Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
“So you’re not worried about them being there with your girl?”
“Let’s put it this way. My daughter… Yes, with most daughters, I would worry. But Maddy…” It was the opposite. If the boys did anything to Maddy, I would have to protect them from her. “She’ll be fine,” I told him.
“If you’re sure.” He motioned to the door, looking at his phone. “I’m going to head out. Billie’s here to pick me up. Let your man know that if he needs anything, just reach out. I’d like to think if I needed help with Stevie, he’d be there for me.”
“He would, Brett. We both would.” I gave his arm a squeeze before he said his goodbyes and headed out.
Heather came over. “Channing has a guy who’s going to look into these kids’s situations, but he said Mason probably already has a handle on it. There’s some business stuff going on too. Something that has to do with Kade Enterprises. Have you heard from him?”
I checked my phone, shaking my head. “He’s not called, but he will. We’re both supposed to check in when we’re on the move. I’ll call him when we leave here.”
She nodded and turned to look at the kids. She understood. She really did. I moved closer so my arm brushed hers. My best friend. I’d missed her, and I was grateful she was with me in this. Some people would look at these boys and see their wealth and entitlement. I got that. I saw it too. It was easy to see they were the popular boys, probably the bad boys. But I also saw the absence of their parents and the absence of love.
I wanted to gut Phillip Moreaux.
Feeling choked up, I whispered, “Thank you for being here.”
Heather looked my way.
I held her gaze, letting her see the storm inside of me, the magnitude of it.
She pulled me in for a hug. “Back at you, Sam,” she murmured.
43
MASON
Ihad two hours to deal with this prick, but I’d lost the bloodlust when Maddy showed up—well, Sam and Maddy. Things had started to shift when Sam slid in like the Rapunzel of bedsheets, but I’d really had to stomp that shit down when my daughter made her entrance.
Everyone left so it was just me and this abusive waste of space now.
I squatted near him, considering what to do. I wanted to kill him, but in this latest chapter of my life, it turns out that I was the good guy. Murder was my hard line. Logan was in the air. If I was going to blackmail this guy, I wanted to wait for my brother to be at my side.
After a moment, he began coming around, coughing and moaning. Then he seized, twisting in the air, and a scream ripped from him.
I rolled my eyes and stood, grabbing his shoulder. “Stop whining.” I left the cage, dragging him behind me. He bounced on the steps, and I let go when he hit the bottom so he landed with a good, hard thump. He looked around, then at me, blinking.
“Relax. I didn’t go to town on your ass like you did on that kid.”
He groaned, rolling over. He coughed up some blood. Nope. He looked at his fingers. It was just saliva.
Grabbing his ankle, I continued dragging him out the door.
“Wait! Wha—” He twisted around. “Is anyone here? Help? Help!”
I walked to the middle of the parking area and dropped his ankle.
He continued to look around, panicked. “He-help!” He coughed again. More saliva. “Help! Help me! He’s going to kill me.”
I squatted again. What a shitshow. “You’re so fucking dramatic.”
He just kept looking around.
“No one’s here.” I shook my head. “Or at least no one who’ll help you. No one’s coming, Moreaux. You’re all fucking alone. Are you hearing me? Alone.”
Wariness tightened over his face. He lifted himself to sit cross-legged, still coughing. “What do you want, Kade?”
I sighed. “That’s what I keep asking myself.” I studied him. Maybe… I tried a bluff. “We called you the night my brother and I crashed your kid’s party. Remember that? We called all of those kids’s parents, and we waited until each one showed up to pick up their child. Except you. You never showed. Since it was your house, your kid, there wasn’t much more we could do, but then we tried your wife. The number your kid gave us was out of order, and the number Logan found in the kitchen didn’t work either. But my point is, we were in your house.” I tilted my head to the side. “We were in your house.”
I waited. I wanted to see what his reaction would be to that information.
His eyes narrowed.
Finally some reaction.
He was thinking. His mouth opened. “Wha…” He shook his head and blanched.
“Yeah. I hit you hard. I wouldn’t make sudden movements with your head like that. If you’re concussed, you don’t want to make it worse.”