Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
That fact was still taking a while to sink in. She was pregnant.
With fucking Billy’s baby.
He didn’t like that.
Oh, he would never reject the baby or treat them like anything but his own. But having a baby should be a special time. She should be treated like the princess that Spencer called her.
Slade had wanted her for years. But he’d been waiting. Biding his time. First, for her to finish college, then for them to amass their own wealth separate from their families.
And then for her to leave fucking Billy.
At least his father was getting a divorce from her mother. That removed one issue. Well, sort of. Plenty of people would still think it was weird and wrong.
Forbidden.
But he knew that their biggest objection would be to the fact that he intended to share her with his three best friends.
Not that he gave a fuck what anyone thought of his plans.
Indie was going to be theirs.
“Are you planning on keeping her?” Quaid asked.
Slade stared at him across the desk. “Are you saying you don’t want to?”
Because he knew that would be a lie. Quaid was just as taken with her as the rest of them.
“That’s not what I’m saying. But things are different—”
“Because she’s pregnant? That baby will be ours too.”
“Not because of the baby. The baby is ours no matter what.” Quaid glared at him, clearly offended. That was the most emotion he’d seen from the other man since they’d kicked Indie out of the penthouse.
“Because we betrayed her. We hurt her. There might be no coming back from that. There might be no way she will forgive us.”
There had to be.
He wouldn’t accept anything else.
“She will forgive us,” Slade told him.
Quaid raised his eyebrow. “You’re going to force her?”
“I won’t need to. She has a soft heart. Once we’ve had her in our home for a while, taking care of her, meeting her needs, she’ll forgive and want us.”
“And if she doesn’t agree to staying with us?”
Slade gaped at his friend. “Do you really think I plan on giving her a choice?”
“So you’d kidnap her? Do you think that’s wise?”
Who was this Quaid? The other man always went after what he wanted. And he didn’t let things like the law get in the way.
“You think we should give her a choice? Really?” Slade asked, leaning forward. “You think we should let her go? Leave her on her own? Where he might fucking find her and hurt her again? That we shouldn’t take care of and protect her?”
The questions fired out of him one after the other. He couldn’t believe that Quaid wasn’t a hundred percent behind the kidnap-and-keep-her-until-she-forgave-them plan. Out of all of them, he’d thought Quaid would be onboard from the beginning.
“We wronged her, Slade. I wronged her.”
“You’re growing a conscience now?” Slade shook his head. “Fucking why?”
“You’ve always been telling me I need to get some empathy.”
“That doesn’t sound like me,” Slade said.
“Fine, maybe it’s Spencer. Anyway, I’m growing a conscience.”
“No, you’re not,” Slade said.
Quaid glared at him.
Slade waved a hand through the air. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist.”
“Are you wanting to die today?” Quaid asked through clenched teeth.
Slade leaned forward. He knew that he should probably be more delicate. Mind his words. But he didn’t have time for this.
He needed everyone onboard with his plan. Or their girl was going to slip through their fingers.
He wasn’t losing her again.
“You’ve always had a conscience. Not much, but unlike your soulless father, you do know right from wrong. And you do feel empathy for others.”
“I am just like my father,” Quaid stated.
“You are nothing like your father. Do you intend to torture your kids until they learn to show no emotion? Do you plan on making a bunch of senseless rules and punishing them severely if they break them? If Indie’s baby is a girl are you going to sell her to the highest fucking bidder?”
“You know I fucking wouldn’t!” Quaid roared, standing up to slam his hands on the desk.
Slade stared at him in surprise. Although he’d be lying if he said that this wasn’t what he’d been pushing for.
Quaid thought all of his emotions, especially the softer ones, had been drummed out of him. But they hadn’t. They were there, just buried beneath layers of barbed wire and minefields.
Slade hoped like hell that Indie was going to be able to help Quaid. Help all of them.
She was the only person Quaid ever trusted outside the three of them. Which is why he’d reacted so badly to her supposed betrayal.
And likely why he felt so awful now.
Which was something he wasn’t used to. Slade got it. Quaid didn’t want to feel guilty, so he thought eradicating the source of that guilt from his life would take it away.
It wouldn’t.
It would only make it worse.
“Pushing her away won’t make you feel better,” Slade told him as the door opened and Rock moved into the room.