Page 54

Maddox

“It feels like so long since we’ve been here.” Mindy takes a deep breath as we step inside the apartment.

Coming home feels amazing. But coming home dating the woman I love is even better. I set her suitcases on a chair in the closet for her to empty whenever she’s ready. “A few days never felt so long.” I grab a trash bag from the box in the pantry.

“What is that for?” Mindy follows me back into the closet.

“I need to move something into my new apartment.”

“Huh?” She tips her head to the side.

“You’re well enough now that I can’t justify sleeping with you as taking care of you. So, I need to move out until we’re married.”

“But—”

“No, buts. Until we’re married, I’ll sleep in my own apartment, and you’ll sleep in yours.” Which was mine. It gives me some comfort knowing that every night she’s sleeping in my bed…and equal amounts of torment.

“That makes no sense. What if we never get married?”

My heart clenches. “Then that’s something we’ll just have to deal with.” It’s not going to happen. I’m going to make her mine.

There’s a knock on the front door.

Weird. Something must be up.

Mindy gives me an eyebrow raise.

“Work never ends.” I walk to the front door, and she heads into the closet.

“Is your phone broken?” Canyon asks.

“Hello to you, too. It’s perfectly fine.” I pull it out of my pocket and find a blank screen. Oh! “I turned it off because there was no service at the wedding venue.” I hold up a finger, asking him to wait a second. “Mindy, turn your phone back on.”

Her head pokes out of the closet. “Oh. Thanks. I forgot all about it.”

A million messages pop up. I go away for a weekend, and the world falls apart. “Did someone die?” I ask semi-jokingly.

Canyon’s face gets all serious.

Someone died.

Someone died while I was away.

Take a breath. They need you to hold it together.

“Maddox.” Mindy steps out of the closet. “I’ve got to run out and meet my brother.”

She actually told me before leaving. Progress. “Okay. I’ll get one of the guys to drive you.”

“No.” She slings her purse over her shoulder and walks up to me. “I’ll take a cab. I just don’t want you to worry.”

A protest wants to come out. But part of a relationship is give and take. She’s told me where she’s going and who she’s with. “Okay. Call me if you're going to be late.”

“I will, but he probably can’t stay long. He has a baby to get back home to.” She stands there staring at me, waiting. “Oh fine, I’ll do it myself.” She pushes up on her tiptoes and kisses me.

A soft, sweet kiss that’s more of a tease than anything else.

“Bye.” She rushes out the door.

“Mindy was waiting for you to kiss her. It’s customary for people who are in a relationship to kiss each other when they separate for a short time.”

“I know that.” Now.

“So that means you two are officially together.” Canyon’s grinning like a fool.

“We are.” And it’s amazing. But now isn’t the time to think about how wonderful dating is. “Who died?”

“The council is waiting in your office. They assembled as soon as your car hit The Street.”

“Then why are we waiting?” I rush out of my office.

There’s a weird air about the room. It doesn’t feel like one of the kids died or another brother. It’s not morose enough for that. There’s an air almost like everyone is wired, waiting for something bad to happen. “Who died?”

Jacko stands up and locks the door behind me. “Adonis died yesterday.”

What? “Vex said he’d wait. That we’d do it together.”

“He did wait.” Jacko sets Cow in the cage. “He came looking for you yesterday to ask why you didn’t wait. Adonis wasn’t murdered. He was hit by a car yesterday while crossing the street. The police are ruling it an accident.”

Dead. Accident. A hit and run. None of that makes sense.

Right as we were starting to figure out ties. It’s just too convenient.

“Enzo, can you get me a video of the accident?” I need to see for myself that it’s real. This feels too big. I pick up my phone and call Ethan.

“Hey, Kid.”

It’s hard not to smile when I hear his voice. Ethan is the father mine never was. “Can you come down? I need to pick your brain.”

“Sure, Kid. I was on The Street, anyway. Emilia was looking to say hi to your woman again.”

