Page 51 of Hunted Innocence

“It will,” I agree.

An hour later, the three of us are sitting in bed, eating pasta, garlic bread, mozzarella sticks, and have six different desserts to taste test waiting for us. I’m sure that Grayson will have an issue with us eating food in his bed, but I don’t care. Not today. I’ll wash his sheets tomorrow.

GRAYSON

Landon Tate sitsin front of me, his ass bare, his face bloodied, and his hate-filled gaze is focused on me. We’re waiting for Hale to appear. Brody grunts in the corner of the room, his gaze burning a hole into my back. He’s pissed at me, but he can’t be as pissed off as I am at myself.

I fucking hate myself.

Walking in on my woman being assaulted was not on my goddamn list for the day. I run my fingers through my hair, tugging on the ends, then tear my gaze from Landon and turn around before I walk toward the wall.

“You got a computer?” I ask Theron.

He hums, jerking his chin toward the back wall behind the fucker. Spinning around, I walk over to the computer, grab it from the table, then bring it back to the rest of us. Opening it, I turn it on before I take the thumb drive out of my pocket.

I shove the thumb drive into the side of the computer, open the drive, and the first thing I see is an image of a government official. I recognize him from posters and flyers. He ran for a government office and won.

He’s younger here, and naked, so I’m surprised I recognize him at all. Then there is a moment of silence after I step to the side. Touching a button on the keyboard, I watch as the next picture appears. It’s one that I don’t want to see because it involves my woman.

Then there’s another where he’s handing cash to Landon.

Sucking in a breath, I hold it and let it go slowly before I turn my head and look over at Landon, still half-naked on the floor. “Any idea why the fuck you are getting cash from a government official?” I ask.

Landon jerks his chin toward me. But he doesn’t say anything. There’s no use in his staying quiet at this point. What’s done is done. Whatever money he got is now gone, and so will his life be soon.

“When do we get to kill him?” Brody asks.

“Soon,” I say.

Before I can say anything else, before Brody can ask anything else, the door opens, and Hale walks through and into the room. “I see you found the drive,” he says, “and have started looking at the files.”

“I personally don’t want to see any more if I don’t have to,” Brody grunts.

I don’t want to see any more, either, at all. But this whole thing isn’t about me being comfortable. This is about justice. For both of us. For Nadine and me. Because honest to fuck, I do not want to see my woman abused for one more fucking second.

Pressing my lips together, I don’t say anything. I wait for Hale to do whatever the fuck he’s got planned to do. He movesfarther into the room, straight for Landon, and I watch as he plants his legs wide, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Your insurance is shit, and every single person is going to know that you are the reason for it.”

“Fuck you,” he snaps, blood and spittle flying everywhere.

Hale laughs, “No. I don’t think so. However, I can arrange for you to be fucked—if you want.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

GRAYSON

Hale turnsto look at me. “We need names,” he states. “All of them.”

I jerk my chin toward him, my eyes finding his before I speak. “Let’s catalog some shit, then.”

The last thing I want to do is catalog a damn thing, especially this shit. This is the kind of stuff that my nightmares are made of—well, all our nightmares.

However, I know that it needs to be done. I know that it does as much as I don’t want it to. I wish I could just throw this fucking drive in the trash and forget it ever existed.

Pressing my lips together, I look down at my feet and clear my throat before I inhale a deep breath and hold it for a moment. Letting it out on a heavy exhale, I stare at the asshole in front of me.

I want to kill him.

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