Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
“Who else would it be? And maybe he doesn’t have the ability to go after anyone else. We’ve been hitting his allies and businesses pretty hard down south.”
“Or he hired someone to take you out,” North told Jared. “This could have been a warning shot.”
“That’s a possibility,” Jared agreed. “Which is why it’s important that we keep Angie here and safe. If she had gone home, he could have found her.”
“We’ve kept her presence here a secret, though,” North said. “I think we could send her home.”
Wait. Did North not want her here?
Did Jared?
Was the only reason they kept her around because they were worried about this Beltran person?
Who they thought had killed Rex and sent them his severed head?
Who was this guy? If her life was in danger, shouldn’t they have told her?
She put her hand over her mouth.
And here she’d stupidly thought that they wanted her. That they wanted her to stay here with them because they were building a life together.
Was it only to keep her safe from this Beltran?
No, no.
She was being silly.
Calm down and stop jumping to conclusions. They want you They said so.
“Are you suggesting that I send her away? We only just convinced her to stay,” Jared said. “And I don’t trust Zander to keep her safe.”
“No, you’re right,” North replied. “We can keep her safe from Beltran. After he’s dead we can reassess.”
Reassess?
Reassess whether they wanted her to stay here?
“If I’d left her there, then she wouldn’t be a vulnerable spot for you,” North said.
Then maybe she should just leave.
Hurt filled her. And her breathing grew faster.
Rejected again. She took a step back. Then another.
What are you doing? Don’t leave.
Stay here and confront them!
She shook her head as her brain yelled at her. She couldn’t stay where she wasn’t wanted.
Angie was never wanted.
No matter where she was. Some people tried . . . but the reality was that she wasn’t lovable. She wasn’t worth keeping.
Jared and North had probably thought they were being kind, keeping her safe, but all it did was make her feel unwanted and rejected.
She’d rather they were honest and tell her how they really felt.
Turning, she ran lightly up the stairs.
Angie knew she’d outstayed her welcome. She was going to leave.
But will you be safe? What if this Beltran was watching? What if he tries to harm you?
Why would he though? It wasn’t like Jared and North truly cared about or wanted her.
Jared sighed. “Reassess?”
“Safety measures. How we present her to the world, to the family. Beltran isn’t your only enemy. And the family might not be too accepting of her.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the family. They’ll accept her and you or they can leave.”
And they’d leave in a cardboard box.
But Jared knew North was right.
“Even with this added threat, she should be safe here. Only Zander and his team know where she is. They won’t tell anyone. And you can ensure her safety. I want you to put it above everything else.”
“Above your safety?” North asked.
“Yes.”
To his relief, North nodded.
“Fuck, I can’t believe that Beltran got to Rex.” Jared shook his head. “I promised to take care of him.”
“You couldn’t have known,” North said.
But that didn’t mean that Jared didn’t feel guilty.
You failed him.
Just like you failed them.
You can’t keep Angie safe.
Fuck. Fuck.
But he needed to. He just had to keep her firmly under wraps. Tightly hidden away.
Beltran needed to die before he took anyone else he cared about from him.
“Have you found Antony yet?” Jared asked to distract himself.
“No. Sarah said he went away on business. But we didn’t send him anywhere and he’s not answering his phone. He must have it turned off because I can’t track . . .” North trailed off as his phone let off an alarm.
North stood up suddenly, staring down at the screen. “What the fuck? What is she doing?”
North actually sounded concerned. Which worried Jared more than much else could.
“What is who doing?” Jared asked, jumping up.
There could only be one person that North was talking about.
“Angie. She’s just left the area I set up for her tracker.” North turned and took off out the door.
“Area? Tracker?” Jared asked as they raced outside into the growing darkness.
His heart raced. What the fuck? Where was she going?
“I put a tracker on her and set up an invisible fence so if she went past it, then it would send an alert to my phone. She’s at the fence.”
“The invisible one?” Jared asked, hoping that it was set close to the house. No way did he want her getting too far away. What if Beltran had someone watching the house?
He’d chosen the guards around the house personally. They had been recruited after Fergus’s death. But he couldn’t fully trust anyone but North.
Or Angie.
“No, the real fence,” North said, sprinting ahead as they heard a cry of pain. The fence around his property was high and made of concrete. It was kept slick and smooth on the exterior side, but it was a bit rougher on the house side. Still, it was nearly impossible to scale.