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Austin’s gaze drills into me. “I remember you. The sister. You were there when your old man paid off his debts, so you know sheismine.”
“Fuck you,” I shout, lunging forward.
Logan stops me, pulling me against him as Maddoc and Dante shift in front of me, blocking my view.
Austin cackles. “Imagine how happy I was to find out I hadn’t lost out on my investment after that Capside deal I sent her to handle went south. Thought the chick died with the rest of them, but I get it now. I found out what she’s really worth.” He sneers at Maddoc. “Too bad you let her slip out of your fingers after going to all that trouble to get her, but that’s kind of a thing with you, isn’t it? Not being able to hold on to a woman?”
He yanks Sienna against his side, and the bitch gives Maddoc a cold smile.
Maddoc doesn’t smile back. After a moment, his eyes flick away from her dismissively. “I hold on to what matters.”
Sienna’s eyes narrow. “You fuckingwish.”
“Shut up, Sienna,” Austin snaps without looking at her. “But this other girl you want, Gray? Get used to wanting, because we’ll get to her first. As far as I’m concerned, that inheritance of hers already belongs to West Point since her dad sold the little bitch to me in the first place, so if you think you’re gonna get your hands on the money before I do—”
“We don’t want her money,” Maddoc cuts in with a snarl, slashing his hand through the air. “We’re not going after that, and we’ll sure as shit make sureyoudon’t get your hands on it either. Or on Chloe. Not fucking ever.”
My eyes go wide, my heart suddenly trying to pound its way out of my chest in a way that has nothing to do with fear or rage this time. I can’t think of a single reason Maddoc would say something like that.
Not unless he actually means it.
25
RILEY
“You don’t want the money?”Austin scoffs in Maddoc’s face. “You’ve put too many fucking resources into tracking the girl down for me to believe that shit. Unless… oh.” He glances my way, then smirks back at Maddoc. “I see.”
“You see shit.”
“I see that you’re fucking weak.”
A vicious sound rips out of Maddoc’s throat, his body jerking forward like he wants to hit the man.
Dante and Logan stop him, and Austin laughs.
“Weak,” he repeats. “It’s why West Point is gonna wipe you Reapers out. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but make no mistake. It’s gonna happen.”
“Not worth it, Madd,” Dante says quietly, the killer that lives so quietly under his laid-back charm visible just under the surface for a moment when he meets Austin’s eyes. “No point goading this shithead into doing something we have to respond to. Not here, where we’ll regret it.”
Austin’s eyes narrow and the look on Maddoc’s face says he wouldn’t regret a single second of it. I feel the same. But Maddoc doesn’t have the reputation as a leader that he does for no reason, so instead of showing Austin why West Point willnevercome out on top over the Reapers, he reins it in.
“Let’s go,” he bites out, giving his seconds a sharp nod to let them know he’s got his shit under control again.
Of course Austin doesn’t leave it alone, but we all ignore the final, taunting comments he throws out and split away, heading back to the Escalade.
Maddoc slips behind the wheel, and I flick a concerned gaze toward Logan and Dante. Maddoc’s agitation is obvious, but Logan just stares back at me impassively while Dante’s lips curl up at the corner as he gives me a small shake of his head.
Fine. They know him best.
I slip into the back seat with Dante while Logan takes the front.
“We need to ramp up the search for Chloe,” Maddoc says as he pulls away from the curb, tires squealing. “Logan, you need to get in touch with Isaac.”
Logan nods as Maddoc keeps rattling off orders that he needs his seconds to give the Reapers, and Dante leans forward as the three of them start up a rapid-fire conversation about protecting their territory. “We need to find a way to do it without sparking another fucking blowup between us and West Point.”
“We can’t afford that,” Logan agrees, glancing up from the phone screen his fingers are flying over for a moment. “But the upside is that McKenna can’t, either. That alone will help keep more violence from blowing up.”
“That, and the smackdown we both just got from The Six. McKenna’s gotta know they’re not fucking around.”
