Page 60 of Monster

I didn’t greet anyone as I walked straight to my office and looked out the glass window that separated my office from the work area.

Fuck, but I needed to get my head on straight.

I was acting like Roman had when he tried to hide Ryleigh from the club.

I couldn’t afford the distraction.

Not as president.

Not when there were so many people depending on me.

My mind had been fucked since the moment I decided to bring the little wildcat home with me, and I couldn’t reason why I had done this, even to myself.

I could have thrown some money her way and told her to stay out of California, out of the country, until this shit got resolved.

But I wanted her close, even if her closeness did fuck with my mind.

I leaned back in the chair and tried to focus on what was important.

My club. My business.

My brothers and my boys.

There was always some shit that needed to be done, and I couldn’t let the prim-and-proper piano teacher mess with my mind, even if I was the one who brought her into my messed-up world.

She might have gotten close to my world when she helped Braxton, but I was the one who dragged her fully into it, ignoring her kicking and screaming, and keeping her in my house under the fucked-up guise of protecting her.

I still didn’t know who the fuck had tried to mess with my son.

There was nothing to go on, and the idea of this being an inside job came back to mind.

Who would have known about Braxton’s schedule, where the hell he would be that day, other than my brothers in the club?

Perhaps I had gotten too soft over the years.

Too fucking lenient.

I used to think I ruled this club with an iron fist. How could that fucking be true with a traitor in the midst?

But that was going to fucking change.

It was time to set some rat traps.

10

EMMY

Lucy left early—aroundsix o’clock—once dinner was made and the kitchen was cleaned.

She made roast beef and brussel sprouts, and though it smelled amazing, food was the last thing on my mind.

My emotions had been flying all over the place all day.

I envied her freedom to go home. I was getting cabin fever.

I was sick and tired of looking at the walls in the huge house, sick of the men I caught sight of loitering out front, whose one job was to keep me here until Dominic came home, and I was—

I took a deep breath.

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