Page 72 of Mace

“He’s not going to let me go.”

“He’s not going to have a choice.”

She shakes her head and sags against the wall behind her. “It’s not that simple. He controls everything.”

He controls nothing, but I don’t bother to fight her train of thought on that. She is so scared, all she sees is the power he has in their dynamic. “We’ll leave. Head out of town, to somewhere he won’t be able find you?—”

“I can’t. He’ll never let me go.” Tears stream down her cheeks. “I’m pregnant.”

The ground beneath me feels as if it shifts, but I’mpretty sure I’m still standing after she delivers that information. I watch as she sobs brokenly, sliding down the wall to her backside.

Toby looks at me, his face pale, and for a moment, I regret him being involved in this conversation at all, until he slides down next to our sister and wraps his arms around her. She goes willingly, her head resting against him as she cries.

“Maylie is right. He ain’t having you, or your baby.”

The fierceness in his voice sends a shiver of pride through me. But my problems just increased ten-fucking-fold. We’re barely keeping afloat as it is. The promise of my new job and my wage increase was going to fix my money problems, but babies need so much stuff.

That’s a problem for another day. Right now, I need to be Ivy’s safety net.

I push all of that into a box somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind as I sink down on the other side of her, the three of us huddled together as Ivy cries.

I have to swallow back my own tears at just how broken my sister is. “How long have you known about the pregnancy?”

“He made me take a test a few days ago. I think he suspected long before I did. I didn’t know the symptoms.”

“You’re on the pill.” I don’t mean for it to sound accusatory, but it should have protected her from this.

“He wouldn’t let me take it. When he found the packet in my stuff… he… he…” Her shoulders twitch as a sob bubbles up her throat.

I can only imagine what he did to keep her.Sick fucking bastard.

“It doesn’t matter,” I assure her, pulling her headagainst me and stroking her hair. “We’ll figure it out. Whatever you decide to do, I’ll be there every step of the way, Ivy.”

“I don’t deserve your help. I’ve been so horrible to you, to both of you.”

“None of that matters now.”

What does matter is finding a way to keep my sister and my unborn niece or nephew safe. I don’t have the money to leave right away, despite my earlier declaration, and I don’t trust Ivy to be in a place where she’s strong enough to deny him.

I need help.

And that’s not something I’m good at asking for, but I don’t know what else to do. I can’t lose my sister. I can’t let her be tied to that prick with a baby in tow. She’ll never be free of him.

There’s only one person I can think of who can help us, and going to him is going to throw a grenade between what we’ve been building. He’s going to end whatever budding relationship we might have been growing the moment he finds out the trouble I’m in.

There’s a moment of grief for what could have been, but I shove that into the box in my mind too. Ivy is all that matters right now. At least I had those few moments with Mace where I got to be free.

“Grab some clothes, enough for a few days, and be ready to leave in five minutes.”

I deliver the order as I push to my feet and head to my room. I don’t have Mace’s number or his address, but the location of the Sons’ clubhouse is public information.

I pull up the browser on my phone and double check the address before quickly stuffing a few items of clothesinto a bag alongside my phone charger, my purse, and the photo album I have of my mum.

As soon as we’re all ready, I call a taxi. We wait in the flat until the driver is outside, and only then do we leave. I half expect Link to be waiting outside the building for us, but he obviously thinks his hold on my sister is strong enough that he can just click his fingers and she will come running.

I’m not sure he’s not wrong about that.

As soon as we’re in the car, I let some of the tension within me seep out, and when I give the driver the address, he does a double take in the rearview mirror before pulling out onto the road.

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