Page 136 of My Heart Still Beats
He doesn’t seem to know that, however. It’s almost like hewantsto go to prison.
I’m the one with something to lose. I’m Ben Black, and there will be publicity I sure as hell don’t want.
Worse? Braden and my father will never forgive me.
Can the business survive it? Maybe. We have enough of a fortune to last more than ten lifetimes, but shit like this is what brings companies down.
So I have to deal with this myself, and it ends here and now.
“You want to go to the cops? You want to go to my brother, my father? Go for it, Dirk. I don’t fucking care.”
“Are you forgetting about this?” He pulls the tooth out from his collar again.
“Who gives a rat’s ass? It’s been fifteen years. No one will even know where to start looking for the person that belongs to.”
“What if I know where the other twenty-seven are?” he asks.
I blink. “You don’t.”
“Maybe I do.”
He’s lying again, becauseI’mthe one who took care of the fucking teeth. No way was I going to trust any of those three to do it. Each day, I put one in the trash and took it to the dump.
Those teeth are scattered far and wide in landfills at this point.
But I can’t say that. I’m in the middle of trying to convince him that this was all his idea.
“You know what, then? Like I said, go for it. I’m sick and tired of these fucking games, Dirk. We’re thirty-two years old now, and I’ve got a damned good life. The fact that you screwed yours up is not my problem.”
“I think it is.” He plays with the tooth around his neck. “I want ten million, Black. Unmarked bills, and I promise you’ll never hear from me again.”
“You made that promise to me once three months ago, yet here you are.”
“Yeah? You didn’t pay up then.”
“You didn’t send me anything like you said you would. Clearly you thought better of blackmailing me then. So what the hell are you doing now?” I drop my gaze to his neck. “If you had that tooth three months ago, you would have rubbed my nose in it then.”
He shrugs. “Turns out I didn’t need the money as bad as I thought I did. I figured it was better to wait, and I’m glad I did, because now you’ve got something that my brother and I both want.”
Rage curls at the back of my neck. “Don’t you fucking dare go near her.”
“Seems I can kill two birds with one stone. I can get that tall, sweet thing, let my brother have his way with her, and then give her to Garrett Ramirez to dispose of.”
My hands clench into fists as full-fledged rage sweeps through me, landing at the back of my neck. “Don’t you fucking dare go near her.”
“She’s alone right now. At her place, isn’t she?”
Why did I leave Tessa alone there? I called to get security on her, but—
I stalk forward, ready to pummel the smirk of his ugly face. “If you harm one fucking hair on her head, I’ll—”
He raises his hand. “Shut the fuck up, Black. Ten million, and this all goes away.”
“You’re not getting a fucking penny from me.”
“Then I guess I have to go to Daddy and big brother.”
I meet his gaze, my own darting daggers at him. “You know what? Fucking go for it. Do whatever you want. They’ll be angry, yeah. But in the end, blood is thicker than water, and you’ll get what’s coming to you.” I grab him by the shirt, yank the chain off his neck, and throw him to the concrete floor of the warehouse.
