Page 12 of Psycho

His eyes tightened around the corners, and faint lines showed in his skin. “The Hell Eaters blackmailed you?”

“Damon did.” I clarified.

“What does he have over you?” Maddox questioned, but I waved him off.

“It doesn’t matter. Either way, I gave into it.”

“The prostitutes that work in The Velvet Cage aren’t cheap, are they?”

“No, they’re not.”

“Making the Johns, influential men.” He surmised. It was kind of nice not having to explain it all to him, one detail at a time.

“Yes, they are.”

“And you stole from them, essentially.” He sat upright.

“That’s how Damon spun it when he got caught.” I admitted, “And I suddenly found myself on the shit list of about thirty different powerful men that I couldn’t pay back.”

“Because you never saw the money, did you?”

“Never.” I sighed, “I just worked on the computers to move it from them to him.”

“How’d they find out?”

I shrugged, “The same way the bad guys do when every shitty plan falls apart. Greed. He took too much, too many times, and they connected the dots.”

“Why did he kidnap you, then?” He ran his hand over his beard, “Why not just hand you off to them?”

I scoffed and smiled for the first time in a while, “Because I’m really fucking good at what I do. If he gave them histool, they’d use it against him. And he’d be the one left out in the end.”

Maddox sat up and I watched that missing piece fall into place for him. Dane and he had found out about the Velvet Cage but couldn’t figure out why Damon held me prisoner instead of just killing me. “He was going to sell you to the highest bidder.” With a curse, he ran his hand up and down his thighs. “He was going to use you.”

“Bingo.” I whispered, “And now he lost the only thing that was going to keep his own head on his shoulders.”

His stare darkened, and he leaned forward again, staring right back at me, “He doesn’t win this, Olivia. He doesn’t get to hurt you anymore.”

“You don’t get it though,” I stared back at him, “It’s not just Damon Kirst that’s after me anymore. There are dozens of men;powerfulmen, hunting me down. They all either want to kill me or use me. If I could, I’d sever Damon’s head myself and throw it in a fucking shoe box and deliver it to the next most powerful man on the list and work my way up, but I can’t!” I shook my head as that same overwhelming sense of dismay washed over me. “I’m toast.”

He slowly rose to his feet and towered over me, so I had to lean all the way back in the chair to stare up at him, “No,youdon’t get it, Storm.” His phrase sounded like a pet name, and my stomach fluttered at the idea of being important enough to someone to have one of those, even if I didn’t understand it. “I told you the very first day right here in this living room that I’m the worst monster out there. And now you’re going to write me a list of every man that is after you.”

I shivered under the intensity of his stare and the power I felt in his words. I’d spent years around dark and depraved men thanks to my stupid desire to play with fire, but Maddox had a different aura around him than any man I’d ever met before.

Maddox didn’t fight or pretend to be powerful and dangerous.

He just fucking was.

“And then what are you going to do?” I asked, licking my lips as I fought through the fear and the arousal fighting for control over my good senses.

His obsidian black eyes fell to my lips, and he licked his own, like he could taste them that way.

“And then I’m going to let my psycho loose to save you.” His eyes fell to my stomach under the blanket, “And your baby.”

Chapter 7 – Maddox

“Tell me again why we’re not starting with Damon?” Dane asked as we walked through the dark yard of a man on my list.

Thirty-two men, including Damon Kirst, leader of the Hell Eaters crew, were on my list. And my mouth watered, imagining how much blood would pour in Olivia’s name.

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