Chapter Twenty-Six #2
I nod, agreeing, and shoot down my drink as JJ sits on the other side of his father.
This is as close as I’ve been to him since Victoria and I got married.
My glass is refilled, and I can’t help but think about all the different places Maddie could be.
If I know Victoria as well as I think I do, she more than likely brought her to one of the family properties.
Johnny narrows in on JJ who’s going on about someone he saw recently.
“And the bastard looked at me like he saw a goddamn ghost.” JJ laughs. “Mickey isn’t anything other than DeFranco scum.”
The room stills and conversations move to hushed whispers as everyone turns to JJ. Johnny snaps at him and shakes his head, as if telling him to shut the hell up. I swallow, wanting to know more, but know I shouldn’t push my luck. But I am a part of the family now.
“Who are they? The DeFrancos? Mickey?” I ask, keeping my voice low.
Johnny glances over the rim of his cup. “Dead, if they come near us.”
I nod, repeating the words Victoria has said to me in the past. “Any enemy of yours is an enemy of mine.”
He slightly raises his glass and chugs the rest of the amber-gold liquid.
Victoria texts me and says she’s going home because she’s feeling a tad better, and I send her a thumbs-up emoji.
Johnny is still annoyed about the mention of the DeFrancos.
His hair is a mess and looks completely unhinged.
Leave it to JJ to ruin a semi-normal night.
I mean, hanging out with mobsters is never normal, but no one spoke of killing anyone until he opened his big mouth.
If Victoria were here, she’d be pissed and would’ve already slapped that grin right off his dopey face.
After another hour, I tell everyone goodbye and schedule an Uber to take me back to Victoria’s.
When I walk in, she’s sitting on the couch watching TV with her feet propped up in fuzzy slippers as she drinks water from a straw.
I sit on the loveseat and look at her. She almost looks normal with her hair piled on top of her head while wearing comfy clothes.
Pregnancy sickness has made her the nicest I’ve ever seen.
“So how was the party?”
“Fine. Well until JJ brought up the DeFrancos. Then it got weird.”
Victoria stills, then sits up. “Why the fuck would he bring them up?”
I shrug. “He ran into some Mickey guy and was bragging about wanting to kill him.”
Her entire mood shifts. “What an idiot. Sometimes I wish someone would cut out his tongue and do us all a favor.”
The visual her words create is almost too much, but she seems serious. She’d have no problem getting rid of her own brother, which proves what kind of monster she truly is.
“We need to talk,” I say, abruptly changing the subject but keeping my tone level.
“Agreed,” she quickly replies but then speaks before I can. “You need to stay for the next two weeks. I need you here, or my father will get suspicious and assume you don’t care about me and the babies.”
My face contorts, and while I want to disagree, I try to negotiate.
“Yes, he did make a comment about me living here, but I assured him I’d make it to all your baby appointments.
Also, you said a week would be enough time and it’s been seven days.
I’m supposed to leave tomorrow. I need to get back to work. ”
Placing her hand on her growing belly, she speaks, “And things changed.”
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” I snap, standing.
“No!” She’s growing more upset. “You can’t.”
“I can, and I will,” I say as I walk toward my room, undoing my tie.
She says my name, stopping me in my tracks. “Liam. Let’s play, let’s make a deal, shall we?”
The coldness in her voice sends a chill up my spine, but she has my attention and knows it. I go back to her, cross my arms, and wait. Of course she smiles like the devil she is.
“Why don’t you sit?”
I don’t.
“You stay as long as I need, and I’ll show you proof your precious little home-wrecker is safe.” She cocks an eyebrow and smirks because she knows she has me by the balls.
Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I nod, wanting to put a time limit on how long I’ll be here but understanding this opportunity to see Maddie may come only once. “I want proof before I agree to anything.”
Leaning over, she swipes her iPad off the glass coffee table and unlocks it. “So, that’s a yes if she’s okay?”
“Yes.” Among everything, I need the peace of mind, for it to be driven home that she’s being taken care of. While Victoria has given me her word, there is zero trust between us.
Grinning, she swipes through pages, logs into an app, and pats the seat next to her. My heart races knowing I’m about to see Maddie and see what condition she’s in. After everything that happened with Sophie last year, I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle it if Maddie’s in any distress.
I move next to Victoria, and she refreshes the app so I know it’s in real time.
“There she is…” she gloats, knowing she owns my ass even more now.
Maddie. Fuck, she’s beautiful. I miss her so goddamn much.
She’s sitting at a breakfast bar, talking to a guy who’s standing in front of her, but I can only see his back.
Heat rushes through my body when she smiles at him.
Quickly, I study the white walls but can’t see much of anything with it being dark outside.
My mind races as I replay all the places Johnny said the family owned.
“See? She’s being well taken care of, living it up in a luxury cabin, so you have nothing to worry about.” Victoria’s pleased with herself as she watches me. “Until you stop playing by my rules, of course.”
Cabin. Confirmed. Maddie’s in Montana. But where?
I’m not sure I’ll have another opportunity to get Johnny alone for the address without him wanting to schedule a private jet to take us there.
It’d be disastrous and Victoria would never fall for it.
Now I’m wondering if he knows what Victoria has done and is aware she’s using their property to hold someone hostage.
Or is she doing this all behind his back.
I can’t stop staring at the screen and am annoyed there’s no sound, but I’m sure she has it muted to keep me spiraling. The guy walks to the fridge, but when I see his face, my heart stops. What the fuck is he doing there with Maddie?
I try to keep my composure so she doesn’t notice my reaction, but inside, I’m confused as hell.
Tyler, one of my closest friends, is laughing and talking with the one girl I want more than anything to be with right now. How the hell is he there right now?
“They seem to be getting along perfectly fine, don’t they?” Victoria asks, digging the knife in a little deeper, noticing my expression when I saw Tyler.
She probably thinks I’m jealous and is hoping for it.
Put Maddie in a position to flirt with another guy and watch me squirm, knowing I can’t do shit about it.
But what she doesn’t know is that Tyler is on my side.
We’re as thick as thieves, which will most definitely hamper her plan, whatever it is.
Maddie watches him, smiling, and I try to act unfazed.
Tyler hands her a bottle of water, and Maddie says something to him.
Some smart-ass remark, I’m sure. Another guy comes into the picture and looks like a total asshole with hard lines and a scowl on his face.
He says something to the two of them, and Tyler nods, but Maddie shakes her head.
The guy continues for a few more seconds before storming away.
Maddie eventually bursts into laughter. How I wish I could hear that sweet sound. The things I’d do to go back to that time when life was easy. Before Victoria and before any of this ridiculousness.
“That’s enough,” Victoria says, yanking the iPad from my hands and locking the screen. “You got what you wanted. She’s safe and more than preoccupied with Ty and Eric.”
I hold back a smirk at her calling him Ty.
No one calls him that, which means he’s playing a part.
He told me he was planning something but wouldn’t tell me what it was.
He said it was for my own good not to know until it was the right time.
He infiltrated the O’Learys, and I wonder if Victoria has any idea there’s a chink in her armor.
As long as Tyler’s around, he won’t allow anything bad to happen to Maddie, and that brings me a huge wave of relief.
My girl is safe, for now, but I can help wondering I just wonder how the fuck Tyler’s going to get them out of this situation.