Page 61 of Dangerous Command
“New Mexico?” she asked. “Let me see if Lucy’s available.”
There was pain in her voice at those words. I wanted to lock up Maddie and Mack inside of a bubble so that they could live their lives contentedly, but that wasn’t possible. No matter what we did, we were stuck in this messed-up world. The Adlers, Maddie and Mack, and Muro. Until one side was eliminated, we had to live in the middle of these secrets.
CHAPTER 17
Maddie
While we headed to New Mexico, I pushed away from the mixed-up feelings I had about Mack and Derek, and concentrated on our next task: Kit. While I knew I could count on my old friendship with Tina, I had a harder time convincing myself that I would be able to do the same with Kit. Though he had, at one point, looked after me,andI knew he had a place in his heart where he wanted to do the right thing—in the end, he was still on Muro’s side. He had been since we were teenagers.
During the flight there on the family’s newly purchased private jet, I kept looking over at Derek. Something was keeping him tied up. At first, I had tried to act like everything was normal, but he blew me off, not answering like he normally did. So I’d go back to looking out the window at the clouds passing beneath us. Should I have told him the truth, right then?
Back before the Adlers had destroyed the Midnight Miles Headquarters, I had told Demi, Axe’s wife, to contact the police, thinking that if she got a hold of Kit, then she might be able to make some traction. He had a soft spot for people like her, like I had once been. Young and with a firm belief in justice. But it wasn’t that simple. Even if the good Kit used to exist, that didn’t mean that he existed now. Years had passed. People changed. With time, even the best of men could become villains.
Derek was an example. I knew that in his heart, he truly did want to protect Mack and me. But what would happen when he learned the truth? When the secrets that I had been keeping all along were no longer there to keep us together?
The plane landed in a small, private airport. We exited onto the tarmac. Then, instead of the usual drivers, Derek opened the front door for me to sit beside him in the SUV. Hot air balloons in a rainbow of colors rose in the distance like a dream. I wished it was.
It’s a dream, I thought. But this time, I didn’t know if I would wake up.
An hour passed by in silence. Finally, I broke the quiet.
“What do we do if Kit doesn’t know where Muro is?” I asked. “What then?”
“Someone will know something.”
“But what if no one says anything?” I asked. “He might be the silent type. Unwilling to say a word.”
“He will,” Derek said. Confident. Powerful. Like no one could ever tell him differently.
“He might still be loyal to Muro,” I said, dipping my head, trying to gauge his reactions. Derek shook his head, finally turning from the road for a split second to glance at me. Then he adjusted his grip on the wheel.
“Then I’ll force it out of him,” he said.
“You can’t keep killing people until you find the answer you want,” I said. A hot rush washed over me, lingering in my cheeks. I regretted my words instantly. I knew who I was talking to. Why was I trying to change Kit’s fate?
“I can,” Derek said, “and I will. Don’t forget that, Maddie.”
My blood ran cold.Maddie,not Mads.
“You didn’t seem to care about Tina’s fate,” he said nonchalantly.
I crossed my arms. “You never threatened to kill Tina.”
“I would have.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I almost beat her husband to death.”
“I noticed.”
The tires on the asphalt and the hum of the engine were the only noises after that. The hot air balloons curled up into the sky. By the time we made it there, I had a headache so bad it felt like my head was going to explode, and a sick tension curled around my stomach and squeezed until I was nauseous. Tina knew how my past affected me, but Kit could sell me out now, and Derek would know everything. I was running straight into a trap.
What would he do? Would he kill me? Would he still protect Mack?
I couldn’t let anything happen until I knew for sure. Because once I proved that I wanted Muro dead just as much as Derek did, then any secrets that I had kept wouldn’t matter. We would be on the same side.
I needed to tell him on my own terms. After everything was done.
