Page 1 of The Chief
Prelude
“I’ll give you what you want, Owen. But onlyifyou let him walk out of here unharmed.”
I had played my ace. Now, I had to hope Owen’s ego was large enough he would take the bait.
He stared at me, unblinking.
Keir’s gaze was also fixed on me, trying to figure out my plan. He had to know I would never willingly go with this madman, but I couldn’t let Owen kill him. What started as a hate fuck and attempts to kill one another had somehow turned into a bond most people never got to experience.
“You’ll bind yourself to me for the rest of your life?” Owen asked.
“No!” Keir shouted desperately. “Jynx, you can’t do this.”
Turning my head, I looked at the man who had peeked behind all my curtains and still accepted me for the person I was, rather than my previous actions. I was a murderer. An instigator of war. A victim. Yet to him, I was something precious he wanted to protect. I’d never experienced that first-hand before Keir. I was always the one protecting others. My mother, even when she didn’t deserve it. Orla, because the girl deserved everything inthis shitty game of life we were playing. My identity. My location. My body. And my heart.
Keir could single-handedly tear down my entire world, and in that moment, I would’ve let him. I would still let him…
But first, we both had to get out of this alive.
Chapter 1
Molly
A Week Ago…
Inever thought I’d see him again.
Nothere.
Not like this.
I froze, my rucksack perched on my right shoulder, wondering whether I could turn back around and disappear into the packed halls of the college building behind me.
I knew it was impossible. He’d already seen me.
He was here forme.
Grady Nolan strolled casually across the street, his black leather jacket hanging casually from his broad shoulders. He prowled across the courtyard like the predator he was, his cold, dark eyes laser focused, and fixed on me.
“Molly.” His voice sent a rush of memories over me—memories of those early days, of the nights we spent together wrapped in each other’s arms. I’d thought he was my one and only—my forever—but it hadn’t taken me long to sink into the pattern my mother had excelled at modeling.
The first time Grady had hit me, I’d brushed it off as a onetime thing.
The second time, I’d blamed myself for goading him.
And the third time it was for nothing more than giving him an answer he didn’t want to hear.
Realization had finally struck me like a sledgehammer to the side of the head. This manhurtme. He’d hurt me too many times.
I was forced to run.
To get away from him.
But now he had caught up with me.
He stopped in front of me, and I caught of whiff of his cologne. Something citrusy with an undertone of ginger that always made me think of him, even after all these years. “I finally found you.”
I winced. I thought I’d done enough to stay off his radar, but I should’ve known a man like him would catch up with me eventually. Guess I really was my mother’s daughter.
