Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
She gaped up at the big guy. “You play dirty.”
Victor grinned. And wow, that changed his face from terrifying to just scary. “Yep.”
She swallowed the pills, then stuck her tongue out. “We good?”
“We’re good.”
“Have you always been a tattletale?” she grumbled.
“See why he likes you.”
Weird. That’s what Regent had said earlier. And what did that have to do with him being a tattletale? It was nice to hear though.
Letting out a deep breath, Aston tried to reassure herself yet again. “He’ll be all right.”
“Course he will.” Victor repeated the same line from before. He would be all right.
He had to be.
Because she couldn’t handle him being any other way.
23
“Do you know the men who attacked him, Aston?” Regent asked her, pulling her attention back to him.
Frowning, she shook her head. But something was tugging at her mind. Something that wouldn’t leave her alone.
“Would you recognize them if you saw them again?” he asked.
“I don’t know. It was too dark and it all happened so fast. But one of them does have my knife sticking out of him. There was also something about him . . .”
They were both silent, waiting her out.
“He smelled like timber.”
“Like . . . timber?” Regent asked.
“Yeah, you know he smelled like he works with timber or maybe had some wood chips still on his top or something. I work for a construction company, and sometimes, the guys come in smelling like that to meet with my boss.”
“Right.” Regent and Victor stared at each other. “Has Maxim told you much about us?”
“No. He said he had something to tell me but then he ran out of time because he got a text from one of you and had to leave. Then yesterday, he was busy. We were supposed to spend today together.” She gulped, swallowing back tears.
“It was brave of you to wade in like you did, sweetheart,” Regent told her. “However, you shouldn’t have risked your safety like that.”
What?
“I had to. They were hurting him.”
“And they could have hurt you. Maxim told us that you’re important to him. That means you are important to us.”
“So you expected me to sit by while he was being hurt?”
Victor grunted. “Gracen wouldn’t.”
Regent shot Victor a look, before turning back to her. “Anything like that happens again, you call me.”
“They could have killed him,” she whispered. “Before you got there.”
Regent didn’t look happy so she decided to change the subject.
“He wouldn’t let me call an ambulance.”
“They would have to report his injury to the police, which wouldn’t have been ideal.”
“Why not?” she asked. Although she had a feeling she might know. “You don’t like the cops?”
“No, we don’t,” Regent replied calmly.
“I get that.”
“You do?” There was surprise in his voice.
She winced. “My dad and brothers were often in trouble with the police.”
“Were they? For what?” Regent asked.
She shrugged. “Assault. Burglary. They’re dumbasses.”
Shoot. Aston was tired. There was no way that she would have told them all that under normal circumstances.
“Is that so?” Regent murmured, looking pensive.
“It’s all right. I don’t have anything to do with them anymore.” They were probably worried she was going to drag Maxim into that world. When the opposite was true. She didn’t want him anywhere near those assholes.
“You’ve told Maxim about them?” Regent asked. He seemed to be the talker of the two brothers.
“No,” she whispered, bracing herself. “I don’t like to talk about them.”
“Regent. Pajamas. Bare feet. Knife.”
She looked up at Victor in confusion at his words. Regent nodded. “I know. It seems both you and Maxim were protecting each other from your families.”
“Why would Maxim protect me from you guys? I mean, you’re a bit scary, sure. And this place is kind of intimidating, but I know he’s close to you all.” She’d heard the pride and love in his voice when he’d spoken about them.
“Aston, have you seen anything odd going on with your employer?” Regent asked.
Why was he asking about Dayton? What did he mean, anything odd?
“I don’t know what you’re asking,” she said cagily. Something strange was happening in the company, but she owed Dayton her loyalty.
“What I’m about to tell you might come as a shock, but I need your word that you won’t discuss it with anyone,” Regent told her.
She licked her lips and looked from Regent to Victor. “All right.”
“There was a death at Maxim’s club several weeks ago.”
“I never heard about that.”
“We tried to keep it quiet. The last thing we wanted was the police trying to shut the club down. Especially after we discovered that this person had taken a bad batch of a drug called Mixology. Have you heard of it?”
“No.”
“We found the person selling it at the club. They told us who gave it to them to sell, and we followed the trail back. It led to your boss.”
“My boss?” she asked faintly. “But why would it lead back to him? He’s in construction. He’s not into drugs. I’d have noticed if he took drugs.”