I fall back against his desk, hardly able to hold myself up. “How am I supposed to pay that back?”
“Jade,” he whispers.
“No,” I cut him off before he can give me the bullshit about wiping the debt. That’s a lot of money. Too much to just wipe away and forget. I know his businesses make more than that in the blink of an eye, but that’s not the point. It was stolen from his father, from him by my own flesh and blood and it’s now my responsibility to make it right. “I have to pay it back,” I tell him. “I don’t know how, but I will.”
“Jade, I can’t accept that. Your father sold you to mine and they both agreed that the debt was settled and now I’m letting you go. My family no longer owns you. I’ll do whatever you want, Jade. I’ll sign a fucking release if that will make it better. I’m not going to accept money from you.”
“Why did your father agree to this? What could he possibly have gotten out of having me here with him?”
Colton shakes his head. “I don’t know,” he tells me, just as lost as I am. “It doesn’t make sense to me. Had the diamonds been bought legally, I don’t doubt my father would have had yours arrested and sent to prison. I guess he just wanted to take something from your dad like he’d done to mine.”
“So, that’s it then. That’s the value of my life. 3.7 million dollars.”
“Well,” Colton says, reaching for me and dragging me back into his lap. “If you ask me, my father got a bargain. I’d say you're worth at least 4 million.”
A smile cracks across my face and I shove my hand against his chest, playfully pushing him away. “You’re an ass, you know that right?”
“An irresistible one though.” I roll my eyes and let out a heavy breath and he instantly catches my hands in his. “We’re agreed, right? There is no debt and you’re a free woman? I don’t own you, nor do I want to. I want you here as my girlfriend because you have a tight ass and a nice set of tits, not because some dickhead wanted to settle a debt. Got it?”
I look over his shoulder and press my lips into a hard line. “I’ll think about it.”
Colton raises his chin and his lips brush against my jaw before moving up to my ear and sending shivers through my body. “Is there anything I can do to convince you?”
I squirm on his lap and enjoy the low groan that pulls from deep within him. “I don’t know,” I whisper. “What did you have in mind?”
I feel his smile against my skin and just as his hand slips inside of my sweatpants, I hear the door swing open so hard that it bangs against the drywall. “Yuck,” one of his sister’s grunt of disapproval comes flying through the room. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Colton? Stop letting the whore play tricks with your mind. She’s trash and you’re allowing her to seduce you. You’re better than this.”
I look back over my shoulder as Colton lets out a heavy sigh and pulls his hand out from between my legs. “Get the fuck out of here, Casey. Go and fuck with someone else’s day. Ocean is a shitload more welcome here than you are.”
“This is my house too,” she screeches.
Colton raises a brow and fixes her with a hard stare. “How much do you want to bet?”
Casey’s face drops and I take a quick moment to try and notice the small differences on her face that set her apart from her sister and all I can come up with is a small freckle by her jaw. I just hope Cora doesn’t have the same otherwise I’ll never be able to tell them apart. “You’re such an asshole,” she spits at her brother. “And to think I was coming in here to mend bridges.”
Colton laughs and Casey turns on her heel, stalking away quicker than she came. “Mending bridges?” Colton asks. “What the fuck is that about?”
I can’t tear the smile off my face. “Trust me, you don't want to know,” I tell him, pleasantly surprised that Casey was willing to make an effort with her brother.
He shakes his head and leans back in his seat, but I’m not nearly done with him. Hell, I haven’t even started. “Now, where were we?” I question, leaning into