Chapter 35 #2
James finishes whatever he’s doing on his phone and casually slips it into his jacket pocket before giving me his undivided attention.
He doesn’t answer right away. His cool gaze slides over me, inspecting every inch of my body with a shrewd gaze. When he’s done, his mouth pinches in disapproval, and he gives Dexter a pointed look.
“I thought you said he was unhinged,” he says.
Dexter clears his throat and steps out. “Vick’s a goddamn animal, he’s just on his best behavior right now. Be careful, he has a hairpin trigger.”
“That’s right,” I agree pleasantly, giving Dexter a dark look. “Remember that, will you? For later, I mean.”
I’ll show him what’ll happen if he tries to shove me again.
The orderly gives James a “see what I mean,” look before assuring him, “Don’t worry. If he gets unruly, I have something that’ll put him straight to sleep.”
James adjusts the sleeves of his jacket before giving me a look of disdain. “They told me you were hardly speaking.”
I snort. “They fucking lied.”
James’s nostrils flare and his eyes grow glacial hard. “As disappointing as it is to see you so virile , I suppose it’s a good thing that you’re not a bumbling mess of drool or a deranged beast. At least coherency will move this conversation along faster.”
I shrug. “Sorry to disappoint. Give it another few years, maybe they’ll have worn me down by then.”
At this, James gives me a tight smile. “Actually, I have a proposition that may end with your life looking very different—pleasant even—as long as you cooperate.”
A bribe? I blink slowly, trying to figure out his motive here. Never once has James Woodrow offered me anything, not even hope. What’s changed between now and the last time we spoke? I stiffen, suspicion gathering beneath my skin.
Glaring, I ask, “What the fuck do you want, James?”
“What I want is for you to tell me everything you remember about my daughter.”
A kick to the nuts would’ve been less surprising than this request. I blink rapidly, trying to comprehend what he’s asked.
“You want me to tell you about… Everly?”
“I’m glad you’ve remembered her name,” James confirms with a sarcastic smile. “Do you remember anything else about her?”
Shoving my hands into my pants pockets, I study James.
He looks casual, leaning there like a king.
He knows he has all the power here and knows how to wield it.
But beneath that casual appearance, there’s something…
off about him. I can’t quite place it. Hell, I don't even know if it’s real or in my head, but something tells me to tread lightly.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” James says at once. “From her favorite places to hang out to her hobbies, all of it.”
“Why?” I fight the urge to smirk, already knowing the answer, when I ask, “Why don’t you just ask her yourself?”
Because I’m watching him so closely, I notice the twitch of his right eye and the slight shift of his body weight. Both tell me that he’s uncomfortable.
“This might come to a surprise to you, Maverick, but the girl that used to follow you and Peter around like a lost puppy—she was always trouble,” James shakes his head, disgust causing a corner of his upper lip to pull upward.
“I thought I tamed her years ago, but it seems allowing her some freedom only unraveled the work I did.”
He’s not making sense. Everly was the furthest thing from trouble. But as I study his face, I can see James Woodrow really believes his daughter is a problem. A chill runs down my spine. When James runs into a problem, he handles it viciously and swiftly. It sounds like he’s already tried.
“ Tame her?” I repeat, sickeningly curious.
James shakes his head in disapproval. “Yes, tame , Maverick. In the Woodrow household, the old saying ’spare the rod, spoil the child’ is taken to heart. Peter didn’t need the cane as much as Everly did. Unfortunately, my daughter’s always been too spirited.”
Bile climbs up my throat. James Woodrow caned his daughter. My Little Everly.
I flicker through all the memories I have of the girl I love. For a moment I’m nervous. I’ve blocked them out for so long that I worry they’ll be too faded to recall Everly correctly.
But they’re not.
Like a sun peeking through the clouds, I see Everly at various ages—my most favorite moments etched into my mind for all eternity.
There are so many where I can see her sweet, albeit subdued smiles, the many times she’d quickly avert her face to hide whatever expressions she didn’t want me to see.
I can still picture the way she’d draw up her knees up to her chest and wrap her arms around her legs when Peter and I got loud while we chatted, and how she always used to cover her mouth when she laughed.
All beautifully innocent moments. Ones I always considered endearing.
Never once did it cross my mind that she tried to hide her expressions, muffle her feelings, or make herself smaller because it was a protection mechanism.
