8. Maddison
Maddison
I don’t know how my legs carry me out of the house that’s been more of a prison than a home. Despite my bravado and the outfit that declares I’m no longer under my brother’s control, I’m still recovering from the shock Hunter delivered.
Less than twenty-four hours after meeting him, Hunter Griffin is going to be my husband.
I know so very little about him, and by rights, I should be terrified, but I was the one reckless enough to ask him to marry me.
And after turning me down so coldly this morning, he’s decided to accept my offer.
The sight of his powerful hands strangling the man who’d tormented me for years had been a sight to behold, and my heart had skipped a beat when he told Hugo I was his. It was the way Hunter had said it. ‘She’s mine.’ His words were full of lust and want.
One thing is clear. Our marriage isn’t going to be a simple business deal, I can just feel it.
Stepping outside with three Griffin brothers by my side, it’s Reid who breaks the loaded silence.
“I didn’t know a person could pack so fast,” he says with a grunt as he drags my suitcase down the steps to the waiting SUV.
He’s looking at Hunter when he adds, “Three drawers she emptied, and that was it. Done.”
There’s a softness in Hunter’s eyes when he glances at me. “How long have you been preparing to leave at a moment’s notice?”
My throat works as I swallow hard. How can he know me so well? “Since I was nineteen.”
“When your father died.” It’s Mace this time.
He’s like an extension of the computer he’s so attached to, but I’m still impressed he’s made the connection. “Hugo didn’t so much change as he did reveal his true self. He looked for reasons to be angry just so he could take it out on me or Jen.”
“Will she and her daughter be OK?” asks Reid.
I feel Hunter’s hand on my back again. It’s like he knew it’s the one question I don’t want to consider.
I’d glimpsed Jen upstairs and seen proof of Hugo’s latest handiwork on her swollen mouth, but I hadn’t dared approach her or Becks.
Hugo would only accuse his wife of disloyalty, or some other made-up offense.
“I honestly don’t know,” I admit. “I can only hope that I’ll be able to help her one day the way you’ve all helped me. ”
“We’ll find a way,” Hunter says, his thumb stroking my back.
Reid loads my luggage into the SUV, and he and Mace are about to circle the other side of the car when Hunter stops them.
“This goes no further until we’ve figured it all out,” he tells his brothers in a low voice so Jake can’t hear from inside the car.
“What about Ash?” asks Reid .
Mace raises an eyebrow. “He’s talking about Ash, you idiot.”
“Agreed?” Hunter persists. His brothers nod. “Reid, you can sit up front with Jake.”
Reid looks pleased about not being bundled into the rear seats with me, and skirts around to the passenger door. Mace gets in behind Jake, and when Hunter opens the door for me, I’m about to climb into the back when he takes my arm.
For a second, I think we’re going to have some kind of private moment. I yearn for a kiss, or just an embrace, but he simply gestures to the middle seat next to where Mace is now sitting.
“But I don’t mind sitting at the back,” I say. It sounds better than pointing out that I don’t feel comfortable sitting so close to Mace despite his earlier support. The guy is odd.
Hunter nods to the middle space again. “I need you to sit by me,” he says, but not in a romantic ‘I need you near me’ kind of way. I have a sense of foreboding. Maybe my transition from kidnapped bride to overnight fiancée isn’t going to be as smooth as I’d hoped.
I use my newly retrieved purse as a barrier between my thigh and Mace as I slide across. He looks down at it then up at me with distaste. I think he might actually be more interested in the purse than a person made of flesh and blood.
Hunter slides in next to me and slams the door. “We’re ready to go,” he tells Jake.
Jake looks over his shoulder, curiosity pinching his brow. “Did everything go OK?”
Reid snorts a laugh. “Like a dream.”
“Reid, what did I say two minutes ago?” hisses Hunter.
“But I didn’t say anything! ”
Jake checks my expression to see if I’ll give anything away, but I glance down at my lap. Through my eyelashes, I watch his gaze switch to Hunter. He cocks his head. “Is there something I should know?”
“It’s better you don’t,” Hunter replies. “Unless you want to dodge questions from Ash too?”
Jake shrugs. “All I need to know is if there’s anything to clean up.”
“Hugo’s still breathing, unfortunately,” retorts Mace.
I twist to look at him, but from his expression, this wasn’t some joke in bad taste. The clean-up Jake was referring to was a body. And he said it like it wasn’t unusual.
