Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Thatcher barely glanced at me, then turned his threatening gaze to Maxon. “When Maxon here tells us what we want to know, then we can tell him what he wants to know. Really, Oak, you need to calm down. Considering we normally hang men from the ceiling so we can torture what we want to know out of them, we’re being nice to this guy.”
“You mean, Hamilton,” I corrected him, thinking that was what I was supposed to do. We hadn’t covered this, but if I was supposed to think he was Hamilton, I would have responded this way, I thought.
“No, I mean, Maxon. Maxon Carda,” he drawled.
Okay, he had dropped the last name. I had to play along. He was going off script, but here we go. Hopefully, I was doing the right thing.
I stared at Maxon with confusion on my face. “Carda? As in Carda Global?”
He looked angry as he met my gaze. He hadn’t wanted me to find that out while he was hanging there. “It’s not what you think, Oakley.”
“He’s right,” the other guy said, speaking for the first time. “You probably aren’t thinking the guy you’re dating is the heir to the company that hired you just after you and Sebastian started dating.”
I let my jaw drop. “Heir?”
He took a deep breath and gave me a pleading look. “Yes.”
“You … hired me because of Sebastian? But then we broke up. What,” I shook my head trying to appear hurt. Confused. Not sure if I was pulling it off or not. “Did you start dating me because my niece was the daughter of a member? I was just a tool to you?”
He shook his head and cursed angrily. “NO! That was not it! I love you, Oakley. I’ve fucking loved you since I met you at the fundraiser the first week you were hired. But you barely acknowledged me. You smiled and pretended to want to be there. Pretended to like Sebastian Shepherd, but it was in your eyes that you just wanted to leave. You intrigued me. I wanted to get to know you, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t supposed to want you. You and I aren’t about business. This is real. What I feel is real.”
I didn’t have to fake my shock this time. I’d had no idea I’d met him years before or that he had been keeping track of me. This was all getting uncomfortable. What happened if he walked free? Would he continue stalking me? Was that what he’d been doing? Panic started slowly unraveling in my chest.
I had to get away. He had to talk. Tell them what they wanted so I could leave.
“Then, please,” I begged him, “tell them what they want to know so you can be freed. We can leave. Talk about this. Figure it out.” I swallowed hard. “I’m scared, Hami—Maxon.” And that wasn’t a lie. I was scared of him. I wanted to get away from him.
His expression hardened, and he tore his eyes off me to look at the other men. “I tell you what you want, and you tell me where Tanner is?”
“That’s the deal,” the other guy said.
“If this gets out, if they know that I told you, we are all dead. You understand that, right? You’ve stuck your fucking noses in something you should have stayed away from. You’re not the only Mafia in the world, and the one you are fucking with will end you.”
My heart slammed hard against my chest as I listened to him. Wilder. This meant Wilder was in danger. I wanted to go run to him and hide him. Keep him away from all of this. Safe. Sarah needed him.
I couldn’t live without him.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” the other guy drawled. He didn’t seem surprised. “I want to know why Carda is involved and how deep. Because there will be a stop put to it, and we need to know who all we have to end to do that.”
Maxon let out a laugh and shook his head. “You’re all fucking insane.”
“Yes. And it makes us more lethal,” the man told him.
“Carda Global owes them money. A lot of money.”
“That’s a start but I need a name.” Thatcher replied.
Maxon kept his gaze locked on me. I could see the pleading in them. He wanted me to believe him. For what purpose? I didn’t love him. I would never love him.
“The Fotilas,” Maxon’s words came out in a raspy strained voice. As if he struggled to even say the name.
Thatcher walked over to me. “Your part is done,” he said to me. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t look at Maxon as I turned to walk out.
“Wait! Where are you taking her?” Maxon shouted.
“Not your business,” the other man informed him just before the door closed behind us. The shouting instantly silenced.