The Term Sheet: A Startup Thriller Novel Read Online Free Page B

loosening their grip on her bones.
    David had caught Heather hiding bruises from him. She wore long-sleeved baggy sweaters and long loose pants. She tried to hide her pain too. She thought she did a good job, but he knew that when she smiled from the left side of her face, it wasn’t a smile of happiness. Her pretty blue eyes and soft features fooled most people, but not David.
----
    “ I ’m going to Seattle ,” said Heather. “See you when I see you.”
    “Heather, wait. I don’t want you to go out, you’ve been going out too much lately.”
    “I’m fine. What do you care anyhow? You disappeared for a week and didn’t tell me you were going.”
    “Now that Mom’s gone, I’m in charge. I don’t want you going out tonight.”
    “Bro, I love you, you know I love you, but don’t act like you are in charge, it doesn’t suit you. Go shoot pool with Andy or something. In a year, I’ll be in college and you won’t be able to stop me from going out then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    As Heather turned to grab her purse, she winced and smiled with half her face and sat down again.
    “Mom left me in charge,” said David, surprised by his insistent tone. “She made me promise to take care of you. You are not allowed to leave. That’s final.”
    David turned back to his computer, resuming his search for the bug in his code. He heard the slam of the front door.
    She’ll be fine.
----
    “ H eather . Heather. Hey sis. Hello.”
    Heather’s eyes opened slowly. She was lying in a hospital bed. She tried to respond but her lips wouldn’t move. Her hips, thighs and stomach were wrapped tightly with a wide bandage. Her eyes were tired and bloodshot.
    “I know you can’t talk, the doctors have you on all sorts of medicine and they say your lactic acid levels are through the roof. You are in the middle of an acute muscular attack. I should have known better, I should have noticed. I am so sorry, Heather. I...”
    He trailed off, bowing his head and staring at the floor. He sat silently. Heather fell asleep.

Chapter 5
    “ H old on . Hold on,” yelled Megan. “You bought that stupid website? I thought I told you it was a stupid idea. Are you stupid or something?”
    She had started the day in such a great mood. He had made her a buffet breakfast that morning with Belgian waffles, eggs, bacon, cantaloupe, coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice. When she asked why, he said because you deserve it with a low raspy hush in a horrible but endearing attempt to sound sexy. The white T-shirt and scruffy beard almost helped him pull off the faux sexy voice, but the Superman pants just made her giggle and roll her eyes. But now, at dinnertime, her good mood had morphed into a suspicious one.
    “I don’t think we ever finished that conversation,” said David. “Plus it’s from my savings.”
    “If our relationship is going anywhere, then what you do with your money directly impacts me too.”
    “I told you it would pay for itself,” said David.
    “After twenty years, and only then if monkeys started falling from the sky. How much did it cost?”
    David paused.
    “Twenty-eight thousand, five hundred and thirty-eight dollars. Thirty-eight was the escrow and wire fees. I shopped around and found a discount for escrow. It saved us like a hundred bucks!”
    Megan got up from the dinner table without saying another word. That was a generous way to describe the square black card table they had bought at a local Goodwill because of its faux leather top. When friends came over and they wanted more room to socialize, they could fold up the legs and store it behind their beat-up old sofa. They had furnished their small one-bedroom apartment mainly with hand-me-downs and thrift shop finds.
    Megan walked silently into the kitchen. They didn’t have anything close to that kind of spending money for something like this. He watched her pace, then pause to lean against the sink and stare at the floor. David stayed seated, reminding