Page 34 of Until Delilah

“There were a few times I’d overhear him on the phone, but the second he knew I was anywhere near he’d get off. It was then I started looking for cameras in the house because how would he know where I was. The one’s I did find wouldn’t explain how he knew of my location in those moments.”

She looks up and cups my face. “Are you sure you want to know?” I nod, needing to know everything. “Because once you do, there’s no going back. I feel like I’ve already put your life and the lives of the people you love in danger by staying here and getting close to you.”

I want to tell her she’s among the ones that I love, but now isn’t the time. She needs to get this off her chest. Plus, if she only knew of the trouble the women and men in the Mayson family had been in, she might think differently.

“I need to know everything. Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

“I hope you’re right. The night everything happened, Bradley came home, and he was angrier than I’d ever seen anyone in my life. He stormed through the house and went into his office and slammed the door shut. At first, my natural inclination was to stay away, but after hearing him on and off the phone for two hours yelling, I had to know what was going on. When I looked for cameras, I never saw any leading to his office, but now I know he must have had one put in otherwise he never would have known I was outside his door.”

I smooth my hand down her back and hold her close. “It’s not your fault he’s a bad man. I’m just happy you and Beckham are away from him now.”

“I don’t know it all, but what I know is enough to get his entire family put in prison. From what I gathered, Bradley has a drug business on the side. That’s bad enough, but they’ve been smuggling women in and out of the border with drugs. Women that have been sold to them by others who couldn’t pay off their debts. One of the women died at the airport and I don’t know how, but she had something that would lead authorities back to the Stanton family if they found it.”

Delilah looks around the park and when her eyes come back to me, she has tears streaming down her face. “He… ordered…” She hiccups and starts to cry in earnest now. “He ordered them all to be killed.”

Hugging her to me, I cradle her to my chest. “It’s okay, beauty. I’m here and won’t let him hurt you ever again.”

“That’s what scares me.”

My brows furrow. “What’s that?”

“That you’ll do something to protect me and get yourself hurt or killed.”

“Now that I know who we’re dealing with, we need to be more vigilant about making sure our surroundings are more secure. I’ll talk to Cobi who’s a police officer and see what he suggests.” She looks up at me with wide eyes. Her cheeks are pink and wet with tears. “I won’t give him specifics, but enough for them to advise me on what I need to do to keep everyone safe.”

She tries to wipe the tears away, but more follow. “He’ll probably tell you to dump the dead weight and pretend like you never knew me.”

“That’s not ever going to happen. Do you hear me? You’re mine now and I’m not going to let some sketchy, lying, murdering bastard take you away from me.”

“I should have left sooner.” She nuzzles her face into my neck and whimpers. “I think as things escalated, that’s when he started to keep me more and more isolated from the world. He never planned on me finding out.”

Likely until she was a casualty.

“He knows what I know, and he’s not going to stop looking for me.”

Unfortunately, she’s more than likely right. It hasn’t been that long. Only a matter of weeks.

“Maybe as time goes on and he realizes you’re not going to do anything with the information, he’ll forget about you and move on.” Even as I say the words, I know they’re only to make us both feel better. Delilah’s right. He’ll likely never stop keeping an eye out for her.

I flip the ends of her hair, and it makes me want to see what she looked like as a blonde because I know I won’t be able to see her natural hair color until she’s safe from them.

Hugging her tighter, I kiss the top of her head. “Thank you for telling me. You did the right thing. I only hope now I can make it easier for you. I’ll ask around to see if we can find someone who will keep you and the baby off the books.”

She nods into my chest and when she speaks her voice is muttered, but I can still make it out. “Is this too much for you?”

I pull her back so she can see the truth in my eyes when I tell her. “Not even a murdering ex-boyfriend is going to keep me away.”

“You, Max Black, might be crazy.” She smiles and sniffs.

Never did I think I’d be in this position or find my person like my dad did, but now that I’ve found her, there’s nothing and no one who will take her away from me.

14

Max

The secondwe pull into the garage, Delilah’s parents pull up in their rental car. They’ve got big smiles on their faces while I can’t hide the frown marring my own. I thought I’d have a little more time with Delilah before the house was full again.

“Mama,” Beck hops out of the car and runs straight for his mom. “Did you know GiGi and PopPop are going to buy a house here?”

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