Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
To her surprise, Tank hadn’t even hesitated to get out of the car and follow them into Callahan Security earlier. He’d stayed pressed to her side, clearly protecting her.
Under any other circumstances, she would have been crying tears of joy, but she felt like she was in a bubble and everyone else was carrying on around her without her.
God, she was so grateful that they’d saved all of her babies.
Vince was an asshole who needed to pay for this.
As they stepped into the room, she ran her gaze around, taking in her pets. Marshmallow was in his cage on the desk. Princess Priss was also in a cat carrier on the desk. She’d been very upset earlier and the vet had given her a light sedative so she was sleeping.
Captain was sitting on a chair behind the desk with Dougie on his lap. Dougie let out a few woofs and jumped down, running toward them. Well, he banged into the side of the desk then the leg of a chair first.
She winced. Ouch.
Big Berry was in the corner of the room with Tank and . . . Gummy? Gummy barked and ran to them. Big Berry let out a snuffle, waddling over. Tank stayed where he was, but he watched them both.
She made her way around all of her babies, checking on them. She got to Tank last and patted his head, talking to him quietly.
“Captain?” Ink asked, stepping into the room. “Are you coming to the meeting?”
Captain shook his head and gestured to the animals.
“You’re staying in here with the animals?” Ink asked, sounding surprised.
Captain nodded as Tank leaned against her. His weight was heavy but she didn’t care. If anything, it was helping to ground her.
“We’re all ready for the meeting,” Ink said to Matthieu and Maya. “Brody is joining us.”
Brody. He’d warned them about the fire.
“The chickens,” she said suddenly. “Have the chickens been sorted?”
“Spike and Duke came and moved the entire coop along with the chickens to Spike’s place,” Ink told her. “They were going to go to Ink’s house, but Spike’s is closer. And Millie insisted that she was their godmother so they had to go to her.”
Oh.
“That’s good. Millie will look after them.”
“She will,” Ink agreed. “She said to tell you that she’ll guard them with her life.”
She wanted to smile. But it just didn’t come. That numbness had fully taken hold of her.
Matthieu held out his hand to her as she stood there. “Come on, Maya. Let’s go get this done so we can figure out where we’re going to next.”
“We’ve got a safe house you can use,” Ink said. “I don’t know how animal appropriate it would be, though. I’m toying with another idea too.”
She stared at Matthieu’s hand and then at Ink.
A safe house? She needed a safe house . . . because Vince had attempted to kill her. Why had he escalated like that though? Why go from spray painting the garage door to attempted murder? What the heck had she ever done to him?
“Spitfire,” Matthieu murmured. “Take my hand. We have to go have a meeting and then you can rest.”
Rest?
How was she meant to rest? There wouldn’t be any rest for her. She would be lucky to ever sleep again.
But she let him take hold of her hand. The one that wasn’t bandaged.
She glanced down at Tank. But he didn’t stay with Big Berry, instead he followed her.
She stilled and Matthieu turned back.
“Tank wants to come.”
Matthieu glanced down at the dog and then nodded. “Let him come. Big B, too, if she wants.”
That’s how they ended up walking into the conference room with Tank and Big Berry. Her brother and Detective Reeves were already standing in the room. There was another man sitting at the table, staring down at his laptop screen. He seemed vaguely familiar but she couldn’t think of where she would have seen him before.
Detective Reeves gaped at them. “Is that a pig?”
“This is Big Berry and Tank,” Matthieu explained. “Two of Maya’s babies. Tank is feeling protective, I think, and Big B is his best friend. Tank was abused before he came to live with Maya, and he feels more comfortable with Big Berry around.”
Detective Reeves stared at Tank, then Big B. “Then, of course they should be here too.”
“This is the first time he’s really acted like this,” she said. “He would let me touch him, but he never really even looked at me. He’s been so depressed.” She sat in the chair that Matthieu pulled out and then carefully placed her hand on Tank’s head.
He accepted her scratches.
“How did you come to have him?” Detective Reeves asked. “An abused dog that big might not be safe to be around. How are you going to control him if he tries to attack you?”
“Attack me? Tank can barely look at me. And I just . . . I adopted him.”