“Hmm, how can you help me? Such an open-ended question.” He stepped toward her. “You can help me in lots of ways, Thea.”
Her breath came faster, panic making the room spin. Or maybe that was just because she hadn’t eaten in days. She saw movement in the doorway leading to the bedrooms and couldn’t believe she’d missed the hulking man standing there. Milo.
Shit. Shit.
“Did you like my roses, my dear?” He reached out and brushed a lock of hair from her face.
She forced herself to stay still. Not to shudder in disgust or push him away.
It was hard. Very hard.
“They were lovely. You needn’t have.”
He grasped hold of her chin. Oh, crap. Was he going to kiss her? Please don’t let him kiss her. She wasn’t sure she could fake that.
“Of course I had to. I’m courting you, after all. Doesn’t matter that by Saturday you’ll be mine.” He looked around with a sneer of disgust. “Of course, if you’d rather not wait you can come with me now. By tonight, you can be drinking champagne in my mansion. You’ll find being mine has a lot of perks, my dear. You won’t have to work, you’ll have all new clothes, plenty of good food, a mansion, staff at your beck and call.”
And all she had to do was sell her soul. Yep, sounded like a great bargain to her.
“W-what about my brothers?” she asked.
“Ah, yes, Ace and Keir.”
He knew their names. It sent goosebumps over her skin.
Of course he does, idiot. He knows where you work. He knows where you live.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“They’re important to you.”
“Yes.” She didn’t know if that was the right answer to give.
“We’ll look into boarding schools,” he said dismissively. “I will admit to being a greedy man and wanting you all to myself.”
Maybe some women found him charming. Jardin could be forceful. He could be arrogant. But he didn’t make her stomach roil in fear and horror.
“O-okay,” she managed to get out.
Then he leaned in and brushed his cold lips across hers.
Don’t gag. Don’t gag.
“You won’t come now?”
Her mind raced for a good excuse. “I . . . I need to talk to the boys. Get stuff packed up.”
Irritation filled his face. “You don’t need any of this shit. I told you I’d buy you all new stuff.”
“Yes, but the boys have things they will want to keep. Tomorrow. I can’t just spring this on them. It’s not fair.”
She waited for his anger, braced herself for it. Instead he just smiled and ran a thumb over her cheek. “I knew you’d make an excellent mother to my children. Until tomorrow then.”
He quickly left, Milo following him. The big guard didn’t even spare her a glance. She stared out the window as a black car pulled up to the curb and Silvers and Milo climbed in.
As soon as he was gone, her legs gave in. She collapsed to the floor and pulled her legs up against her chest, curling into a ball.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
19
It was the only plan she could come up with. It wasn’t exactly a good plan and she wasn’t sure it would work. But she had to try.
Ace and Keir needed her. They weren’t going to be sent away to boarding school. And she wasn’t going to become some criminal asshole’s wife. She had no doubt that if she stuck around, by tomorrow night, she’d be a prisoner. Kept by a predator. Her free will gone.
But she needed to be smart about it. She dug up her stash of cash that she had hidden under one of the floorboards in her closet. It wasn’t nearly enough. And there was only one way she could come up with more cash to fund their escape. She drew out the necklace that was hidden in with the cash. It was gold filigree interspersed with diamonds and sapphires. She didn’t know where her mother had gotten it. Certainly not from her husband.
When she was fifteen, her mother had shown her the hidey-hole in her closet and the necklace. She’d told her if she ever needed the money, it was there. It was the only thing she had left of her. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she stashed the necklace and the cash in a pocket in her handbag.
She looked at the time on her watch. The boys would be up soon. She’d spent all night awake and planning. She knew just what she had to do. While they were sleeping, she’d packed one school bag with clothes, their tablets and headphones and some spare clothes for her. The other school bag held as much food as it could hold without the bag looking suspiciously large. She was under no illusions they weren’t being watched.
Now the tricky part. Explaining this to the boys.
“So, some bad guy wants to marry you and move you into his house?” Keir asked. They were up and dressed in their school uniforms. She was wearing a work outfit. They were just finishing up breakfast while she gulped down a cup of coffee. She was going to need the caffeine to get through today.
“Yes.” In a nutshell. She hadn’t told them about their father’s role in all this. But Keir gave her a knowing look. Yeah, he knew way too much for his age. She wished she could give him a more carefree childhood.
“But that’s so cool! Does he have a gun? Are we gonna live in some flash house?” Ace bounced around on his chair.
“Idiot!” Keir told him. “He’s not gonna want us. Besides, that flash house is all paid for from him breaking the law and stuff.”
“Keir, speak nicer to your brother,” she admonished then she turned to Ace. “But he’s right, honey. Crime isn’t cool. And this man, he isn’t a good man.”
Ace chewed his lip. “He doesn’t want me and Keir?”
“Baby, I don’t want him anywhere near the two of you. You’re my priority. Always.”
“I’m not a baby,” Ace muttered.
“No, you’re not.” Shit. She already had a headache.
“What are we gonna do?” Keir asked. “Do we need to tell the cops?”
