Revenge On Her Dad’s Best Friends (Three Ways To Get Even #2)

Chapter Ten

Calista gave herself a mental high five. She was doing so well. Now she just had to keep at it.

“But then,” she continued, “stupid me wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, because surely that ten million dollars was not ‘shut up and go away’ money, right? You wouldn’t do that to Hank’s daughter, would you? So I tested you. I bought a fridge.”

She did. She bought a whole ass fridge when hers stopped working and purposefully used their money to make the purchase. That had been the first time she ever used a single cent from the ten million dollars. Since all her other attempts to see them had failed, she thought it would be the perfect opportunity to open the lines of communication between them, since everything else failed.

“I sent you a thank-you card for the fridge, along with a basket of cookies that I made from scratch and an invitation to dinner so I could thank you in person. Instead of accepting my invitation, you replaced the exact amount of money I used on the fridge, so I was back to ten million dollars again.”

At the time, she thought, okay, fine. But it wasn’t fine. She bought a car next and did the same thing. A thank-you card, a basket of muffins, and an invitation to dinner for an in-person thank you was sent. They silently declined her invitation and replaced the money to take it back up to ten million dollars again.

That had annoyed her to no end, and then she started to play dirty.

“So the fridge didn’t work to open communication with you, nor the car, either. Or the pig farm, or the strip club—I bought a strip club because I thought that would certainly pique your attention—but nothing. And certainly nothing when I commissioned three bronze statues of you three, which now stand in the wind on some land in Montana that I also bought with your money. And still nothing but crickets.”

Yes, that was true as well. She’d gone all out for ways to draw them out and got zilch in return. Every penny she used from that ten million dollars, they replaced, no question asked. Oh yeah. They probably thought Calista would disappear after giving her a cool ten million dollars in the first place—that had to have been their reason. Unfortunately for them, there was no amount of money in the world enough to replace being close to the men her father loved like true brothers. How could they not see that?

“So I’m here now. This is my final goodbye, my in-person middle finger to you for being such dickwad friends. For cutting all ties with your best friend’s daughter because you three just didn’t care enough to take the time to check up on me once in a while. You won. I’m out.” She stopped, a frown settling on her face as she glanced at the three incredibly gorgeous men before her.

How was it possible that with their hands handcuffed behind their backs, their powerful biceps straining, their pecs taut, against the shocking crisp whiteness of their luxury-made shirts, and with that thick silk ribbon gagging them, they still looked like gods?

If she walked out, she was never going to see them again. Never try to make contact. She was going to move on with her life. With no thought of them at all. That was the whole reason for doing this.

Gotcha. Goodbye. Closure. Gotcha. Goodbye. Closure.

“That had been my original plan, but you know what? I think that’s a little too easy for you—”

Wait, what was she doing? This was off-script. She was meant to say goodbye. Say goodbye forever. So she could move on. See normal people her age. Start dating. To have a nice standard life where every thought she had wasn’t somehow entwined with them. Even when she wasn’t thinking about them, she was thinking about them. They lived rent-free in her head, and she desperately wanted to evict them. For good.

But the thought of saying she never wanted to see them again tore her apart.

The only other alternative was begging them to let her into their lives. Or she was going to amp up her efforts to be a menace to them if they rejected her.

What was wrong with her? Didn’t she want to be done with them forever?

“No. This is not goodbye. This is just the beginning. Let me reintroduce myself. Hello. I’m Calista, Hank’s daughter. You’re my dad’s best friends. You’re all I have now, the only people still connected to him. You’re it. And I’m not letting you out of my sight. You don’t get to get off that easy. You owe it to him to be in my life because he asked you to. And if I have to make you sign contracts, you’re going to uphold his dying wishes.” Yes, she was going to make them sign binding contracts with her.

She couldn’t not have them in her life.

“When I get a promotion at work, I’m going to call you, and we’re going to go out and celebrate. When it’s my birthday, you’re taking me to that little Italian restaurant with the gargoyles for their famous meatballs. And I’ll do the same for your birthdays. I want to see you for the holidays. Christmas and Thanksgiving. Maybe even New Year’s Eve. When I feel sad, you’re going to come and see me and tell me funny things about my dad. And when I get married, you’re going to walk me down the aisle, and when I have kids, you’re going to be their—”

As if lightning charged through the whole room, the atmosphere combusted, and she caught fire, sizzling in its grasp.

Her eyes were surely deceiving her.

But she wasn’t ready for this. For them. Not like this.