The Missing by Kiersten Modglin (essential books to read txt) 📕

out of the game. She wasn’t interested in continuing the cons. Her husband made enough money, and she wanted to grow up. To be established. These days, the cons were rare, but I’d kept up the tradition. I was married now, too. My husband made plenty enough for us to survive and, if I wanted to, I could’ve gotten an unexciting job like the women I knew from our neighborhood or gone to six a.m. Pilates classes—perhaps I could work in a florist shop like Darla or at the local library like Kate, I could be a substitute teacher like Anna or a nanny like Paige—but the truth was, none of that was exciting enough for me. I needed more. I needed adrenaline rushes and huge payoffs.

Over the years, I’d done everything from convincing lonely seniors that I was their only surviving granddaughter to telling board members I could make them a buttload of cash if they’d just invest in my startup. Nearly every time, they bought. Not only that, they bought hard.

Men were easy. Wave a bit of blonde hair and a low-cut shirt in front of them, and most would pull out their pocketbooks before you’d finished talking. And, once they’d figured out that you’d lied to them, they almost never turned you in. Not when it was a couple thousand here or there compared to the millions in their accounts.

No, they didn’t want to seem foolish in front of their friends.

Or embarrass themselves in front of their wives.

That was why Lester and Tom hadn’t asked more questions.

Why none of them did.

Because they couldn’t be outsmarted by a woman. What would that mean for their inflated man-brains?

I pushed open the front door, stepping inside the house and dropping my bags at the sight of my husband.

“You’re back!” he said, his eyes lighting up with genuine excitement. I’d never grow tired of seeing that happiness on his face. I moved forward, wrapping him in a hug and inhaling his scent. “You look beautiful. How was Maui?”

I rolled my eyes with delight and pulled back just a bit, keeping my arms wrapped around his neck, my hands cradling his skull. “Amazing. How was it here? I missed you.”

He kissed my lips. “Oh, same as usual here. We had the board meeting yesterday, and Leo came down for it.”

“How did that go?” I asked, eyes wide. When my husband’s boss came down, it usually didn’t mean he had good news.

“Fine,” he said, waving me off. “He just popped in. I want to hear about you. Did they love you? Are they going to stock the products?”

I grinned, nodding slowly as I allowed the smile to spread across my lips. “Yes, and I’ve got big news.” I squealed. My lovely, oblivious husband believed I analyzed investments for the ultrarich, connecting them with startups and products I believed could make them a ton of money, the most current being a skincare line that was being handcrafted in Hawaii. He didn’t need to know the truth about what I did. A bit of mystery was good for the marriage, I liked to think.

“What’s that?” He patted my bottom, finally releasing me and moving to pick up my bags.

“This deal was the last on my books for a while, which means we finally have the time to go on our trip. If you have the time, that is.”

His brows raised. “Really?”

“Yep, I’m officially done until the fall.” I pressed my lips to his as he passed by me, then turned to follow him up the stairs. “When do you think we’ll be able to go?”

He sighed. “Soon. Maybe next month. I’ll have to call Kyle, Matt, and Dan to see when they plan to take off. Roman will just work from the resort.”

I nodded. “I already talked to Eve. She said they’ve been waiting for us to say we’re ready for months now, and Amber and Matt will probably work while we’re there too, so the only one we’ll have to worry about is Josie and Dan, but they should’ve been preparing to take off.”

“Yeah, they’re who I was thinking of… I know he had a rough year last year, so I’m hoping they’ll be able to come up with the money.”

“You know Dan. He always finds a way,” I said, shrugging off the suggestion that he’d pass up the opportunity for our annual trip.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’re right. Last Dan mentioned it, he said he was trying to close six million in April to get the rest of their portion saved up. I never heard if he had. I’m sure he’ll just liquidate something if it really comes down to it.”

I felt my stomach clench at the possibility of not going. Money had never been an issue with our group before. If, for some reason, anyone didn’t have the money put aside, it would mean we’d have to wait even longer to go. I wasn’t sure I could take it. I needed to get out of this town. Out of this house. I needed to go.

Noticing my silence, he stopped walking, turning around in the middle of the staircase and looking at me. “It’s going to be okay. You know that, right?”

“I know,” I said, not bothering to hide my disappointment. “I was just excited to go.”

He set the bags down carefully and took me in his arms. “I’ll tell you what, even if they can’t go, me and you… We’ll go away for a few days. I may have to work while we’re there, but we can spend our evenings relaxing and having a drink by the water. Just like our honeymoon, right?”

I smiled at him, unable to suppress the tears I felt forming. “You mean it?”

“Of course. You’ve worked so hard to close these latest deals and plan our trip. You deserve a rest.”

My eyes widened. “You really think we could make two trips this year work? What about the firm?”

“I can and will work from anywhere, and I’ll delegate as much