30. Maverick
30
MAVERICK
I was still fucking shaking.
One second too late, and we would have lost Mila. Fucking hell, but how had we let that almost happen?
If Gregory hadn’t been there…
I didn’t want to fucking think about it.
I owed that man everything. After all, he saved my entire world. And I didn’t think I would be able to let Mila out of my sight any time soon.
I knew my brothers felt the same way. We were going to keep a close eye on her from now on, even at the risk of suffocating her. I didn’t fucking care anymore.
We were just a short month away from her twenty-fifth birthday, and the bastard Cline was getting desperate. Even more so now that he almost had her and lost her.
We were back at home, back in my office. Mila was sitting on the couch, looking down at her feet on the carpet, a frown pulling her eyebrows together. She had been quiet all night, and I didn’t know what she was thinking.
My hands balled into tight fists. It was my fucking fault. I let her out of my sight, and we nearly lost her.
Lost her and our child.
I looked away from her and to my brothers. Silas was standing with his back against one wall, his arms crossed, and a dark look on his face. My easygoing brother didn’t look so easygoing anymore.
He looked angry. And haunted. Definitely bruised. He was going to look a little rough for a while.
And he was probably thinking about the moment he couldn’t fight off those MC bastards quickly enough to stop Sebastian from grabbing her.
He would be thinking about that moment for the rest of his life. I knew because I was the same way.
Killian was pacing up and down the office, as if that would help expel some of the built-up energy inside him.
Suddenly, he let out a roar, scaring Mila, and punched a hole through the wall.
“Killian,” I called out.
He turned to me, his chest heaving, his eyes frantic and wild. “We have to fucking kill him. Burn the fucking club to the ground.”
“I agree,” I said mildly. “But you need to rein in your emotions right now because it is fogging up your mind, and you’re no good to me like this. Plus, you’re scaring Mila, and that’s not acceptable.”
As if he had only realized Mila was in the office with us, he turned toward her, blanched from the evident fear in her eyes. He slowly walked over to her as if she were a cornered animal, and when she didn’t do anything to stop him, he got down on his knees in front of her and buried his head on her lap, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.
She didn’t say anything for one long second, then I saw her shoulders relax before she gently ran her fingers through his hair.
“It’s okay,” she said.
“No, it’s fucking not,” Silas said. He pushed off the wall and walked to the desk I was sitting down on. “We should have protected her better.”
I nodded.
“We failed.”
“No, you didn’t,” Mila said.
“Mila—”
She shook her head, cutting me off. “No. Stop doing that. Stop taking everything onto your shoulders. It’s not your fault. Sebastian knew about the club’s opening tonight and that I was going to be there. He planned for this.”
I looked at Silas. We knew that. No one knew we were taking Mila with us. We had never taken another woman to any business event, so there was no reason for anyone to suspect she was coming tonight. Not unless the few people who did know about it beforehand talked. The attack was too planned out for Sebastian not to have known about it.
And I was going to find out who tipped him off.
“I know we said this already, but security is going to be even tighter for you,” I said to her. Silas nodded along. “I don’t want to make you feel trapped here with us, but until your twenty-fifth birthday, and maybe not even then, maybe not even until we have Sebastian’s head, you’re not leaving this house. And I will be bringing in more guards tasked with one sole purpose, and that is to protect you. Understand?”
“Yes,” she said quietly.
I had been expecting her to fight me. Mila was nothing if not stubborn. And there was a fire inside of her that thirsted for life. It was one of the many things I loved about her. No matter how many times life had gotten her down, she still had the motivation to get back up again.
I closed my eyes briefly. I didn’t want to fucking extinguish her fire.
“Mila—”
“No, I understand. What happened tonight… When he had me in his arms and was trying to get me into the van…”
Her bottom lip trembled. Killian looked up at her, pressing his thumb over her lips. “Don’t cry, baby. Because my control is being held onto by a tenuous thread, and if you cry, I will go hunting tonight for any and every MC bastard.”
I shook my head. That wouldn’t work. We’d tried that already. It was how I got hurt. A fucking machete slashed through me when we were able to find one of their hideaways. But Sebastian was careful and paranoid. Even more so than how Daniel Hayes had been. He never told any of his men where he was hiding, so it didn’t fucking matter how many of his men we took.
We couldn’t torture information out of anyone when they didn’t even have that information to start with.
“I won’t cry,” she said bravely. My strong girl. She cupped his face. “I’m okay. And I’m right here. And I’ll do whatever you guys want me to do. But I don’t think this is a long-term plan.”
“I know, little monster. This is temporary while we figure out what to do.”
“And have you already thought of anything?”
Several ideas, but none of them seem feasible. I didn’t answer her.
She nodded. “I have a plan.”
We looked at her. “You have a plan?” Silas asked.
She glared at him. “I am capable of thinking up a good plan, you know.”
