Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 61746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
“Well, we can’t just give Madison up. We know how dangerous and manipulative this asshole is!” Baker said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“What if he double crosses us? What if he somehow gets Madison and ruins our lives on top of it all?” Taj pointed out. “How can we trust anything he says?”
“You heard Madison. He isn’t the type to bluff. He will come after us and rip apart our lives if we don’t do what he says,” Gus replied as he looked between everyone.
“What the hell do we do?” Bryce asked as he threw up his hands in a frustrated manner, tension starting to rise even more. “If we protect her from him, he’ll just have us arrested, and she’ll be vulnerable for him to get to her.”
“There’s no good answer,” Ti muttered as he shook his head. “He’s trapped us in a corner and hung over our head what we care about the most.”
“Well, we can’t just sit here and accept defeat,” Marcus scoffed. “We promised Madison we would protect her.”
“How the hell do we protect anything or anyone from someone like him?” Baker bit out.
“Alright, alright! This isn’t getting anywhere,” I snapped at all of them, hardly able to hear myself think. “Everyone, go get some air. We’ll talk about this later with Madison. She should know what’s going on.
Bitter mutters and grumbles surrounded me as the guys steadily filed out of the tattoo shop, leaving me there alone with a huge weight on my chest and shoulders. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even know what to say to them or Madison. How had things gone so wrong?
Chapter 20
Madison
My body went numb as I stared at Marlo and Michael standing outside of the tattoo shop together, talking about who knew what.
I was parked across the street with Chloe in the backseat, reading one of her children’s books about dinosaurs. She had no idea that her father was right across the road, plotting the downfall of me and the men who had come to truly care for us. She had no idea how much of a monster he was.
But why were Marlo and Michael having a conversation?
I curled my fingers around my steering wheel tightly, my breath coming out shakily. My skin started burning warm, cold sweat threatening to break out on my forehead.
Michael was a master manipulator, able to back people into corners and get whatever he wanted. He had pulled that move on me so many times, and it was hell getting to a point where I could escape.
What if Michael got to Marlo? What if Michael convinced Marlo to turn against me? Michael could find weak points easily, and there were a number of things that he could hold over Marlo’s head. Or he could convince Marlo that I wasn’t worth the trouble of protecting.
I knew that Michael would strip everything away from the guys if they didn’t hand me and Chloe over. I couldn’t possibly ask them to protect me, even if they swore that they would. They worked so hard to get to where they were at, but I cared for them too much to let them go down with me.
I would have to figure something out on my own, even if that terrified me.
My eyes started to glisten as I watched Michael leave with two cops, while Marlo headed back into the tattoo shop. My instinct was to run in there after him and fall into the comfort of all the guys, letting them convince me that everything was going to be fine.
I needed that right now, but my mind kept going back to that tense conversation Marlo and Michael was having and how conflicted Marlo looked.
Michael was hanging something over his head, and whatever it was, I couldn’t ask Marlo and the guys to choose me. I wanted to be with them so badly, but I wouldn’t jeopardize their lives. Not when this was my problem to begin with. They only let themselves get swept up in it because they cared about me and Chloe, which meant so much to me.
But I had to walk away before their lives were destroyed because of me. They were doing so well before I walked through those doors and got to know them. Before I fell in love with every single one of them.
“I want to go inside,” Chloe whispered from the backseat as she set her book down in her lap.
A tear broke from my eye as I sucked in a deep breath, trying to steady myself. I reached up and wiped the tear away, quickly blinking my eyes so that she didn’t see that I was upset. She still had nightmares from when she was almost taken away from me, and I didn’t want to scare her even more.