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)
He sighed after he said those words. It was the right thing to do. But sometimes, he wished he could do the wrong thing.
It would make his life so much easier.
“If you get the job,” Matthieu added.
“Guess that’s the best I’m going to get,” Ink replied dryly.
It was.
7
Maya parked in the driveway of the house she’d grown up in.
It was Wednesday evening and she was beyond tired. To the point where she wasn’t even sure that she should be driving. However, she was worried that Vince might try to track her down again so she’d agreed to come here tonight.
This house had been in her mom’s family for years and was now held in a trust. It couldn’t be sold, instead it was passed from oldest child to oldest child.
Her brother would get it after her father left or died.
By rights her father should have left after her mom died, but because Maya had still been young and living at home, he’d stayed in the family home.
And now . . . well, she didn’t understand why he didn’t move out and leave so Marlin could move in. Maya wasn’t privy to Marlin’s thoughts on that, though. They weren’t close. At least, not anymore. He’d moved away a few years after mom died. He’d only come back to Billings a couple months ago.
Maisy had left as soon as she’d graduated high school to travel the world. She was the sweet one. The one everyone liked. She was beautiful and popular. But she was also kind and caring.
Their mom had had a lot of money, but most of it had been left to her father or was tied up in the trust. Maya had spent the small inheritance she’d received on her house. Maisy had spent it on traveling the world, which is how she’d met her husband, Fletch.
A wave of dizziness washed through her and she had to breathe through it. This couldn’t go on. She needed sleep.
Maya was still feeling ill as she walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. She knew better than to walk in. Her stepmother didn’t like her just barging in whenever she felt like it.
Even though this was her childhood home.
Don’t be bitter, Maya.
It’s going to turn you into someone you don’t want to be.
Water off a duck’s back. Water off a duck’s back.
She cannot hurt you.
Sure, she’d ruined the relationship that Maya had with her father. But her stepmother wasn’t entirely to blame. Her father also had a part to play in that.
And Maya knew that she felt more anger and animosity toward her father than anyone else.
He should have protected me.
He should have kept me safe.
It was his number one job. And if Maya ever had a child, she’d make sure her child was protected from everyone else. So they never suffered the trauma that Maya had.
The door opened and she stiffened as Vince smiled down at her.
God. This bastard.
How had she not seen his car outside? What was he even doing here?
“Well, look who is here, it’s the little bitch,” he sang.
“You’re deranged, you know that? There’s something wrong with you.”
He smirked and leaned against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. “Yeah? Deranged, huh? You know, you should be nicer to me.”
“Why would I want to do that?” she asked.
Maya knew that you should never show fear to a bully. That it would just spur them on. That they would use any weakness to pounce.
And Vince had shown that he was willing to do that.
Maya had thought about her run-in with him the other night and she had come to the realization that he wouldn’t have taken her back to the station. Her father wouldn’t have been happy about that. And Vince wouldn’t upset her father.
Which meant he’d had something else in mind. It was hard to know if Vince had preplanned what he was going to do with her or if he’d just been winging it.
But she now realized just how lucky she was that he hadn’t gotten her into that car.
She shouldn’t even be alone with this asshole, although she had to hope that someone in the house would come to her rescue if she yelled out.
How had he managed to become a cop? How did he fool other people into thinking that he was sane?
Maya had to be very careful here.
She really wished she hadn’t chickened out yesterday when she’d attempted to go to Callahan Security.
Maybe they would have refused to help her. Or, more likely, she couldn’t afford their fees.
But at least it would have felt like she’d tried.
“How am I deranged, sweet Maya?” Vince purred.
Why was no one else coming out? Hadn’t they heard the doorbell?
“How? Look what you did to me!” She drew up the sleeve of her sweater to show him the bruising on her arm. It looked terrible. She actually thought it looked worse than it actually felt.