I’ve seen their guns, and I’m not so na?ve that I didn’t expect there to be some morally grey aspects to their business affairs, but Hunter had said he wasn’t one of the bad guys. Surely only bad guys went around killing people who refused to do business with them.
My unease grows as I remain wedged between two of the Griffin brothers, one of whom I’m about to marry.
Turning to Hunter, I ask, “Was killing my brother a possibility?”
Hunter’s eyes darken as he stares back at me. “For what he did to you? It’s still a possibility.” When he sees the blood draining from my face, he turns to Jake. “Can you just fucking drive?”
“Where are we going?” I ask, not liking that my voice has developed a squeak.
“Home,” Hunter says, then takes another breath. Deciding to offer me a little more information, he adds, “We’re going to need to be hands on for a while, so we’ve acquired a local base for the foreseeable future. We’ll talk more when we get there.”
It’s clear he wants us all to stop talking, but we’ve barely made it out of the driveway when Mace decides to pick up my purse.
“What the hell…?” I begin, unsure how to end that sentence. Mace is the man whose skill set seems to involved overstepping all kinds of boundaries.
He pulls out the cell phone and hands it to me before continuing to explore the contents of my Hermes purse. When I hear ripping, I go to snatch it off him, but he twists away so I can’t reach.
“Give it back to me now!”
“When I’m done,” he tells me as if I’m an annoying little fly buzzing in his ear.
“He’s checking for a tracker,” Hunter explains. He leans forward in his seat. “And he could have just explained that before going through your things.”
“But it’s a Hermes!” I say as if there’s no way anyone would dare interfere with a high-end designer purse.
Mace hands me back my torn purse. “It’s clean,” he says. “Now unlock your phone.”
“So you can look at it? I don’t think so!”
When I’d picked up my cell, I’d only glanced at the long list of notifications before putting it on mute.
The messages were from people who knew I didn’t have my phone, but might be able to access my emails and DMs on social media.
I wouldn’t have read them at the time, and I don’t want to read them now.
Nor do I want anyone else having insight into how those with power treat me. I’m not that person anymore.
“Please, Maddie,” Hunter says. “I don’t know about you, but I’d like some breathing space before we have to deal with someone attempting to steal you back. Your phone could have a trace on it too.”
I’m not sure Hugo would dare, but I have to concede that he’s unscrupulous enough to share the location of the Griffin brothers’ latest prize with someone who has a stake in this game we’re playing.
I have no idea who that might be. Surely not Barrett, but the truth is, I don’t know who I’m dealing with at any level, and that includes the Griffins.
When I unlock my phone, Mace snatches it from my grasp. “You really don’t like me, do you?” I ask.
Reid turns to us. “Being rude is his default,” he explains. “But between you and me, I’d say you’re growing on him. Take it as a compliment.”
“Fuck off, Reid,” Mace mutters.
I don’t take it as a compliment at all. “Was I growing on him before or after he accused me of prostituting myself?”
“He didn’t say that. He wouldn’t dare,” Hunter says, his comment directed to his brother as much as it is to me. “Mace was just pointing out to your brother that that’s how your family have treated you.”
I’m not convinced. “He was happy enough to dress me like a whore this morning,” I remind him.
There isn’t an answer to that, nor is there an opportunity.
“Found the tracker,” Mace announces.
“Oh,” I say weakly. I would have assumed Hugo was too egocentric to find time in his day to follow my movements. I was always too terrified to rebel against the rules he set, and he knew it.
“Can you remove it?” asks Hunter.
“Already done,” Mace says, handing me back my cell phone with a broad smile that’s as ghoulish as he intends.
“Thank you, you’re a sweetie,” I say with an equally garish grin.
I glance at my cell and see a new message that’s arrived in the last few minutes. It’s from Morgan Summerville. The title flares across the screen. ‘Don’t do this, Maddison.’
“News travels fast,” says Hunter with a note of curiosity.
“Morgan would have been the first person Hugo called,” I explain. “He’s not just our Chief Finance Officer. He’s the man my father appointed as my representative on the board, although it’s fair to say he makes sure my brother’s interests come first. Morgan has my voice.”
“Not for much longer,” Hunter says.
I wait, hoping he’ll say more. I want reassurances that the deal we’re brokering will give me the freedoms that have been denied to me all my life, but Hunter remains silent.
I try to tell myself it’s because he can’t say more in front of Jake, but what if I’ve put my trust in the wrong man – again?
A man who’s apparently contemplating killing my brother.