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Maddox

“No. I mean before that. Who hurt you?”

Before Adonis?

“How… How did you know?”

Wait, she was assaulted?

Vex steps closer. “Tell me their names.”

“No. She’s mine,” the words burst out of me before I can temper them.

Three heads snap towards me.

Why did I just say that? “She lives on The Street. Mindy is my responsibility.”

Vex nods and turns to his wife. “Dahl?”

“We’ll have s’mores tonight. And Maddox isn’t a liar.”

Silence fills the library as we wait to see if Vex will explode. No one dares even to breathe for fear of setting him off.

“Dahl.”

“Yeah?”

“I like your friend.” Vex turns to me. “Let’s talk.”

As soon as my office door closes, Vex says, “Adonis will die by my hand.”

“He might have kissed your woman, but he beat Mindy until she passed out. He’s mine.”

“KISSED MY WIFE! That means I get the kill.”

That might not have been the best way to stake my claim. “Mindy pulled him off of her.”

“You’re really not helping.”

Is Vex developing a tick?

“Gentlemen.” Dyce stands up from where she was sitting on a couch, unnoticed. “Either issue a duel at dawn or agree to work together. Personally, I’m hoping for the duel. I’ve never seen two grown men fight to the death with swords. I’ll be your second, Vex, since I know all Maddox’s weaknesses.”

My cousin is a nut, but she defused the situation pretty well.

She saunters over to Vex. “Can you play nicely? Or should I handle it myself?”

Dyce is going to get the two of us killed one of these days. Why doesn’t that girl have any natural fear?

Vex growls at her.

“I’ll take that as a yes and leave you two to sort out the details. Take as long as you like. It’s been a while since Dahlia and I had a chat.” She saunters off, closing the door after her.

“Your cousin is a pain.”

“Every day of my life.” Especially when she was a teenager and decided to become part of the Deathadders.

“Let’s figure this out before she gets irritated and starts telling Dahlia stories about the old days.”

She wouldn’t tell Mindy stories about our childhood, would she? “Better make it fast. But there’s one little catch.”

“I haven’t liked a word you’ve said today, and I’m sure I’m not going to like this one. Tell me.”

It’s the reason I haven’t already tossed Adonis in the dungeon. “When I was looking for Mindy, we found a bag of cash in his apartment.”

“That’s not strange. Everyone has a go bag filled with cash.”

Not everyone. Maybe I should add one to my collection of guns. “This case was different. It looked very similar to one used by a child trafficking ring we just broke up. The leader told us that Plant was the one providing the children.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me this immediately?”

“Things have been a little distracting around here.”

“Understandable. But that could mean Plant sold Marlie to human traffickers.”

“And Adonis knew or was possibly helping him.”

“That changes how we need to approach this.”

It makes killing him a whole lot more complex. “We could make it look like a random kidnapping?”

“That’s an idea. But do you think he told anyone about Mindy or Dahlia?”

“It’s possible.” Adonis seems bold enough to try anything. “What do we do?”

“Wait.”

No! I want to rip him apart with my bare hands. Feed him to my snakes. Beat on him until he hurts more than Mindy ever will. “We can’t wait forever.”

“We can wait until it’s safe for our women. Mindy’s yours, right? That little slip-up of yours sounded a lot like you claimed her.”

“She doesn’t know it yet.”

“Why not? She’s been living with you for weeks now.”

Does everyone know everything about my life? Probably. They’re all gossips and meddlers. “It hasn’t been the right time.”

“The right time? You don’t wait for the right time. It’ll never come. If you want her, you need to stake your claim before some other idiot tries to do it first. You’ve already moved her in. Put a ring on her finger and get it done. This marriage thing is pretty amazing. When they aren’t driving you out of your mind. Which is most of the time, but it’s still worth it.”

To be with Mindy would be worth anything.