DECEPTION | MAFIA ROMANCE | SMUT

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Brad's suspicious behaviour might involve Carter.

No, that's highly unlikely.

His dishonesty is not about my son. He would never leave me in the dark if he had answers. Which brings me back to the initial question: what is he keeping from me? Or rather, what could be so bad that he is afraid to tell me the truth?

Plucking a mushroom off the pizza slice, I put it in my mouth and chewed meditatively.

If it's not about Carter or Cleo, it must be something to do with the man's private life, and the thought made me feel really anxious and slightly worried. If I find out he is secretly married, I will beat him over the head with something and inform the wife of his extracurricular activities.

Big Guy, bare-chested in low-hanging tracksuit bottoms, is lying on his side, propped up on one elbow, hand supporting his head.

The man on the television got pulled underwater by an unseen force. I am ninety nine percent sure that a fleshy body part resurfaced.

"Shark-proof cage, my ass," Brad said, unimpressed. "Why do people make illogical decisions in movies?" His eyes bounced between the television and the board game as he contemplated his next move. "They know the chance of survival is slim once they go into the water."

Having lost my appetite, I closed the pizza box and placed it on the coffee table outside the tepee.

I slumped into the soft pile of pillows beside Brad, so comfortable and relaxed in his company, and counted how much Monopoly money I had left.

"Acrobatic sharks." Brad watched the man get eaten alive with an incredulous expression. "I have never seen such nonsense in all my life."

I am going to lose the game. "It's only a movie."

"Jaws is an underrepresentation of great white sharks for reasons I will gladly explain." Licking his thumb, he swiped through paper notes and tossed five pounds onto my nonexistent stack of cash. "Firstly, sharks do not endanger humans. They prey on juicer edibles like dolphins and sea lions."

I smiled broadly. "Do you mean to tell me, if I happened to land in shark-infested waters, I would live long enough to tell people about it?"

"You'd be dead in a flash, but that's an improbable scenario because the odds of you ever swimming with a large number of sharks is one in a jillion." He rolled the dice and moved the race car across the board game, rubbing his hands together with a gleeful grin. "I am about to take over the fort."

I tossed the dice, the thimble landing in jail again. "What is the second reason Jaws underrepresented great white sharks?"

"Well, secondly, sharks cannot backflip onto fishing boats to escape the seabed. The entire movie is overdramatised for gullible people like you." He collected two hundred pounds from the bank. "Thirdly, I spoke with enough intellect to rest my case."

I laughed in merriment. "If you say so."

"I say so." His lips pursed as he pondered whether to invest in more houses. "Banker, I will have two grand hotels on Piccadilly, Coventry Street and Leicester Square." He remained financially solvent whilst I teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. He owned most of the streets, including the railroads. "Any time this evening."

I lined up the red hotel pieces. "I feel like you cheated somewhere."

"Have a day off." He made a show of counting his Monopoly money. "I did not cheat."

"Then, how did you acquire the electric company, the railroads, Regent Street, Oxford Street, Bond Street, Boardwalk, Park Lane, houses and hotels—and the above-mentioned yellow cards—whilst I am propertyless, penniless and stuck in jail for the umpteenth time tonight?" I think he stole money from the bank when I wasn't looking. "Be honest."