Page 47 of Rival to the Billionaire

She looks at me, jaw clenched. "Some of us don't have brothers to fall back on, Ryder. Some of us are on our own." She sighs and looks to the street below again. "To some people, working hard means that you want to build an empire and climb the corporate ladder. Some people think it means becoming a big deal, a big shot. But for some of us…hard work means survival. And it can mean not having to return to the country that you were born in or having to start a new life in a new place." Her eyes are sincere. "And some of us want that so badly, it feels like a drug. It's a stimulant. Getting up and going to work, working hard, making money, making yourself someone. That's how we survive."

I'm not sure what to say. So, I stay silent.

She's right. I'm not sure where it comes from, but I can understand. Perhaps because I’ve had certain luxuries all my life, I haven't had that survival fear.

It's times like this that I remember how damn lucky I've been for my life so far.

We were both good kids. Well-behaved, obedient, the perfect children for their wayward parents.

But I had my brothers…and the benefit of looking exactly like most of the people in our neighborhood.

Jenny's father worked in the fish plant alongside my dad. The hours were long, and the pay was brutal. With times as hard as they were, we neighborhood kids had to help each other out, provide or fetch things as needed.

Jenny and my cousin Killian became a part of my family's daily lives, and we became a part of theirs.

In short, Jenny and I went through a lot of the same things growing up, and we would stick up for each other, when needed.

Back then, it felt like we were the center of the universe, the most important of all.

Until the day my parents died…and Jenny fell off the face of the earth.

I'd done whatever I could to get her attention back. I'd teased and poked and prodded at her at every opportunity.

But she hadn't cared. She'd wanted nothing to do with me.

Not for a long time.

It had hurt me more than I'd like to admit.

But I'd had to learn to stop…

She'd always been like that, though. Warm, fun, but also hard to know. There were hidden depths to Jenny that no one really seemed to understand.

Even now, she's the most enigmatic person I've ever known. So many times, I've wanted to get to the bottom of her, but I've always failed.

"Come on." I drop my arms and then gesture for her to follow me. "Let's get some food. Not sure what place around here will deliver a tower of pizzas like the Sky Needle trip, but I think I know of a few places that might suffice in a pinch."

She shoots me an amused, exasperated look, but follows me.

Maybe she's moved on from my comment about her workaholism, but I still feel its sting.

Maybe Jenny never really got the chance to be a kid, the way I did, with brothers and family.

Maybe I've been too hard on her all these years.

And maybe, just maybe, it's time I make up for it.

ChapterFourteen

JENNY

An hour later, we're stuffed to the gills on Italian food, the best that Vegas has to offer. Outside, the streets are still alive, though they're beginning to die down a little bit while Ryder and I stretch out on opposite couches of the sitting room.

Our hotel suite now littered with empty pizza boxes, we sit facing each other, both looking a little sleepy and lazy. Like we're a couple of late-night insomniacs who've found each other and hedonistically decided to spend the rest of the night in the most unhealthy way possible.

Our papers and laptops are poised on the coffee table that we've set up in the center of the sitting room, we're propped up on the back of the couch with our legs splayed wide open.

The smell of melted cheese, tomato sauce, and garlic pervades the entire suite, and there's a quietness about the world outside for a moment.

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