Page 111 of Don't Bet On It
“I’ve never cared about money like you,” I shot back. “I only need enough money to be comfortable. If you could’ve figured out a way to sell me as a kid so you could get ahead, you would’ve done it.”
I vehemently shook my head so she wouldn’t start talking again. “Just stop. Cora told you the terms of the deal. Take your money—we both know you’re going to—and then say goodbye. This is the last time you’ll ever be seeing me.”
“Excuse me?” Sharon reared back as if she’d been slapped. “You’re my daughter. You don’t get to just walk away.”
“I’ve been walking away since I was a kid. I’m taking the final step now.” I didn’t feel sad about cutting her out of my life. Just exhausted. “Take the money, Sharon. Ryder is done. Take it, and have a few weeks of fun. You like fun.”
“But…” She broke off and bit her lower lip.
“But Ryder promised you more,” I finished for her. “I get that. He’s not good at keeping his promises. Ask his former mistress.”
“Ask all of his former mistresses,” Cora said dryly. She withdrew a large envelope of cash from her bag. “Give me the blackmail material, and this is all yours.”
Sharon’s eyes lit up when she saw the cash. “Fine,” she said after a beat, making it seem as if she was debating. She wasn’t, but she wanted to make it look good. “I’ll get the recordings.” She got to shaky feet, her eyes moving to me. “As for you, if you don’t want to see me, you don’t have to. Go ahead and cut off your mother.”
“That’s the plan,” I agreed.
She muttered something under her breath and started toward the hallway that led to her bedroom.
“Just know that she’s serious,” Ronan called out, speaking for the first time. “She’s serious, and I’ll be around to make sure that you don’t make her life hell again. You’re done doing that.”
“Oh, right,” Sharon snorted. “And how long do you plan on hanging around?”
Ronan slid me a soft sidelong look. “Forever, if I can manage it.”
My heart started beating harder. I couldn’t believe he was actually saying that to me—and in front of an audience no less. Weirdly, for the first time in, well, ever, the prospect wasn’t frightening. “Forever has a nice ring to it,” I agreed, surprising myself. “Once we actually start dating legitimately,” I added.
He laughed, leaning in to kiss my forehead. “Let’s see where life takes us.”
I leaned so my head was against his shoulder and linked my fingers with his. “That sounds like a perfect plan to me.”
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER
“What do you think?”
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so many butterflies in my stomach. Looking around at the new Stone Gallery, however, filled me with excitement and fear like I’d never fathomed. It was the good type of fear but fear, nonetheless.
“It’s pretty cool,” Zach said as he looked around the space. He was dressed down in jeans and a T-shirt, his baby girl strapped to his chest. She’d already spit up on his clothes three times today—the first day Olivia had agreed to be away from her two-month-old daughter for more than an hour—and he was out of suits to change into. He didn’t look like he cared. Ally Tallulah Stone was the apple of her father’s eye.
“Yeah?” I rubbed my stomach and looked around at the space one more time. It wasn’t what I’d envisioned when I’d pictured my first gallery, but Cora had approached Tallulah and me with an offer we couldn’t refuse two months after Ryder had been thwarted yet again.
First things first, though. Ryder Stone had gone back to prison. His conviction wasn’t overturned on appeal, and he was ushered back to prison promptly following his hearing. He screamed and yelled that he was being railroaded, but the judge wasn’t feeling sympathetic. She’d waved at him as he was carted off, and that had only served to make him angrier.
When he’d found out his plan with the board had been nipped in the bud, he melted down. He was caught trying to sneak onto Stone property no fewer than eight times in the three weeks following the big takeover fizzle. Rex turned catching him into something of a game, although it was obvious it hadn’t been the sort of game he enjoyed playing. The day Ryder had gone back to prison, everybody had sighed in relief.
He was one less thing to worry about.
Tallulah and I had gone back to work the next day under the watchful eye of Kyla, who didn’t understand why we’d been excused from our duties the previous day but was understandably suspicious. She’d tried to get Tallulah fired in the weeks following the takedown, but nothing stuck. Then Cora had come to us with a plan.
After the addition to Stone Casino went through, three of the bars in the current building would move to the new location. That would leave prime real estate open in the main casino, and Cora wanted part of that space to be an art gallery.
The gallery would belong to Stone Group. However, Tallulah and I would each have a ten percent stake and get to run the gallery. If we agreed to stay for five years, then we would keep our stakes in the gallery. Given how much money it was expected to bring in, the five-year investment seemed to be well worth it because when we walked away, we would be able to fund our dream gallery wherever we wanted. Tallulah and I had gladly accepted Cora’s terms.
I’d toyed with the idea of leaving Vegas, but the truth was that I loved the city. It was my home. I didn’t want to leave. If Tallulah had wanted to leave, I would’ve agreed, however. No questions asked. She was what I wanted more than anything else.
Thankfully, she hadn’t wanted to leave after all. It seemed that her anger at Sharon had clouded her opinion of the city, but she wanted to be close to Olivia—and me. Plus, Vegas was the only life she knew.
