Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 154595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
She wasn’t sure she wanted to tell him.
“Maeve,” Isaiah said warningly.
“He, uh, he told me to leave or he’d call the cops. I asked him when Lyle was on since I knew he would recognize me, but he wouldn’t say. And then . . . then he pushed me.”
“Pushed you!” Sampson roared. “The fucker is dead.”
The cop cleared his throat. “Best not to make death threats in front of a police officer.”
Sampson turned and pointed at him. “You’ll forget you heard that.”
“Sampson,” Isaiah said warningly. “Why don’t we get Maeve into the house, have Eric check her over, and then we can sort everything else out.”
“What about a statement?” the cop asked.
“Her statement is to fuck off,” Sampson snarled.
“Sampson, shit,” Isaiah muttered. Then he turned to her, his face softening. “Think you could give a statement about what’s happened if we’re there?”
“I don’t want to talk to him,” she whispered.
They all knew her problems.
“We’ll talk to Maeve first,” Isaiah said to the officer. “She has her reasons for being wary of the police. We’ll be in touch if we need to.”
The cop looked them over. He was clearly frustrated. “Fine. Can’t force you to do anything.” Shaking his head, he got back into his car.
“Come on, let’s get her home,” Isaiah said. “I’ll meet you there.”
Isaiah opened the truck door and Sampson settled her inside, fastening her belt. “Who did this?”
“I . . . I’ll tell you once we’re back at the house. Please.”
Sampson nodded. “Okay, Maeve. But I want a name and a location. Then I’m going after whoever hurt you.”
If only she had that to give him.
As they drove to the gate, Fred stood up with a smile to open the gate. Sampson made certain to put the window right down, then he rested back against the driver’s seat and pointed at her.
“See this girl, Fred.”
Fred stared at her with a smile that quickly dropped off his face as he went pale. “Y-yep.”
“She’s my sister.”
They weren’t blood related. But that didn’t matter to any of them. They were family. She tried not to cry. Why had she left these guys? Why had she thought that she had to be independent? What the fuck did she have to prove?
“I . . . I didn’t know. I thought she was a homeless person.”
Sampson leaned out of the window. “You fucking pushed her. Do you go around pushing anyone you think you can get away with hurting, Fred?”
“N-no.”
“You know, Fred, it’s your lucky day. I don’t have enough time to deal with you right now. So you get a chance to run.”
“R-run?”
“Yes, fucker. Run, Fred. Run.”
Sampson raised the window and then reached for his phone as he drove slowly through the gate. Isaiah was behind them on the bike, and she looked through the rearview mirror as he sent Fred a kiss.
Oh, yeah, Fred best run. And fast.
Sampson was an obvious threat. He’d come at you head-on. But Isaiah was a vindictive bastard who’d make sure that you paid for whatever you’d done for the rest of your life.
“I think he pissed himself,” she said hoarsely.
“He should.” He placed a call. “Yeah, Andrew. It’s Sampson Knight. Fred at the front gate pushed a guest of mine. He’s done a runner. Can you get Lyle here? Yep. Goodbye.”
Maybe she should feel bad about Fred.
But she didn’t.
They pulled into the driveway leading to Jenner’s house. It had another gate, this one needed a code. She knew the security was tight here even though they were in a gated community.
“Jenner, Immy, and Abe aren’t here,” he said. “They’re doing some interviews downtown.”
“You didn’t go with them?”
“I’ve been trying to track you down,” he told her gruffly. “Was up most of the night. Jenner has got Andy with him.”
Andy was Jenner’s other bodyguard.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Do they know that I didn’t check in?” Sampson liked her to check in with him once a week.
“I didn’t tell them. Just Isaiah knows. I asked him to help find you. Worried the shit out of me when you didn’t call and then I couldn’t get hold of you. Got Isaiah to track your phone, but it was off.”
“It broke. Smashed. I didn’t know anyone’s number.”
“Oh, Maeve, it’s all right. Don’t cry,” he begged as he came to a stop outside the three-story mansion. There was a wide porch that wrapped around all sides. The house was beautiful, but intimidating.
She undid her belt and opened the door, sliding down before Sampson could get around to her.
She realized that was a mistake as soon as she hit the ground. The world tilted. Her stomach rolled nauseously and then everything went black.
21
“Did you find her?” Gray asked as he walked into Jesse’s dark house.
The guy was extremely paranoid and rarely left his home. And he usually kept his blinds closed.
But Gray didn’t care about any of that right now. All he wanted was to find his girl. He had no fucking idea what happened to her and he hated it. The fact that he didn’t know where she was . . . it was killing him. For a man who liked control it was beyond frustrating.