Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71348 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71348 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
I climbed inside, and it took a few minutes longer than I would have liked to figure out where everything was located in order to drive this thing.
No one had come looking for me by the time I opened the garage door and backed out. Feeling accomplished, I made it down the driveway, and the gate swung open when I got close enough, making it all the easier to leave.
If I was late for work and Blaise was alerted, then he’d panic. I decided that I would slip out to the closest pharmacy and get the test I needed on my lunch break.
I was on the road for less than ten minutes when my phone rang. I winced, knowing only one person ever called me. The screen on the dashboard lit up and asked me if I wanted to answer the call.
I replied, “Yes,” wondering if that was all I had to do.
“Madeline.” Blaise’s voice came through the speakers on the car, and it was clear that he was pissed.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Where are you?”
“On my way to work in the car you bought me that I never drive,” I replied as sweetly as I could.
He sighed deeply and didn’t reply right away.
“You were busy, and I didn’t want to disturb things,” I added.
He muttered a curse. “Are you going straight there?” he finally asked.
“Yes!”
He was silent another moment. Then, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I can drive. Angel needed you,” I assured him.
“You come first,” he replied sharply.
I didn’t want to test that, but it was sweet that he had said it.
“I am fine,” I replied.
But how long would my being there with her be fine? When was he going to decide that it was too much on Angel? He would grow weary of her fits, and the only way to stop it was for me not to be there. Not an issue I was going to tackle right now. I needed to stay focused on one thing at a time.
“Did you finish your food?” he asked me.
Smiling at his concern, I replied, “Yes, I did. Did you?”
“No. Lost my fucking appetite when I saw your note,” he said.
Maybe I should have told him I was leaving. I felt guilty now.
“Go eat. Please,” I said to him.
He grunted, but said nothing.
“Independence is good for me,” I told him. I didn’t need to rely on him for everything.
“I want you to need me,” he said.
“Oh, I do. Regularly,” I assured him.
I heard Huck’s voice in the background.
“Call me when you get there. I’ve got something we have to go see about. I’ll stop by the ranch when I’m done.”
“Okay. Be safe,” I told him.
“Call me,” he repeated, and then the call ended.
“Well, goodbye to you too,” I muttered to no one.
Seventeen
Blaise
Although the pictures of Etta did look almost exactly like Madeline, I could see her in his face too. The son of a bitch didn’t know I had been tracking him for months. I was concerned that he’d been behind her abduction at the movie theater. Word had gotten out about Madeline, and anyone who had known Etta would know she was Eli’s granddaughter.
Liam Walsh stood in ripped jeans and black combat boots, his Glock on his hip and his arms crossed over his chest as he spoke to the men with him. The cigarette between his lips hung loosely. From what I’d found on the man, he had cleaned up somewhat with age. There had been a riot within their organization fifteen years ago, and his father had been killed, along with several others. He had disappeared after that.
Garrett had to know this, but he’d never felt the need to share it with me. Liam, along with a few of the guys he’d grown up with, had formed a biker club. They owned several strip clubs in Miami, had call girls they hired out to deep pockets, and ran a porn ring, where they filmed and uploaded to a private website that charged via monthly subscriptions. Seemed he had left the drugs behind and moved into the sex market only.
He scanned the area, but I was hidden from his sight. A girl came walking out of the back entrance of the club he was currently at, wearing red stiletto heels and a dress that barely covered her snatch. The fake tits were only covered by a thin strip down the middle of each one, just barely keeping the nipples from view.
“Dayum,” Gage’s voice drawled through the piece in my ear.
He was across the lot in his own spot, as were Levi and Huck. We had the area surrounded to keep our asses covered.
Liam slid his hand up the back of her dress, and she squealed. He then slapped her ass and crossed his arms over his chest again. They were moving here, to Ocala. The Devil’s Lair had been sold, and from the intel I’d gotten on it, Liam Walsh had bought it in cash.