“This man . . . the police won’t be able to do much.” She didn’t want to dispel their belief in the police. But they couldn’t go to the cops.
“Then what’re we gonna do?” Ace asked.
“We’re going to have to leave,” she said as gently as she could. Both boys stiffened then looked at each other.
“Where are we gonna go?” Keir asked.
She licked her dry lips. “I’m not exactly sure yet. First thing we need to do is get away safely.”
“What do you mean?” Ace asked.
“She means we’re being watched, right?”
“I think so,” she said.
“So how do we do it then?” Keir asked.
“I’ve packed some stuff in your backpacks. Keir, you’ve got our clothes and the tablets. Ace, I’ll carry yours since it’s got our food. We’re gonna drive to school like normal. I’m going to walk you in and then we’ll go out the back entrance. I’ll have an Uber waiting. We’ll take it to the mall. Go in one entrance. Out the other to the bus stop. Take a bus to a station. Get us tickets out of here.”
Both boys watched her with wide eyes. She waited tensely for their reaction.
“That. Is. So. Cool.” Ace grinned wide.
“We should change our clothes,” Keir said.
“What?”
“In the mall. We should change our clothes. Our uniform is too noticeable. We can change in a bathroom. You too. It will help.”
Why hadn’t she thought of that?
Then again, the two of them were far smarter than her.
“Good thinking. Thing is, I need the two of you to act like this is any other day, okay?” She wasn’t worried about Keir, but Ace was another story.
“We can do that!” Ace said cheerfully.
“We got this, Thea. Don’t worry about us.”
Thing was, she did little else, except when she was thinking about Jardin and Carrick. She winced as she thought of how angry Jardin was going to be with her.
But he’d get over it. He’d find a new assistan
t. They’d find someone to love together. They’d live happily ever after.
Right now, she just had to focus on keeping herself and her brothers alive.
Carrick answered his phone, smiling as he saw Jardin’s name. He’d only left him an hour ago. But he wasn’t complaining. After two years of being on his own, he wanted to spend every second he could with the other man.
“Forget something?” he answered.
“She’s gone!” Jardin’s frantic voice came through the phone.
“What? What do you mean she’s gone?”
There was only one she he could be talking about. Carrick’s heart started to race.
“She wasn’t here when I came in and when I checked my email there was one from her, tendering her resignation.”
“Fuck. Shit. Do you think we scared her off yesterday?”
“I don’t know. But we need to find her. What’s she going to do for money? What’s she thinking? Fuck.”
“All right. Let’s not panic.” It was a sign of how much Jardin truly did care about her. Because he was usually the calm one. “Have you tried calling her?”
“Yeah. It goes straight to voicemail.”
“Fuck. Okay. What about her address?”
“HR should have it on file. Let me check.”
“Pick me up on the way there. I’m going with you.”
Jardin was about to lose it. And it was going to be epic. He stared out at the dilapidated shack in front of him in horror.
“This is where she fucking lives? Here! How the fuck did I not know this!”
Goddamn him. He should have checked. He’d never have allowed her to continue living here if he’d known.
“You couldn’t have known, I didn’t,” Carrick replied calmly.
“But I knew things had to be hard for her. I knew the boys were on scholarships to that school.” He’d checked up on that. “I just didn’t realize things were this bad.”
“We know now. We’ll help her.”
If they could find her. They approached the house and Jardin knocked.
“Thea! Thea, are you in there?” He tried the door. Locked. He looked over at Carrick, who sighed and started peering in windows.
“Fuck it,” Jardin said. “It’s not like we’re gonna let her live here any longer.” He used his foot to kick the door open. Piece of shit crumpled in.
It didn’t take them long to see that no one was home. And that the inside was possibly worse than the outside.
“There’re still clothes here,” Carrick said, walking through the rooms.
Jardin was in the kitchen. “Hardly any fucking food, though. Christ.”
“Do you think we should wait here for her?”
He frowned, thinking it through. “I’m going to ring the school. Just make sure the boys are there.”
“Why? You don’t think she’s actually run off? Why would she leave town? Besides, her clothes are still here.”
“There’s barely anything in her closet.”
“Probably because she didn’t own much,” Carrick said gently.
“Fuck. Fuck. I’m checking anyway.” He had a bad fucking feeling about all of it.
“Will they tell you? You’re not their guardian.”
Oh, they’d tell him.
A few minutes later, he got off the phone. Carrick eyed him, face pale. “They’re not there, are they?”
“No. And the secretary very gleefully told me that they just had her car towed from out front. Fuck it. She’s gone and we have no idea where she is!”
Thea pulled the old car over to the side of the road. They’d gotten off the bus in Lafayette and stayed the night in a cheap motel so she could pawn their mother’s necklace. She’d used some of the money to buy a crappy car. Although, it was actually better than their last car.
She’d been driving for hours, only stopping to pee and so the boys could stretch their legs. Right now, they were asleep in the back seat. The sun was rising over the horizon as she stared out at the sign.
Welcome to Haven, Texas.
Hopefully, Maddox was right, and this place really did look out for women. She hoped it was big enough for her to blend in. Maddox said he lived on a ranch out of town, so maybe she wouldn’t see him. Or at least not for a while.
