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“Because Maddoc told you we are,” Logan says in a tone even colder than his eyes.
The other man swallows hard and nods once, then quiets the fuck down.
I don’t blame him. I would too if Logan ever used that tone of voice on me. But… I don’t think he would.
Not anymore.
Not with me.
I bite back a smile, because this isn’t the time or place to get hit up by more feelings. Not that I have much choice about that. Not when Maddoc pins the guy who challenged him with a hard gaze, making those same feelings bubble up in my chest so fucking hard I almost can’t stand it when he puts him in his place.
“We’re tracking Chloe down because making sure West Point doesn’t get their hands on her money will keep the playing field even between them and us,” he says, spelling it out for them. “And once we’ve made sure of that, once we’ve got her secure and make sure they can’t tap her funds either, it will be time to take the initiative ourselves. It will be time to move against McKenna.”
He really means it. He’s not planning on taking Chloe’s money. He won’t marry her. None of them will.
They’re helping me for some other reason now.
“And what’s that move gonna look like, boss?” Vic asks, rocking back on his heels and stroking his beard.
“It looks like us kneecapping the motherfucker,” Dante answers before Maddoc can.
Maddoc nods, his lips curving up too, but not in anything I’d call a smile. It has too much predator in it. “Once we get Chloe back,” he says, “our next move is taking West Point the fuck out.”
The words hit his people like a bolt of electricity, taking the mood from tight and uncertain to energized and active.
Maddoc’s so fucking good at this. Of course they follow him. He makes them believe in him, and then he gives them every fucking reason to be sure it was the right choice. And as they wrap up their meeting, I can’t help thinking he’s given me a few reasons too.
I want to talk to him about it,Iwant to know, but I’m not sure I trust myself to have that conversation yet, so as his people start to file out I slip up the stairs to my room. With Chloe still out there, tension sky high between the Reapers and West Point, and The Six breathing down everyone’s neck it may not be the time or place to get hit by feelings, but too fucking bad. That’s exactly what’s happening to me.
And it’s too much. I’m not just overwhelmed, I’m… conflicted.
It’s one thing to have caught feelings for these three hard, dangerous men who get me like no one ever has, but it’s something entirely different to know what the hell to do with those feelings.
“Liar,” I whisper, closing my bedroom door and leaning back against it with a sigh as I call myself out. It’s not that I’m not surewhatto do with those feelings. I’ve got a lot of ideas about what to do with them, some of which I can’t quite bring myself to admit even here in the privacy of my own mind.
So the real question isn’t what to do, it’s whether I should do anything with them at all.
When we find Chloe, doing what’s best for her will still need to be my priority, just like it always has… and I’m not sure if staying involved with the Reapers is going to be that.
And not just because dangling the temptation of her inheritance in front of them would always be an issue.
I can’t quite wrap my head around that kind of money, not really.
I shove away from the door with a quiet curse, stripping off my clothes and pulling out something soft to wear to bed. It’s a little early yet, but I don’t have it in me to go back downstairs or deal with dinner. I need to just shut everything down for a bit and not get bogged down by thinking too hard about how Chloe’s inheritance will change things.
Or how, for the Reapers, it would change everything.
I’d already started to suspect as much from some of the clues I’ve picked up while I’ve been living here with them, but being allowed to sit in on their meeting just now made that fact crystal clear. And as much as I hate to admit it—because the thought guts me on two entirely different levels—I can see why Maddoc thought marrying Chloe was the best thing he could do for his gang. Of course he did. He demands loyalty, but he doesn’t just give it back, he lives and breathes it, so with Chloe’s money in his grasp, he’d have to put the Reapers first.
Except now he’s saying he won’t.
I finish getting ready for bed, but when I consider screaming into my pillow just to release some tension, I settle for punching it into shape instead.
I hope Chloe has somewhere safe to sleep tonight. I hope she has something soft under her head too.
But I’m scared that she doesn’t.
And I’m so fucking grateful that Maddoc is moving heaven and earth to make sure she will again.
