Page 171 of Are You Going to Love Me

“You know, we can charge your girl with being an accessory. Being that she’s Poppi’s Girl. Isn’t that what you called her? Granddaughter of a queenpin, pregnant with a heavyweight’s kid, having that baby in prison. Those headlines aren’t going to read good for you. You might as well give us what we want now. We got all the evidence.”

Still, Maximus said nothing, just glowered in amusement. It was Eden that kept him level, otherwise he would’ve come up popping his shit. All of this was bigger than him and his ego. This was bigger than the threat of him going back to prison. Eden was carrying, creating, and growing a part of him, and every move he made, he had to make with that in mind. He lost too much time already; he couldn’t afford to lose more. So, if that meant he sat here daydreaming about how he wanted to wreck that man’s shit, then he would.

They sat in this standoff for what felt like hours, until his lawyer arrived. Adam Grim, the best defense lawyer on the East Coast. He looked at the detective after giving Maximus the nod that everything was fine.

“Question number one, did you charge him with a crime?” Adam questioned.

“RICO, along with his brother when we find him, Mama, and Anzel.”

“Question number two, did you read him his rights?” Adam challenged.

“I’m sure my officers did.”

“I’m sure they didn’t. You and your fed friends failed to realize that my client and his partner are entertainers. There’s always a camera somewhere. You unlawfully entered their home without a warrant. You held them at gunpoint, you arrested them, and you planted drugs. All on camera. Now, three thingsare going to happen. First, they’re all going to be released. Second, you’ll issue an apology for disturbing their lives. Three, you’ll pay up for this unprofessional mishap.”

The detective grumbled something inaudible.

Adam continued. “You should be happy that you didn’t get kicked off the force when you were undercover attempting to pay for a date and whatever else. Whatever Mama has on you and your team of lackies, I’ll find out and I’ll expose it brick by fuckin’ brick. Maximus, Eden is outside in the sprinter waiting on you.”

Maximus stood. For clarification he asked, “So all this shit is null and void?”

Adam nodded. “Yes.”

A smile crossed Maximus’ face as he wiped his nose. “See you around.”

The detective placed his hands on his hips and looked back at the glass in disbelief.

fifty-seven

. . .

“Yo, E,”Brody called from his posted position on the side of the sprinter van. “You good?”

Eden rubbed her wrist and nodded. “Where’s Max?”

“He hasn’t come out yet,” Keon grumbled after finalizing his inspection of Staysha. “You good?”

“You know if you have so much as a scratch on you, he’s going to flip his shit,” Brody stated.

“I’m fine. Is he coming home or what?” Eden couldn’t focus on the last four hours. How she was pulled from a space of peace, pushed against the wall, and roughly placed in cuffs – all after hitting the wrong record button on the app. She couldn’t even focus on how the officers handling her taunted her as she was marched up the stairs like a criminal – “You’ll have that baby in prison” – her concern was fully on Maximus.

Him being torn from her wasn’t sitting well with her spirit at all. Maximus was like the air she breathed – without him, she didn’t know how her day-to-day, week to week, month to month would shape out. What was life without the one who’d given her life?

Neither Keon or Brody could answer, and neither were going to discuss the bullshit they were presented with while in custody. Before Eden’s mouth could form a word, a calmness washed over her – Maximus. The closer he got, the more her spirit settled back into its home. Back into its sanctuary.

A subtle touch to the small of her back and a rumble from Max. “Let’s go.”

One by one, they filed into the sprinter. Eden rested on Maximus. “Want to talk about it when we get home?”

He swayed his head. “We’re going to dinner. I got the crew at the house putting it back together.”

Eden allowed him the response without rebuttal. Soon, they were in a private room of Cashmere Carve, a steakhouse withinthe town limits of Cashmere Lakes. No one was going to bother them, record them, eavesdrop, or otherwise.

Everyone left their phones in the sprinter, not wanting to take any chances, especially because today’s raid came out of nowhere.

Staysha was the first to break the silence. “Would anyone like to tell me why I was thrown to the floor, carted off to jail, and accused of being an accessory to a crime I know, without question, I didn’t commit? And I’ve done some shit.”

Keon slid his hand down his face and huffed. He shared a look with Maximus. “Mama.”

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