instructions?”
She swallows the large lump in her throat. “If I go missing or am found dead, I want you to deliver this envelope directly by hand to my eldest son, Joshua Stanton. Make sure he is alone when he reads it.”
The lawyer frowns. “Do you think your life is in danger, Margaret?”
She smiles. “I don’t think so, but I am concerned about a current relationship my son is having and if it continues it could be.”
“We must call the police. What exactly is in the envelope? I assure you it will not leave this room,” he breathes.
“No police…please no. I don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to this matter. If I do go missing, I am just covering all bases. After Joshua has read the contents please pass it on to the police.”
“Margaret, this is highly irregular, and I have concerns. What exactly is in the envelope? Are you involved in criminal acts?”
She smiles. “No, nothing like that. It relates to my son’s…paternity.”
He smiles and nods. “I see.”
She smiles a nervous smile at him. “If this information gets out, it will destroy the lives of my husband and son, but it will be catastrophic for a very powerful man who stands to lose everything.”
“How would this information put you in danger?”
“My son is deeply in love with his…first cousin. I have kept this information from him for twenty-seven years but if this relationship continues, I will tell him. I will not let him live a life of guilt when he doesn’t deserve to.”