Page 136 of Maddox

Right before I tossed the entire bottle in his face.

I burst out laughing, covering my mouth to keep from making too much noise.

He wiped his face, his chest rising and falling.

“Maybe that will cool you off, baby,” I cooed.

While he grinned, I could tell by the fierce look in his eyes I was in trouble. He lunged toward me, the weight of his massive body crushing me against the bed. As we rolled and I struggled to take control, we both laughed.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so free.

A sudden memory sparked my mind from the past. After making the call a couple of nights before, I’d hoped to have a return call.

There’d been nothing but silence.

Maybe I was wrong, but there’d been a time when the two of us had been close, not this close, but enough I’d known I meant something more than just convenience.

“What’s wrong?” he asked when he realized my mind wasn’t in the game.

I laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “Which bad man is coming after us?”

“Don’t worry. You’ll be safe. I promise you that.”

I knew the plan in using the lure I’d suggested. It was a good one, but it still felt as if we were sitting ducks.

The three men had spent time booby-trapping the house and the immediate area surrounding it, but they certainly couldn’t protect the animals or other structures. Maybe we were fooling ourselves that we could handle an army of men intent on killing me.

“I know you’ll try. I’m not afraid of dying.”

“Let’s not worry about it right now. We’ll know if anyone is on the property. Cameras are installed everywhere. Everything is in motion.”

Everything. He’d finally let Gray know about the drive, which was part of a plan he and Kage had cooked up. They’d purposely kept me from learning every detail. While irritating, that’s the kind of controlling man Maddox was. He wanted to keep me protected at all times.

“I know. The three of you have done your best.”

I cupped his face, longing to say the words that had been on my mind for days, but the timing wasn’t right. Plus, I wasn’t entirely certain he wanted to hear them.

“You need to have a little faith, Charmaine. I got you out of a jungle. I can get you out of this.”

He was doing his best to act like what we might face wasn’t any big deal. We both knew otherwise.

The sound was one I’d programmed for when certain news popped up. I jerked into a sitting position, locking eyes with Maddox.

“What?” he asked.

I grabbed my phone from the nightstand, navigating to the article itself. There it was in black and white on the first page.

We were playing a dangerous game, but one that was necessary. Copies of everything on the drive with proof of involvement had been sent to the FBI and CIA directors, another to the head of the justice department with still another to theChicago Sun’s attorneys. The timing had been layered so the article would hit the streets first. The others would receive their copies later. Could we be arrested for our actions?

Maybe.

But it was my guess the various law enforcement agencies had bigger fish to fry.

I handed him the phone. “It begins.”

“No,” he said after a few seconds. “Soon this will end and you can return to your life.”

As I looked into his eyes, I read between the lines.

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