I don’t know who I hate more, myself for not seeing it back then, myself now for ever being able to consider her just as evil as her family, or James for all the pain he caused everyone in his life. Rage, shock, and an internal agony hold me in place but cause me to tremble with rage.
James reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose. After a frustrated shake of his head, his hand drops away.
“Her recent bout of rebellion has brought true trouble down on the family and, in an attempt to avoid the consequences, she’s taken to the wind,” he confesses.
“If I can find her sooner rather than later, I may be able to mend what she’s wrought.
But the longer she’s gone, the more I worry things will become unfixable.
” James lets out a heavy sigh, as if he’s absolutely fed up with everything.
“I’ve searched everywhere I thought she’d be, and yet, I’ve come up empty-handed.
Thus why I need you to recall all the places the three of you would go. ”
“What happened?” I ask, my voice eerily void of emotion as I stare at James. “What horrible thing did she do that needs to be fixed?”
James scowls. “It’s none of your business, Maverick. Now, if you can please?—”
“Tell me!” I snap. “Or I walk out of that fucking door.”
“No, you won’t,” Dexter pipes up.
We both ignore him. I glare at James and he glares back. The stare off doesn’t last long. It seems the old man has lost his stamina.
“I set her up for a future where all she had to do was lay on her back and spread her legs and she’d be set for life.
A fitting role for a girl like her. Instead, she ran out on her own wedding!
” Jame snarls, his composure cracking for a brief moment.
His whole body rattles with rage and his eyes darken with wrath.
“This will mean nothing to you, but there are very important people banking on this union between my daughter and their contact. They are very powerful men who get what they want and don’t appreciate being disappointed.
So I’m asking you again, where did you take her when you and Peter went out?
I know you three spent a lot of time together. ”
Wedding ?
There’s no stopping the hard grunt that slips past my lips as the air is knocked from my lungs. My heart screeches to a stop. Denial rings loudly in my ears and I lose feeling in my fingers. Everly belongs to… someone else? No. It can’t be. It won’t be. I’m not giving Everly up. Not now, not ever.
She’s mine .
“Maverick, did you hear me? I need you to tell me everything you know about?—”
I shake my head with a hard scoff, trying to hold on to my flippancy rather than descend into fury. “Yeah, I heard what you wanted. I’m just trying to figure out why you need me for this? Peter would know.”
Again, I already know why he can’t ask Peter but I want to see him react.
“ Peter ,” James drawls as he straightens, “is no longer with us. My son decided to take the coward’s way out.
Now, time is of the essence, Maverick. I’ve been given another twenty-fours to find her.
If I don’t, her mother and I are in serious trouble.
And if the White Stag’s people find Everly first, the fate that awaits her will be worse than what befell you. Now hurry up and tell me everything.”
Panic. That’s what I see when I stare past those dark, icy eyes. It dawns on me so swiftly that I have to stare a little longer to be certain.
Holy shit. James Woodrow has gotten himself in over his head with people who have more power than he does and he’s panicking . I want to be ecstatic—karma is finally coming for James. Unfortunately, by association, Everly could be affected by it.
“No.”
“No?” James repeats. “What do you mean, no?”
I take a step toward him as I flash him my teeth in a feral grin. “No, I’m not going to help you.”
“Do you understand that my daughter’s life is in mortal danger? I used to think you fancied Everly, Maverick.” His face twists with disgust. “Are you going to stand here and tell me you didn’t?”
The next sentence that slips past my lips forms the biggest lie I’ve ever told.
“I don’t give a fuck about Everly and never have. And, quite frankly, even if I did, it wouldn’t outweigh my pleasure at seeing you like this.”
James doesn’t tense or flinch but Dexter steps up, his hands going into his pocket as a warning. I ignore the orderly.
“Like what?” James asks through clenched teeth.
I smirk. “Desperate.”
“Desperate? Please, I’m not desperate. In any case, you’re not in a position to tell me no, Maverick,” he replies. “Remember, I hold your life in my hands.”
“Life? You think this is a life ? You took my life when you threw me in here, James. What you have is nothing.” I glare at him. “And its why it makes it easy to tell you to fuck off.”
Everly’s father glares at me. His eyes grow darker, and a vein begins to bulge from his forehead.