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The intensity of his expression told me this was serious. He reached for the handle of the door and paused a moment, but said nothing before opening it. Sitting in the backseat was Gina. Gagged with her wrists and ankles tied with a rope. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. I could see her begging me not to kill her, although she wasn’t fighting to scream or speak through the gag.
“Didn’t want anyone to know. Just in case,” Huck said.
I knew what he meant. If I didn’t want her dead, Garrett couldn’t know we had her, or he’d kill her himself. There was a difference between my father and me. One I feared would make me a weaker boss. Killing a man I knew deserved it was easy. I had no remorse. I did it more often than I ever wanted Madeline to know. If she looked at me differently, I wasn’t sure I could survive that.
My father would have seen Gina sitting in this seat and pulled out his Glock, pointed it at her head, killed her, and walked away, ordering Huck to clean it up. But I couldn’t do that. I paused. I didn’t even think to go for the gun on my hip. Instead, I studied her as Madeline’s words went through my head. She wouldn’t admit it was Gina, but she truly believed that Gina had had a reason. Nothing was Madeline’s fault. That shit was something she’d drummed up in her head. She took blame for bullshit she shouldn’t. She had done it as long as I had been watching her.
“You said to let her stay gone, but she came to me. I didn’t go looking,” Huck said.
I nodded. I’d figured as much. “Where did she find you?”
“I was coming out of Devil’s, and she was standing by the car. Said she wanted to talk to you. Explain,” he said.
“That was a bad move,” I told her. “If you’d stayed gone, you could have lived.”
She trembled, and tears filled her eyes again. I couldn’t take the gag out and let her talk. Madeline could hear her if she screamed. I wasn’t sure Madeline needed to know we had found her. Garrett was going to order this kill if he didn’t do it himself. Madeline couldn’t handle this shit. She’d think it was her fault. Blame Gina’s stupidity on herself. I would not let Madeline hold that kind of thing on her shoulders. I wanted her happy. I wanted to be the one to give her fucking joy. Make her smile. Not destroy her.
“You took what was mine. Gave her to fucking strangers who you couldn’t be sure wouldn’t hurt her. You TOOK her from me.” I felt my temper starting to build. Remembering how fucking terrified I’d been when I found Madeline gone. “Even if I let you live because Madeline begged me to and still refuses to tell me it was you, Garrett won’t. You know that.”
Gina jerked and winced, as if I had slapped her. If Garrett didn’t take the shot, he’d order one of the men to take it. This was prolonged torture for her. She had to know she wouldn’t get a chance to explain. There was no explanation that would save her.
“Take the gag off her.” Madeline’s voice came from behind me.
FUCK.
My chest burned with regret as I turned to see her wrapped in her black robe, standing a few feet behind us.
She was so naive. So damn sweet. I was going to end up breaking her. This life I led would show her enough damn shit to crush her.
“Madeline,” I warned, “go back inside.”
She glared at me and shook her head. “Take the gag off. She should get a chance to talk. Besides, just because she ran doesn’t mean that she did it. I haven’t told you who handed me over to Tex and Brick. You have no proof.”
Her chin was tilted up defiantly, and she looked so goddamn cute that I wanted to take her inside and tie her ass up. Keep her away from this part of my life.
“We know she did it. You don’t have a poker face, baby,” I replied.
Madeline’s gaze narrowed. “Take the fucking gag off her, Blaise!”
Huck cleared his throat, and I swore to God, if the fucker laughed, I was going to punch him in that smug face of his. I swung my gaze from Madeline to Huck and shot him a warning look. I could think she was cute as fuck, trying to be a badass, but no one else got to enjoy it.
I moved toward Gina, whose eyes went wide, and she looked down at the gun on my hip. She thought I was about to take her out now. Little did she realize, I was fucking owned by the blonde behind me, calling the damn shots. If she’d known how deep my obsession was with Madeline, she wouldn’t have been brave enough to take her from me.