“She’s visiting her brother right now.” I watch her little dot move through Urbium’s streets. She has family that she actually likes. I need to meet Waylon and his wife. Maybe we can invite them for dinner.

“Up next is meeting yours. Emilia expects her for dinner. Soon.”

Which means Ethan wants to meet Mindy. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. I’ll tell Emilia and be right up there.” He hangs up the phone.

I start to dial when Jacko says, “If you’re calling Vex, he’s down by the bakery. Dahlia is going over wedding cake stuff with Fea.”

“Canyon.”

“On it.” He jumps up and rushes off.

“I learned a lot while on this little trip with Mindy, but I’ll wait until everyone is here to update you guys. Did anything else happen while I was gone?”

Pit jumps up. “We got more baby pictures.” He holds out a black-and-white screenshot.

It still looks like a blob… “Wait, is that a little hand?”

“Sure is. My baby knows how to wave already. He’s advanced for his age.”

HE? “You’re having a boy?”

“We are!” Pit lights up as tears fill his eyes. “My son is growing so fast.”

“Tonight we celebrate.”

The room cheers.

“What are we celebrating?” Ethan steps in.

“My son.” Pit walks up to show him the blob just as Vex enters the room.

“You really didn’t kill him?” Vex doesn’t bother with the niceties.

Don’t I wish I had. “No. I was off grid getting inducted into the Linckester family.”

Ethan whistles. “That’s bad news. You couldn’t back away slowly and then run in the other direction?”

“Turns out Mindy’s mom married none other than Percival Linckester.”

“And now Filmore is claiming you.” Ethan shakes his head. “You got us all into a fair bit of trouble this weekend.”

“It gets worse…”

“Linckester isn’t behind the human trafficking,” Ethan says, after I shared everything I learned this weekend.

“But they’re both involved, and they are cousins.” Kissing cousins, as some would say, but still related enough for that has to be a factor.

“Linckester won’t sell women. He’ll kill a million people without blinking, but he doesn’t tolerate trafficking women. His mother was trafficked. Linckester’s father rescued her. I’ve seen Filmore beat a man until he was bloodied for joking about it. There’s no way he knew or was involved. Past that, any of them could be involved.”

“Marlie was sold to a prostitution ring?” Vex leans forward, tapping his fingers together. “It just doesn’t make sense with what I learned about the aliens.”

“Adonis and Plant sold those girls.” That I know for sure.

“We need to deal with one thing at a time. How are you going to deal with Filmore? He wants you. He’s always wanted to get his hands on one of the men I’ve trained. Before T&T was big, he tried hiring me. That was a job I wasn’t foolish enough to take, regardless of the money. And he has that and power.”

Both are dangerous.

“Not to mention, he has the US government practically in his pocket. The only man with more power is Kamenev, and I wouldn’t want to pit the two of them against each other to see who wins.” Ethan shakes his head.

“I say we just kill him.” Vex grins.

That’s always Vex’s solution.

“You can’t kill one without killing them all. Filmore is about to pick his successor. It’s going to be one of his sons, but my bet is he picks Percival. He was always the favorite child. The most twisted of the bunch. The question is, do we risk sending Maddox in to tear it apart from the inside out?”

My first instinct is to say yes. “I have Mindy.”

“She’s your in, but also your worry. If you get caught, it won’t be just you that dies. After he kills her, he’ll come for every person on The Street. This might not be a hive you want to kick.” Ethan shakes his head. “We need to wait. To listen and learn more. I’d say you turn Filmore down, politely.”

My phone rings. It’s Mindy! “One second, guys.” I answer the video call. “Hey—”

Tears stream down her face. “They told me to call you.”

“Who told you? Where are you?”

“The men. They said to tell you they want their money. And if they don’t get it, they’ll kill me.”

A knife plunges down, and Mindy screams.

The call disconnects.

I pull up the tracker on her phone. It moves for a second. Then blinks away.