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“He knows,” Maddoc says grimly.
Logan’s lips tighten with disdain. “But does it matter when the man doesn’t always behave rationally?”
“That’s why we’re gonna stay a step ahead of him,” Dante says, going on about the logistics of how they plan to do that.
I tune out the details, my mind still stuck on what Maddoc said to Austin McKenna back there.
I know how deep their rivalry goes. I’ve seen how much that sadistic bastard tests Maddoc’s control. So Maddoccouldhave just been trying to throw Austin off the scent when he told him that the Reapers weren’t going after Chloe’s inheritance anymore. It could have just been some kind of strategic move totally divorced from their actual plans.
That makes the most sense, because over the time I’ve been with them, I’ve gotten a good idea of how badly they need the money if they really want to put an end to this gang war. Their plans for my sister still aren’t okay, but the last few weeks have given me plenty of opportunities to see the kind of difference it would make to their organization and understand where they’re coming from even if I can’t forgive it.
Unless he really did have a change of heart. That would change everything.
I look out the window but don’t register the sights. My hands are trembling in my lap and my stomach jumps with nerves as my mind ping pongs between hope and disbelief.
I half expect Dante to notice how agitated I am the way he usually does, to lean in and call me princess and remind me that I’m not alone here. But he doesn’t, because the three of them are still talking about finding my sister. Which means that no matter what Maddoc told Austin McKenna, they haven’t given up on doing that.
Was he lying?
Are they still planning on using her?
Will they still try to force her to marry one of them?
Or are they actually helping me for some other reason now?
I suck in a slow, stuttering breath. Then another. This truce with the Reapers was always tenuous, and the idea that maybe I won’t have to fight them when we finally find Chloe, that I won’t have to cut and run and leave whatever it is between the four of us behind, has me totally twisted up inside, both scared and dangerously tempted to believe it.
As soon as we get back to the house, I get in Maddoc’s face, because I need to know.
“Did you mean it?” I demand, putting my hand in the center of his chest to stop him when it looks like he actually thinks he’s going to head straight back to his office without talking to me after dropping a bombshell like that. “Did you mean what you said about my sister’s inheritance?”
“Get out of my way,” Maddoc growls, even though we both know if that’s really what he wants, he can just push past me.
“Not until you answer me,” I say when he doesn’t, curling my fingers into the material of his shirt and then smoothing it out again.
Maddoc’s face may not give anything away, but under my palm, his heart is racing as fast as mine is.
“You told Austin McKenna that you don’t want my sister’s money anymore. Is it true? Did something change?”
Maddoc looks away. “McKenna was trying to start shit with us, and no goddamn way was I going to let him get away with that. Not right there in front of Saraven. The Six would have destroyed us for that.”
That’s not an answer. It’s also not the way it seemed to me.
Maddoc’s control cracked. His emotions were clearly high. It felt like he cared.
And hestillisn’t pushing me away.
“Just fucking answer me already,” I say, my voice shaking a little. “Yes or no, are you still planning on using Chloe once we find her? Is that why you’re doing this?”
Maddoc scowls. “No one’s going to do anything with Chloe or her money if we don’t fucking find her. So if you still want that to happen, then get the hell out of my way. West Point’s gonna double down to try and get to her first after today, and the only thing standing in their way is me, Logan, and Dante. We’ve got work to do. ”
With that, he finally plucks my hand off his chest and steps around me, then stomps off down the hall.
My heart is still pounding, and I look to Logan and Dante for… something. “You heard him.”
I mean it as a question, but I can’t bring myself to actually ask it again.
“We heard,” Dante agrees, giving me fucking nothing.
