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Preston grinned.
 
“I never say no to toast, especially
with some fresh butter.”

“Fresh butter it is,” she said, laughing.
 
And then she walked out of the house,
smelling the salty air.

As she walked, she thought about Cullen’s
father and his friendliness.
 
It was
strange, but somehow she just didn’t trust him at all.

He’s
only being nice because he wants money.

The thought made her spine chill.
 
Even as she walked up the lovely road,
her thoughts were taking her away from the beautiful salty Cape Cod air and
into her swirling mind.

She didn’t like the feeling she was
getting.

Preston Sharpe was out for himself.
 
He didn’t care about the danger he was
putting everyone else in with his presence.

And for some reason, Cullen didn’t seem
to care either.
 
 

Ivy tried to shake the bad feelings as
she went inside the small market across the street.
 
It was a really friendly little place
with lots of local, fresh produce and a few isles of high quality ingredients.

She picked out a carton of eggs, some
whole grain toast, center cut bacon and freshly churned butter that seemed to
have originated at a nearby farm.

Her mouth was already watering when she
thought about the meal.

“Cooking for someone special?” a voice
asked from just behind her, as she was looking at the milk.

She startled, nearly jumping out of her
skin.

Lucas was standing just a couple feet
away with a smug look on his boyish face.
 

“Why won’t you leave me alone?” she said
in a low whisper.

He shrugged.
 
“Because,” he said, “we don’t leave
criminals alone, Ivy.”

“I’m not a criminal.”

“Are you sure?”

“Fuck this,” she said.
 
“I’m so out of here.”

“Don’t walk away from me,” Lucas
barked.
 
His voice carried enough of
a warning to stop her in her tracks.
 
“You think we don’t know about Cullen’s sweetheart deal with the
district attorney?” he asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking
about.”
 
But she was frozen in
place.

What if, even now, they were surrounding
the house and getting ready to arrest Cullen and his father?
 
She needed to give warning, but Ivy
didn’t know how to do that without giving them away.

“You know exactly what I’m taking about,”
Lucas told her.
 
He began pretending
to look over the selection of milk, his hand touching various jugs and
cartons.
 
“That Cullen Sharpe seems
like he’s got nine lives,” Lucas laughed.
 
“But he’s on—what, life number eight by now?
 
Do you think he’s got that many more
chances left?”

Ivy was shaking.
 
“You’re harassing me, Lucas.
 
I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Lucas turned away from the milk and stepped
closer to her.
 
Close enough that
she could smell his rancid cologne and his coffee breath.
 
“Why are you here?” he asked.
 
“Some secret little mission?”

“You’re watching so closely, than I
suppose you already must know,” she smiled.

He seemed to grow agitated at this.
 
“We know enough,” he muttered.
 
“We know that you and Cullen keep
getting in deeper and deeper, Ivy.
 
But you can still save yourselves.
 
Tell us where his father is hiding and we can let the two of you live
the rest of your lives in peace and quiet.
 
All of this trouble can be gone in the blink of an eye if you’d just
help us.”

So they didn’t have a clue that Preston
Sharpe was right under their noses.
 
It was almost laughable, except it really wasn’t funny at all.

“I’m sorry,” she said.
 
“I don’t have a clue what you
mean.”
 
She met Lucas’s gaze and
held it firmly.

They’d followed her to The Cape, but they
didn’t know about Cullen’s father being at the house.
 

Yet.

“He’s a bad guy, Ivy,” Lucas said.
 
“Preston Sharpe.
 
He’s a nasty piece of work and he’s
responsible for a lot of terrible things that I doubt you’d want to be associated
with.
 
Please don’t make me have to
ruin your life over this.”

“Can I go now?” she asked.
 
“I heard what you had to say.”

He smiled but the smile didn’t touch his
eyes.
 
“Watch yourself.
 
Or we’ll watch for you.”

She turned away but then a realization
hit her.
 
“You’re tracking my phone,
aren’t you?” she said.
 
“That’s how
you found me here.”

Lucas shrugged.
 
“We have our ways.”

Maybe, by now, they had seen him.
  
With all the windows in that
house, it
wouldn’t
be difficult.
 

Ivy walked away from Lucas and made her
way to the registers, pulling out her phone as surreptitiously as
possible.
 
She started texting, her
hand shaking.

“Hello,” a friendly bagger said.
 
“Find everything okay?”

She didn’t respond to the bagger.
 
Instead she sent a text to Cullen’s
phone.

FBI at the store.
 
Lucas.
 
BE CAREFUL!

She didn’t know if the FBI was monitoring
her texts or not, but she had to try and warn them.

And then Ivy put her phone away and
smiled.
 
“I did find everything,
thanks,” she said to the bagger.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a
shadow move past her and out the exit, as the door tinkled and Lucas left the
store.

God,
please don’t let him be going to arrest Cullen.
 
Not again.

Please,
not again.

She paid for the food and left the
market, her legs pumping quickly, as Ivy turned her head left and right,
looking for anything suspicious out on the street.

On the way home with the bag of
groceries, she checked her cell phone.
 
There was just a
one word
response that Cullen had
texted back immediately.

OK.

Her stomach tensed and curdled.
 
She forced herself to move more quickly,
but still tried not to run or panic.

Whatever was happening, it was too late
to do anything now, and she didn’t want to draw undue attention to herself.

When she got back to the house, she saw
no movement.
 
Nothing.

Ivy breathed a sigh of relief.

No police, no FBI.
 

No one being arrested.

She walked inside.
 
“Cullen?” she called out.

The house was dead silent.
 
“Cullen?”
 
She yelled louder.
 
“Preston?”

Still no reply.

She walked to the kitchen counter and set
the bag down.
 
There was a scrawled
note on the counter that was in Cullen’s distinctive handwriting.

Her heart broke as she read it.

Shattered into a million pieces.

It was only five words, but the meaning
hit home harder than anything she’d ever read in her life.

“No,” she pleaded to the silent
house.
 
“No.
 
Please, no.”

Those five words were devastating in
their finality.

DON’T
TRY AND FIND ME

THE END OF THE BILLIONAIRE’S RULES, BOOK
10

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Book 11 is coming soon…Meanwhile, don’t
forget to check out
Naked
,
Kelly’s hit series that was completed in seven volumes.
 
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the first book in the series now
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