When I Say Yes (Necklace Trilogy 3)

He captures my hand. “Come. I’m going to make you feel better.” He starts walking, taking me with him.

I tug on his arm, halting him. “Dash, I’m serious,” I state, the minute he rotates back to me. “This is a problem. He’s a problem.”

“Which is why we’re going back to the hotel, where I’m going to let you in on my plan, which I wanted to make come together before I shared with you. But it has. We’re there now.” He motions toward the SUV. “Are you in?”

“Tell me now. Please. I’m losing my mind with worry.”

“At the hotel, baby. I can’t properly make you appreciate this plan on the street or in a vehicle with a driver in front.”

“You’re killing me.”

“Softly, I promise.” He’s already walking, leading me to the SUV where our driver awaits.

On the ride back to our hotel, traffic is hell, slow as snails, and I can’t take it. Dash reads my mood and has the driver drop us several blocks away from our destination, allowing us to finish our travel by foot. When finally, we’re inside our room and have discarded our coats, Dash motions for me to join him on the couch. He opens his briefcase, removes his MacBook, sets it on the coffee table, and lifts the lid. Once he’s keyed it to life and punched a few buttons, he turns the screen for me to view. My lips part with a headline that reads: Dash Black’s Late Nights in the Seedy World of Underground Fight Clubs. My eyes go to his. “Keep reading,” he urges.

In a secret storyline for his next Ghost novel, the international bestseller of the Ghost Assassin series has been spending time in the secret underground world where fighters fight without rules. The former FBI agent turned author confesses to actually fighting himself in these clubs, to ensure his story is as vividly real to life as he can possibly deliver.

In a phone interview with Dash Black, this reporter got to pick his brain and try to peel away the mystery of the oh-so-private man behind the wildly popular Ghost novels. While I didn’t reveal anything shocking, I did manage a few rather candid moments. Here were my ten rapidfire questions and Dash’s surprising answers:

Who is the new woman in your life?

The only woman in my life is Allie Wright, who I’m only naming because if I don’t, some reporter will stalk us until I do. She’s beautiful, kind, smart. She’s a former editor for a New York publisher. She’s also the only person I’ve ever given a sneak peek of a novel.

As if he senses the part I’m on, he says, “This hasn’t been published. It hits tomorrow morning. If you want your name removed—”

I face him. “No.” My heart swells with the open way he proclaims us together. “What you said about me was everything, Dash. But are you sure you want to talk about your fighting?”

“It’s the only thing anyone can use against me, Allie. That means Brandon. This scoops his story. And Bella talked to the creative team for the TV show and they love the story. They think it can be used to promote the series.”

“Which lands where?”

“I’m still negotiating. Maybe Paramount. Maybe Netflix. We’ll see.”

I glance at the headlines again, and while I can see now how this protects Dash, and even makes him more interesting than he already is to the public, I’m not sure it achieves his goal of getting rid of Brandon.

“This won’t make him go away,” I say, glancing back at him. “All it does is force him to sidestep. And the longer he waits to attack, the angrier he will become.”

“Oh, he’s angry right about now, I’m sure,” he replies dryly. “Because so was my sister and my father. Bella tried to get Brandon fired today. It was too late. My father made that happen.”

I twist around even further to fully face Dash. “Fired?”

“Fired. My father is a powerful man in publishing.”

“Getting fired is fuel on the inferno. Brandon will go after you and your dad.”

“And that would be stupid. I frankly don’t know why he was foolish enough to think my father wouldn’t react firmly to the stunt he pulled with that signing. I suspect his anger will be directed at him, not us, and perhaps turn the flames in my father’s direction.”

I open my mouth to protest, but he holds up a finger. “He won’t get the chance to attack my father or us. Brandon’s going to get a very lucrative offer to work in a European publishing office. There’s no way he’ll decline.”

“This feels too good for him. And even so, how can we even be sure he accepts the offer? He’s a real football and apple pie kind of guy.”

“Neil was able to easily find dirt on him. Brandon will discover just how much he needs to leave the country tomorrow.”