Page 100 of Married to Number 22
But I don’t loosen my grip enough to discern it.
“Do you get me?” I grit out and because it feels so good to put the fucker in his place, I shake him again. “Doyouget me?”
A bobbing nod, even as the purple shade of his face darkens, as he scrabbles at my hand.
“Aiden,” Luna murmurs, lightly touching my arm. “Honey, it’s okay?—”
I glance at her then shake John again. “It’s not fuckingokayfor him to do this shit to you. He’s hurt you. He’s put you through hell. He fucking pushed Bri”—I see Bri twitch out of the corner of my eyes, but I’m too busy choking John to look at her—“and he was going tohityou?—”
“Honey.” Her hand slides to mine, gently tugging at my fingers, silently encouraging me to let go. “I’ve got this.”
I suck in a breath, striving for control.
I don’t find it.
I still have to force myself to loosen my fingers slowly, one by one, to step back, and I can’t stop myself from staring him down as I say, “Touch her again and I will fuckingendyou.”
“I will fucking sue you,” he rasps out, clutching at his throat.
“We have a dozen witnesses for your assault on a minor,” I say. “You really want to play that game?”
Luna laces her fingers with mine, squeezes, and I take the cue to shut the fuck up.
My palms still itch to hit him, but my woman is in complete control as she says, “You were right, I don’t want the dirty money. And I don’t need it. I have Gram’s place and I have good people taking my back like Aiden and Kathy and Mike?—”
“And me.”
My eyes skim to the right, seeing that Smitty’s come up, flanking her other side.
“And I have Smitty,” she murmurs, face softening slightly when she looks at my teammate.
“And me,” Gray says.
“And Gray.” Her throat works.
“And me,” Bri says, stepping out of the circle of my mom’s arm, her shoulders ramrod straight.
“And you have me,” Joel says.
“And Joel.”
“Not to jump in on this wholeI am Spartacusthing,” Jace says. “But you also have me.”
Frank pales, terror growing, clearly recognizing the billionaire biomedical tycoon.
But it’s what his expression does when Jean-Michel chimes in, “And me,” that truly warms my heart.
Luna is compassion and kindness, strength and life…but her father only respects money and power and…
Fear.
And Jean-Michel can evoke that in spades.
I grin, no longer wanting to commit murder.
If I’m in jail, I won’t get to see the pain he dishes out to the Maybelle assholes.
“And Jean-Michel Dubois and Jace Henderson,” Luna tells them, her chin lifting higher. “So, yes, we can absolutely take this battle to court. We can draw it out for years and years andyears.” Her tone hardens. “But I’m not going to give up. And because of that, I’m going to win.” She glances up at me. “Because how can’t I with all of these great people at my side?”
