Page 81 of Wickedly Played
She’s trying to receive absolution for yelling at me, I know that’s what she’s doing. I have two choices: run or stay here and try to work this out.
Instead of doing what I should do, I grab my stuff and walk out of the locker room. Max is waiting for me in the hallway, and he must be able to read everything on my face. Max, unfortunately, was the one who was on the receiving end of my wrath. He’s the one who will have to take the verbal beating.
“I’m going home,” I tell him as I stroll past him.
“Baby, what the actual fuck is going on?”
I’m shaking in my heels. I reach into my bag to grab the file I found on the desk in my house. Holding it up, I see Max’s face fall. “What is this?”
“Fuck,” he blurts.
“No. What the fuck is this? Have you been gathering intel on my family?”
We are standing in the middle of the hallway at Alpha, but I have to get this out. I have to know what his plan is. I can’t have another thing blown up in my face. I can see his mind working as he tries to think of something to say back to me. “I want the truth.”
He looks from the file back to me, shaking his head. “I can’t tell you yet.”
Jamming the file back into my bag, I reach into the pockets of his pants, fish out my keys, and then practically run out the door.
More secrets. More lies. More keeping me in the dark. After getting my ass handed to me by Stella, I can’t do another confrontation. Max is banging on the glass windows of my SUV, but I zoom off.
I quickly call Jim, who answers on the first ring. “Serena, what the fuck is going on?”
“I’m going out of town for a few days. Message my clients and tell them that I’m leaving.” I hang up before he can respond.
After seeing Glenna Murray, being drugged, being dominated by my bodyguard, my violating me like this, and then this shit with Stella and Max?
I’m overloaded. I can’t do anything more.
My brain is throbbing from overstimulation. I can’t think anymore.
I park outside my house to run inside and get some stuff before I leave. I haven’t checked out plane tickets yet, but I know I want to be someplace warm… on a beach.
Before I got married to Connor, and even before I had to start fulfilling my duties as a mob daughter, I spent a few summers on a beach in Aruba. I loved spending time there. I especially loved how free it felt to just be without the expectations of being a McGuire. The summer before I turned eighteen was the last time I visited Aruba.
I was in such a hurry that I didn’t realize the alarm hadn’t gone off when I stormed through my house. I am also distracted that I didn’t recognize that my front door was unlocked, either.
My suitcase is packed, and I’m running down my stairs to leave as soon as possible. The quicker I get out of here, the better. My emotions can’t handle anything more than what has been thrown at them. This is too much.
I can’t do it anymore.
Once my foot steps on the bottom stairs, I feel a slight scratch on my neck. My hand tries to slap whatever it is away, but then everything gets dark. Everything gets heavy.
Then I see the one figure I didn’t expect to see.
What the hell is happening here?
“Serena,” he greets me as I blackout.
Chapter Thirty-Three
MAX
I’m running out the door just in time to see the taillights flying out of the parking lot. “Fuck!” I shout. Stella and Deacon are hot on my heels until they see the missing Escalade from the driveway. “Mother fucker!” I growl.
My phone is ringing in my pocket as I fish it out. “Yeah?” I answer Jim’s call.
“Want to tell me why Serena just canceled her next appointments and said she’s going out of town?” His voice is harsh from rage.