“Of course you are, baby,” Killian said, joining her and glaring over at Silas as well. I would have laughed over that had the situation not been so fucking unlaughable.
“And what’s your plan, little monster?”
She blushed, drawing my curiosity.
“Mila?” I asked when she looked away from us.
“You marry me.”
I blinked. That was not what I was expecting her to say.
“Did you… did you just propose to Maverick?” Silas asked.
“Well, it doesn’t have to be to Maverick. It can be with any of you. I know I can’t marry all of you, at least not legally, but if you marry me, my inheritance will be yours. And more importantly, it will never be Sebastian’s.”
I shook my head. “We talked about this back at the hotel.”
“No, this is different. Before, when I didn’t know about the inheritance, I didn’t know what to think. But I trust you. All of you. And I love you guys so much. Are you… are you saying you don’t want to marry me?” she asked, a hint of vulnerability in her voice that got to me.
I stood up and walked around the desk. “You know that’s not it. I would marry you this very second.” I looked at my brothers and knew it was the same way for them. “We would marry you. But not like this, baby. Not when it feels like Sebastian is forcing you into the corner. We’re not taking your inheritance.”
“But I don’t want it. This inheritance has caused me nothing but problems and heartache. Do you know how it feels to know my father had only been keeping me around because of this? That he never loved me. In fact, now that I think about it, I was sure his feelings toward me were nothing but resentment.” Her eyes shone with unshed tears, and Killian frowned at her, tightening his arms around her waist. She glanced at him. “I never asked for it. I don’t want it now.”
“I don’t think marriage to one of us will make Sebastian leave you alone,” Silas said softly.
She nodded. “I know. I’m hoping this will get him mad enough that he’ll make a mistake. We can set it up where he thinks he can get to me. Then you guys can stop him.”
Was she saying what I thought she was saying?
“Are you telling us to use you as bait?”
“Over my dead fucking body,” Killian growled, standing up and glaring down at her.
She squirmed. “It’s a good plan.”
“We’re not using you as fucking bait, so you can forget about this plan of yours right now. Right?” Killian looked at me, as if he really thought I would ever entertain the idea.
“We’re not using her as bait,” I said. And if she keeps saying shit like this, I might pull a page from Killian’s book and spank her ass red until she repents.
“It’s not happening. You will never fucking leave this house,” Killian said. She looked at me, thinking I might help her. Unlucky for her, I agreed with Killian.
“But—”
Killian pointed at her, shutting her up. “No.”
He reached down and hoisted her up onto his shoulder. She looked over at us as if asking for help. She was asking it from the wrong people. I crossed my arms over my chest, still pissed she would even suggest something like that.
“Where are we going?” she asked Killian.
He spanked her ass once. “Getting you ready for bed. Then I’m tying your cute ass to it to ensure you won’t ever leave for the rest of the night.”
She squirmed. “What if I have to use the bathroom?”
“Tough,” came his curt reply before walking away with her.
Silas looked at them, yearning in his eyes.
“Aren’t you going to join them?” I asked.
Something dark passed over his eyes. He crossed his arms but didn’t answer me.
“You know what happened wasn’t your fault, don’t you?”
“Wasn’t it?” he asked, his voice low.
“No,” I said, making sure he could hear the conviction in my voice. “You were outnumbered. You did the best you could, but they planned it all along. Things got messed up. And we fucked up by not realizing how many more men Sebastian actually managed to recruit.”
Silas uncrossed his arms and looked down at his hands. They were dirty with dry blood. “I told her to run. I gave her the fucking keys, and she just stood there.” The last two words were gritted out. He was angry with her. Probably not as angry as he was with himself, but still angry. I understood. I would have been too. Hell, I was furious.
“Then I think you need to go to them and make our girl understand she is not to disobey us ever again, especially when it comes to her safety.”
He nodded. “Aren’t you going to join us?”
I shook my head. She might be a little overwhelmed with everyone coming at her. And knowing my brothers, they won’t let her out of their sight for the rest of the night. “You go ahead. I still have to make some calls.”
He frowned. “Anything I need to know about?”
“Not right now. I’m just chasing a suspicion. I’ll let you know when I find out more.”
My little brother didn’t say anything. He patted my shoulder. “Try to get some sleep.”
I nodded, even if sleep was the last thing I felt like doing.
I waited until he was out of the door before sitting back down at my desk and pulling out my phone.
It rang once before the call was picked up, despite the late night.
“Maverick. What can I do for you?”
“I think you and I need to have a little talk. Don’t you think so, Gregory?”
He didn’t answer me right away. Then, “There’s this bar I know that stays open pretty late. Why don’t you meet me there? Drinks on me.”
“Send me the address,” I said, hanging up. I still didn’t know what made me suspicious. But there was a nagging feeling in my gut that said I wasn’t wrong. And I was about to find the answer tonight.