Even if she did see him, what did it matter? What would he do? Tell Jardin? He wouldn’t care.
And if Jardin comes to visit?
Well, she’d cross that bridge when she got to it. Right now, she had to find a job and somewhere for them to stay.
One thing at a time. And if this place didn’t work out, they’d just have to go somewhere else.
20
Haven was an interesting place.
They’d only been there a few days and she’d just enrolled the boys in school today. The teachers were welcoming. It was small, less than two hundred students. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an advanced class they could go into, and she worried they wouldn’t be pushed enough. But for the moment it would have to do.
She’d even found a job. She couldn’t use any of her former references, so it was just a job cleaning some houses and businesses. Her boss, Marcy, was getting on in years and needed some help. The pay wasn’t a lot, but the owner of the motel was giving her a cheap, weekly rate and she was on the lookout for a small rental.
The people there were unusual. And Maddox was right, polyamorous relationships were very normal. And there was even a BDSM club, Saxon’s. Which most of the population of Haven seemed to be members of. It was crazy how open everyone was. And friendly. But it wasn’t home.
As she hurried down the street towards the diner, a strange feeling came over her. She paused and looked around. It felt like someone was watching her.
She shook it off. There was no way Silvers could have found her. They’d taken every precaution.
Don’t bother trying to run or hide. I will find you. And it won’t end well for you.
Panic flooded her and she fought hard to take a breath. Maybe she should grab the boys and run again. But she didn’t know that Silvers had found her. And she couldn’t help but feel safe here. Maddox had been telling the truth when he’d told her the men of Haven were protective of women. She’d seen signs of it all over the place.
She was just being paranoid. She had a new burner phone, she’d left her old one at the mall where she and the boys had changed clothes. She hadn’t used any of her cards. And Marcy was paying her under the table.
She’d been worried about enrolling the boys in school, but after talking to the school they’d promised that no one would be able to track the boys down. They’d also told her to go speak to the sheriff if she was in trouble.
It was inevitable that she’d need a chat with the sheriff. Especially from what Maddox had told her about Haven. But she’d avoid it for as long as possible.
She pushed the door of the diner with a yawn. She was so tired. She was trying to keep her spending down so she could afford a down payment on a rental, so she’d just been eating breakfast and dinner. And she was feeling more than a bit light-headed.
Coffee. She needed coffee. Which she could have gotten at the motel, however Marcy suggested she ask the diner owner about her apartment upstairs.
She slid onto a stool at the counter, next to two women who were chatting away with each other.
“Flick, I don’t think you should ask West to marry you,” the woman closest to her said. She had long strawberry-blonde hair and a fairly large baby bump
“Why not? It’s the twenty-first century. Women can ask men to marry them,” the other woman replied. Her dark hair lay in loose waves down her back.
“Yes, but not Malone men,” the first woman hissed back. “They’re cavemen. They haven’t come out of the dark ages. You ask West to marry you and he’ll likely spank your ass.”
She stiffened? These women knew the Malones? And it sounded like at least one of them was involved with one of Maddox’s brothers.
Holy. Shit.
> Maybe she should just slip off the stool and slink away. But there was no use hiding if she was going to live here. And it wasn’t like they knew who she was.
“What can I get ya?” the waitress stepped up to her, chewing gum. Her name tag said Doris.
“Coffee, please,” she said quietly.
Both women had stopped talking beside her.
Doris grunted and poured her a cup of coffee. “You’ll also have pie.”
“Oh, no, thank you.”
“You want pie. You need pie. I’ll get you pie.”
She gaped after the weird waitress in shock. What the hell?
“You get used to her,” the dark-haired woman leaned around the other one to say to her with a smile. “Doris is . . . well . . .”
“Different,” the strawberry-blonde haired woman supplied. She smiled at Thea. “Hi, I’m Mia.”
Holy. Shit. Maddox had talked about Mia. She was married to his brother, Alec, who spanked her when she broke the rules.
Thea really wished she didn’t know that. She could feel her cheeks getting red.
“And I’m Flick,” the other woman said cheerfully while Mia studied her closely.
“Hi, I’m Thea.”
A plate filled with a slice of cherry pie landed in front of her. Her mouth watered. But she shook her head at Doris. “I don’t need any pie. Thank you.”
Doris scowled.
“I’ll take the pie, Doris darlin’,” a deep voice said on her left.
She whirled around. How hadn’t she heard him come up on her? Shit. Her heart raced.
“Hello there, darlin’,” Maddox said to her, taking a seat on her left. “Just what are you doing in Haven?”
“You two know each other?” Mia asked in surprise.
“Met Thea in New Orleans. She works for Jardin.”
“Oh, you know Jardin?” Mia smiled at her. “He’s great, isn’t he? He helped me when I needed it. If it weren’t for him, I’d be dead.”
Jesus. Really?
Thea gaped at her.
“And I’d never have met Alec, my husband.”
“Now, Mia, you can’t be blaming Jardin for the fact that you chose the wrong Malone brother to marry. You know you’ll always have my heart.”
Jardin’s Gamble Page 16