Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 65872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
I have so many questions for her. Fuck, I have so much that I want to say to her. The urge to berate her and tell her how much she has disappointed lays heavy in the air of every breath that I take. I bite my tongue, however. I don’t know everything my child has been through, but I can decipher enough to know she’s close to breaking. Now is not the time to address what she’s done. I’m just thankful I have her back. I’ll get her home and talk with Beth. I should have listened to her more when she warned me what I was doing would end up hurting Gabby. Beth, mi cielo, she is everything to me. I know that she’s let me get away with spoiling our daughter so much because she knows how much I regret not being with her in the beginning. Even after all these years, it hurts. Still, I figure Beth has her own scars. She let me have my way because she feels her own guilt.
“Gabby, I’ll be here with you. It’s okay,” Nicole says, as she and Dragon walk over to us.
I feel my daughter tense. She bites her lip as her beautiful dark eyes fill with fear. Her body trembles under my touch, and I hate she has had her spirit broken. I haven’t asked her, but I’m pretty sure those fucks got their hands on my girl. The bruises on her neck and arms are too prominent to think anything else. I need to find out. I’ll pull Nicole aside before I leave.
“You’ll be okay until I return. Then I will take you home, pequeño.” Little one… No matter how old my daughter gets, or what she has done, Gabby will always be my heart. I just need to make sure she realizes the gravity of her actions. It’s not going to be a pleasant lesson for her to learn … for either of us.
“Nicole, may I have a word? Dragon, will you and the boys watch over Gabby for me?”
“Dom and T can. I’ll stay with Nicole,” Dragon argues. I want to roll my eyes. You go after his woman once twenty-some years ago and he never forgets it. If she hadn’t reminded me of my Beth, I wouldn’t have bothered. It was a dark time when I thought my woman was dead and yet the motherfucker never let me forget it. I suppose I can understand, but it still annoys me.
“No!” Gabby cries, panicked. No, that’s not it. She’s petrified.
“Gabriella—”
Before I can finish, her wild gaze lands on King walking toward us. She scrambles up and goes to him. She hovers behind him, looking like a caged animal.
“What’s going on?” King asks, confused. His hand goes behind him to place on Gabby’s arm.
“I need to speak with Nicole and was going to leave Gabby with Dom and Thomas,” I answer. I start to walk over to King, but he stops me by holding his hand out. Then he turns to look at Gabby.
“Hey, you’re safe now. We’re not going to allow Lucky or any of those bastards to touch you ever again.”
“B-B-But,” she stutters.
“Gabby, you know us. Despite everything, we’d never hurt you,” Dom says.
This seems to do nothing to calm her down, which is surprising. King frowns. “I think I know what you need to talk to her about. I probably know just as much, if not more. We can talk before the meeting. Nicole can stay with her,” he adds, staring at Gabby.
“Muy bien,” I mutter, feeling helpless. “I’ll be back, Gabriella.”
“Hurry, Papi,” she whispers, shocking me. I’ve been Daddy for years, but when she was little, it was always Papi. Kissing her cheek, I walk away with King. I already know I don’t want to hear what he has to say.
I just don’t have a choice.
Chapter 17
King
We’re in a conference room inside the mill. It’s a large room with commercial carpet in an amethyst color. It’s an unusual choice, but I kind of like it. My gaze moves over to the men gathered around the table. It’s an eclectic bunch, to be sure. Hangman, the one currently in charge of the Saint’s Outlaws, is at the head of the table, and Viper is on his right. Then, there’s Dragon with Dancer, Breaker and Dom beside him. My president, Ford, is here, and T is sitting beside him. I’m beside T. Grunt stayed back to help look over the women. I called Shelby and told her shit was going down and asked her to stay where she was. I didn’t want her tracking me down here or back in Virginia. We may be separated, but I know that woman. She keeps tabs on me. I don’t really give a fuck, so I keep my location easily trackable for her. I’ve never hidden a thing from her. In hindsight, I’m wondering if that’s a bad thing. Across the table from Dragon there is Skull and some motherfucker that I don’t know, wearing the goofiest T-shirt that I’ve ever seen in my life. In gigantic writing you can see the words I love, then a large space down before you can read my wife’s, and under that in the biggest letters yet are the words, fart box. That was fucking strange enough, even if it made me laugh and shake my head. When I got closer to him, however, I noticed that empty space had, in very small writing the words, to dick punch. So, basically, he’s telling every son of a bitch out there that he liked to punch his dick in his woman’s ass. I could appreciate the sentiment, even if my woman didn’t actually enjoy that particular extracurricular activity. I’m pretty sure she had a permanent no entry sign attached to her sexy ass. She gave me plenty I liked besides that, so I dealt with it. Relationships are give and take, and Shelby is spectacular at giving. That was never our problem. Shit, we barely got going before she realized our lifestyle wasn’t what she wanted. There’s not much I can do to fight that, and fuck, did I try to fight it.