Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 83872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“There’s a woman that owes me something. She’s blonde and has blue eyes. You might have seen her at a strip club or around town with a little girl.”
My heart thudded hard in my chest. “Holly?” I asked him.
He nodded. “I don’t need the little girl. I just need her. She needs to pay me back and the fucking bitch hasn’t done it yet,” he snapped harshly. Man, he really fucking hated Holly. Drake wasn’t the kind of man to run you down all over the country if you took something petty from him; Holly had taken something valuable to Drake, that much was for sure.
I walked up to Drake despite Cole’s glare on my back. I knew he felt having Drake there was a threat, but I trusted Drake with my life. I knew he would never hurt me.
“This little girl can’t see her mother leave her. We have her here, but I’m sure you already knew that.”
“Tell the little girl she needs to go play or something. I need the mother,” Drake snapped down at me, the muscle in his jaw ticking furiously.
I grabbed his arm and pulled him outside. Sighing, I turned to face him. “Drake, you know this is against everything that I believe in. How the fuck are you even thinking about separating a mother and her child?” I demanded.
“Amelia, that woman is not as sweet and innocent as she looks,” he retorted. “Lilly is not just her daughter. Lilly is my kid, too.” Bells went off in my head. I knew Holly had taken something valuable from him. His daughter couldn’t be more valuable.
“I’ve been tracking Holly down since the day she took off with my six-month-old daughter, and I’ll be damned if I allow her to slip through my fingers now. I need you to look out for Lilly while I’m dealing with this problem, but I will be back to get her. But her mother will permanently be in Lilly’s past. I won’t allow her to take Lilly from me again,” he sneered.
“Drake, I can’t just allow you to do this!” I exclaimed, glaring up at him. It was so fucking wrong on so many fucking levels. I understood that better than anyone else. I couldn’t imagine my child being ripped away from me or put into any immediate danger. Somehow, I knew how Holly felt; I knew why she left and took Lilly with her.
“Amelia, I’ve spent over six goddamn years trying to find Lilly!” Drake roared. “That little girl was one of the best fucking things that happened to me, and because her mother didn’t want to fucking be with me anymore, she took the fuck off, taking Lilly with her! Do you know what it’s like to never fucking truly know your child?!” he roared down at me.
“No, I don’t!” I yelled back at him. “It sucks what she did to you, but dammit, Drake, Lilly needs her mother more than she needs anyone!”
Cole stepped out of the clubhouse. “That’s fucking enough,” he growled, stepping up and placing his hand on my lower back. He looked at Drake. “She’s under enough fucking stress as it is. I won’t allow you to fucking stress her out to the point that she miscarries, understood?”
Drake’s eyes snapped to mine, shock registering in their depths. “You’re fucking—”
“Pregnant?” I snapped, interrupting him. “Yes, I’m fucking pregnant, and yes, it’s Cole’s kid. Back to the fucking conversation at hand—”
“You’re not changing my mind on this, Amelia,” he snapped down at me, interrupting me like I had him. I scowled. “If it were you in my position, you would have already put at least three bullet holes in her chest by now. So, don’t try to be a caring person when I know just as well as the next person that caring just isn’t your thing,” he sneered.
“Drake, you’re going to kill that little girl’s mother,” I told him softly, desperately trying to get him to understand where I was coming from.
“Amelia’s got a point,” Cole said, butting into the conversation. “I’ve heard enough of the conversation to know that Lilly’s your daughter. If you kill Holly, one day, Lilly will find out, and she will hate you. Do you really want that? Have you even tried talking to Holly about why she took off?” Cole asked, trying to get Drake to see where I was coming from.
“Yes, I have—” Drake began, but I cut him off. I knew how Drake was, and he could intimidate the scariest of fucking people. Hell, he had intimidated me the first time I had met him when I was in jail.
“Without pointing a gun at her head?” I asked him. He just looked at me with a deadpan look on his face. Yeah, I figured it had gone something like that. “That may work on judges and cops, Drake, but it’s not going to work on a mother whose goal is to protect her child.”