Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“Wait. Why did someone go after Mo?”
Terry sighed and grunted. “Mo is knocked up, and the baby is Jasper’s.”
“No shit?” Cal’s lips pulled into a smile that turned into a wince. “Wow.”
“Not now. We need to pin this shooting on someone, and then we can deal with my personal life.”
“What personal life?” Virgil asked with a snort.
Terry laughed.
“Not fucking funny.”
Those words only made these men, my brothers, laugh more.
“Whatever,” I growled. “Terry, keep an eye on the women. Mo is up in my suite. Cal, go sleep off the booze and stay put.” I nodded to Virgil. “Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Mo
As soon as I heard Jasper leave his suite of rooms early in the morning, I got up. First to puke and then to figure out how I would get home.
Not that it wasn’t nice to be here, safe inside Jasper’s part of the mansion. It was exactly where I’d always hoped to end up. From the streets of Vegas to the Emerald Isle and then to Ashby Manor was my next logical stop. Except, it wasn’t.
I’d give anything for Jasper Ashby to fall in love with me. To live my happily-ever-after. But that was just a dream. I was only here so Jasper could control me, not fall in love.
There’d be no rings or a declaration of undying love.
Not after what I’d overheard last night. Assholes.
Ashby Manor was a fortress with two layers of security just to get off the property. But if I could make it past the guards and the gate, I could call an Uber to get me home.
First, well after I flirted my way past the guards, I would need the gate code to get out. I wasn’t sure I should scale the wrought iron fences in my pregnant condition. And my eye was still swollen.
I packed up my clothes and toiletries, grabbed my phone charger, and shoved it in my handbag before I crept down the stairs as quietly as possible, my sneakers silent on the marble floor.
The house was quiet as I landed on the bottom step with a relieved sigh. Halfway to freedom. Seeing a path to the front door, I hurried across the expansive living room to the foyer and wrapped my hand around the doorknob.
My heart raced, knowing I was close to getting home so I could clear my head and start planning for my future. I twisted the knob and pulled the heavy door, taking one step outside before I froze at the sight of shit-kicker boots and looked up. And up.
Terry.
He flashed a smile. “Going somewhere, Mo?”
I took a step back and lifted my chin defiantly. “Yeah, I am, actually. Home.”
Terry’s deep, booming laugh rang out loud in the early morning quiet. He actually laughed at me, shaking his head as he shoved his hands in his pockets, a clear indication I was no threat to him.
“You’re not going anywhere, sweetheart.”
“I am,” I growled. “Home.” I took a step forward, determined to get out of the Manor, but Terry blocked my path. He never removed his hands from his jeans, just stepped in front of me, matching me step for step.
“Terry,” I sighed.
“Mo, this is on Jasper’s orders. Kat and Maisie are staying home today, too, so it’s not just you. It’s all the women.”
All the women. Another phrase that should have made me feel better but didn’t.
“The difference is that I’m not one of the women. I’m an employee.”
He laughed. “And a potential baby mama, from what I hear.”
“That has yet to be determined,” I told him, attempting to sidestep his big body again.
“And until it is,” he said with a jovial smile that I wanted to smack off his friendly but stubborn face, “here is where you will stay.”
I wanted to argue, to push past him, and make a run for it, but I couldn’t. It had nothing to do with my baby or my concern for my safety; it was the words and the laughter echoing in my mind. From guys I thought were my friends, not just those who thought of me as some hooker.
“Whatever.” Just because I couldn’t leave now didn’t mean I wouldn’t look for another chance to get away.
“Sorry.” Terry’s apology didn’t mean shit to me, and I closed the door in his laughing face and went back inside Ashby Manor.
“Maureen, right?”
I turned at the sound of the soft-spoken voice and blinked.
“Molly, right? Madison’s sister. What are you doing here? I didn’t even hear you come in.” She held Ava Rose in her arms, a gentle smile on her face that made me wonder if she was Cal’s woman or Jasper’s.
“Madison just had her baby, and she and Jamie are home with him. So I’m keeping an eye on this little stinker until Calvin finds a nanny he can trust.”
“You seem pretty good to me. She seems to like you. Why don’t you take the job?”