Read Online Chained: Reckless Desires (Dragon's Heart Book 1) by Jacqueline Sweet - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jacqueline Sweet
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take advantage of it. She’d never worked a trial—if she did her job right, they stayed out of the courtroom—but she remembered the mock trials from law school and how good it felt to crack a witness. She had a taste of that feeling again.
Rodney shrugged. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Best to leave it alone, love.”
Bella held one of the coins in her hand. The weight felt good and the metal was cool and calming.
“You can keep that one,” Rodney said.
“No, no I can’t.” She placed it back on the table, next to a pile of its brothers. There must have been a hundred of those gold coins. If they were actually gold, which she suspected they were, the value just in the metal would be staggering. “Tell me. I need to know. What’s going on?”
Rodney snatched the coin and added it to one of the stacks so that they were all even. “I don’t really know. But he wasn’t always like this. I’ve been here almost five years and I remember him from before. He was always the kind one. The nice one of the family, not like his bastard brothers. But then just before old Octavian passed, something changed. The man became unstable. Most everyone wrote it off as grief over the old man’s passing, but I saw it happen before he died.”
“What’s your theory, Rodney? A smart guy like you always has a theory.”
“I think he was poisoned. I think whoever killed the old man tried before, but Winterborn stumbled into it, whatever it was.”
“But you don’t know?”
Rodney shook his head. “If you’re smart, you’ll never ask him about it. There’s no faster way to see him lose it than to ask about it.” He paused for a moment, staring at his pile of gold coins. “You really won’t turn me in?”
“I won’t,” Bella said. “That’s not me.”
Rodney nodded and then smiled. “Well, here’s for your troubles then.” He reached into his pocket, peeled off some bills from a wad of cash and pressed them into her hand. It was ten hundred dollar bills. He slipped her a grand, just like that. “I have a guy, a buyer. Up in Mercy Springs. He gives me two thousand dollars per coin,” Rodney said. “If you keep quiet, there’ll be more of this.”
Bella wanted to say no, to throw the money in his face. She didn’t want to be his accomplice. She didn’t want anything. She wanted to lose herself in her work, to read a book at night until she fell asleep and to do the whole thing again the next day. There was a comfort in the routine. She could obliterate herself with it. She could pretend she hadn’t burned her life down, because she had no life. But this—the money was grubby but it provided a path. She could save enough to get a car. A home. New clothes. A new start. Money made it possible.
She wanted to be righteous and tell Rodney to go screw, but instead she nodded and tucked the money down into her bra.
“There’s a good girl,” Rodney said. “And look, we all know Winterborn isn’t long for this world. When he goes, I’m gone too. I have a stash of these,” he said, nodding at the coins. “And a tidy sum of cash. You could come with me. Get away from here. Because, trust me, you don’t want to be around when Winterborn’s brothers show up.”
Chapter 4
T he next day when she reported for work, Agatha had no tasks written for her on the little chalkboard in the break room. Usually it would say “Clean foyer” or “Scrub lower eastern toilets” but that day it just said, “See Me (urgent).”
Was the money thing with Rodney a test? Had she failed, or passed? If Winterborn fired her, what could she do? A thousand dollars and a hoodie was all she had to her name.
She found Agatha waiting for her in the woman’s tiny office. Agatha lived on the estate, unlike Chloe or Rodney, who both lived in the nearby-ish town of Bearfield. Agatha’s office doubled as a bedroom, with a Murphy bed cleverly hidden in one of the oak-panelled walls.
“You wanted to see me?” Bella
Rodney shrugged. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Best to leave it alone, love.”
Bella held one of the coins in her hand. The weight felt good and the metal was cool and calming.
“You can keep that one,” Rodney said.
“No, no I can’t.” She placed it back on the table, next to a pile of its brothers. There must have been a hundred of those gold coins. If they were actually gold, which she suspected they were, the value just in the metal would be staggering. “Tell me. I need to know. What’s going on?”
Rodney snatched the coin and added it to one of the stacks so that they were all even. “I don’t really know. But he wasn’t always like this. I’ve been here almost five years and I remember him from before. He was always the kind one. The nice one of the family, not like his bastard brothers. But then just before old Octavian passed, something changed. The man became unstable. Most everyone wrote it off as grief over the old man’s passing, but I saw it happen before he died.”
“What’s your theory, Rodney? A smart guy like you always has a theory.”
“I think he was poisoned. I think whoever killed the old man tried before, but Winterborn stumbled into it, whatever it was.”
“But you don’t know?”
Rodney shook his head. “If you’re smart, you’ll never ask him about it. There’s no faster way to see him lose it than to ask about it.” He paused for a moment, staring at his pile of gold coins. “You really won’t turn me in?”
“I won’t,” Bella said. “That’s not me.”
Rodney nodded and then smiled. “Well, here’s for your troubles then.” He reached into his pocket, peeled off some bills from a wad of cash and pressed them into her hand. It was ten hundred dollar bills. He slipped her a grand, just like that. “I have a guy, a buyer. Up in Mercy Springs. He gives me two thousand dollars per coin,” Rodney said. “If you keep quiet, there’ll be more of this.”
Bella wanted to say no, to throw the money in his face. She didn’t want to be his accomplice. She didn’t want anything. She wanted to lose herself in her work, to read a book at night until she fell asleep and to do the whole thing again the next day. There was a comfort in the routine. She could obliterate herself with it. She could pretend she hadn’t burned her life down, because she had no life. But this—the money was grubby but it provided a path. She could save enough to get a car. A home. New clothes. A new start. Money made it possible.
She wanted to be righteous and tell Rodney to go screw, but instead she nodded and tucked the money down into her bra.
“There’s a good girl,” Rodney said. “And look, we all know Winterborn isn’t long for this world. When he goes, I’m gone too. I have a stash of these,” he said, nodding at the coins. “And a tidy sum of cash. You could come with me. Get away from here. Because, trust me, you don’t want to be around when Winterborn’s brothers show up.”
Chapter 4
T he next day when she reported for work, Agatha had no tasks written for her on the little chalkboard in the break room. Usually it would say “Clean foyer” or “Scrub lower eastern toilets” but that day it just said, “See Me (urgent).”
Was the money thing with Rodney a test? Had she failed, or passed? If Winterborn fired her, what could she do? A thousand dollars and a hoodie was all she had to her name.
She found Agatha waiting for her in the woman’s tiny office. Agatha lived on the estate, unlike Chloe or Rodney, who both lived in the nearby-ish town of Bearfield. Agatha’s office doubled as a bedroom, with a Murphy bed cleverly hidden in one of the oak-panelled walls.
“You wanted to see me?” Bella
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