Page 19 of Savage Hearts

He was exactly like Dad, who had used my fear and his strength to control me.

I was right back to where I had been, only this time, I had new prison wardens.

He kissed my temple, and I could feel a small tic twitching in the side of my jaw.

The truck was already out front waiting for us and, like last night, Maverick took the driver’s seat, Killian sat up front with him, and Silas sat in the back with me, testing the limit of my personal space.

It was pointless to try to put any space between us. Silas soon ate it up, and the three men took up so much energy in the car, it was almost suffocating.

I took a deep breath when Silas reached over and buckled me in.

My eyes met Maverick’s dark, unreadable blue eyes in the rearview mirror before he drove us out of the hotel lot.

The trip was silent.

I couldn’t even bring myself to pay attention to my surroundings or to what the brothers were discussing. Despite having gone to bed earlier than usual, I was bone tired.

Once I regained some strength and could come up with an escape plan, things had to be okay. And this time, I would go where no one knew me. Where there was no connection—as I was sure that was how they’d found me.

They found out about my mom’s connection in New Orleans.

I had made it too easy for the brothers to find me.

It wouldn’t be a mistake I made twice.

For now, we were going back to Chicago.

4

MAVERICK

I leanedback in the office chair and closed my eyes.

A small headache was already starting to form behind my eyelids.

It had been three days since we’d returned with the little monster.

Three days of her staying holed up in her room.

If I were a smart man, I wouldn’t let myself be this affected by Mila.

But I wasn’t smart—at least, not when it came to my brothers and, apparently, not when it came to her.

I had done a lot of shitty things in my thirty-five years of life. Bad shit that had gotten most men locked up for life. I wasn’t a good man, but I had never taken a woman against her will.

This was a first, and I supposed I should feel guilty over that, but fuck me, I wasn’t.

I could hide behind the excuse that Silas wanted her badly enough to cross every line, every fucking imaginable boundary there was, but I wasn’t trying very hard to stop him.

And I didn’t give a fuck.

I could say my sympathy for the girl didn’t exist because of the dirty blood running in her veins.

But, Daniel Hayes’ daughter or not, there was no denying the truth.

I fucking wanted her too.

We left her alone—mostly—considering how much shit needed to get done now that the old president was no more.

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