Page 59 of Pretty Lies & Ugly Truths

I sit up straight. So thatcouldbe the missing link connecting Maggie to the Boston area, but it still doesn’t tell me why someone is afterher.

There was no way Maggie ever lived there, and it doesn’t sound like Cara had any close relatives. At least, none willing to take her in. So why the sudden interest in Maggie? It still doesn’t make sense.

Lost in my thoughts, I must have stopped payingattention. It’s only when I hear a familiar name that I realize Beckham is still talking.

“Wait, what? Say that again.”

“Cara White is now known as Cara White-McGregor. Archer, Maggie’s biological mom is married to Colin McGregor.”

Fuuuuuck—and there it is, the shitty news I knew I wasn’t going to want to hear.

The McGregor family are old Irish money and about as corrupt as they come. Last I heard, Colin was set to take over the family business—the Irish fucking mob.

“So…what? Colin is her dad? Maggie told me her father was dead.”

“That I don’t know. There was no father listed on the birth certificate. However, rumor has it, she ran off with one of his guards—Maggie might be his kid.” I curse under my breath.

If that’s true, and Maggie is the product of her mother’s affair, then there is no telling what Colin plans to do to her. My heart beats violently in my chest, and I have this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that something isverywrong.

“Thanks, man. I gotta go.” I hang up, slamming the car into drive.

The urge to get to her is so overwhelming that I’m sure I break several traffic laws, as I race to her building.

Expecting the worst, I’m surprised when I pull up and everything appears normal. Her lights are off, and all the doors and windows are shut. There is nothing at all out of place, yet that feeling doesn’t subside.

I open the app on my phone, relieved to see Maggie’s location is still pinging inside her house.

I sit here for several minutes longer, warring with myself on what to do. Although, I want to respect her request for space, I just can’t shake this feeling.

Finally, I give up, knowing good and damn well I’m not going anywhere until I see with my own eyes that she is safe.

Killing the engine, I walk up the sidewalk to the front door.

My chest tightens when I turn the handle and find the front door already unlocked, the alarm disabled. Pushing it all the way open, I know at once that Maggie isn’t here.

I try to remain calm, determined not to jump to conclusions. I search her empty apartment for clues on where she might have gone. It’s possible she didn’t want to be alone. She could have gone to stay with Jane or to a friend’s house—or she may have freaked out and ran.

But even as I think it, I know in my heart that Maggie didn’t leave of her own accord.

That suspicion is confirmed when I see her phone sitting on the nightstand, still plugged into the charger, her purse on the table. My shoe steps on something slippery, and I look down to see Maggie’s dress from tonight crumpled on the floor. I bend down to pick it up, red seeping into my vision when I notice several crimson drops on the floor.

I swipe my finger through the now cold blood, the tang of copper pennies making my stomach roll. I stand my hands tightening into fists.

Someone fucking took her from me.

Theyhurther.

I swear to God, if she’s…

I don’t let myself finish that thought. Instead, I take three breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth. I must keep a calm, level head if I’m going to get her back. Digging deep, I find that icy calm I would often call upon right before a hit.

Quickly formulating a plan, I pull out my phone. My first call is to Beckham, getting him to pull the security footage from around Maggie’s building, confirming what I already suspected. It showed an unconscious Maggie being carried out and put in the back of a blacked-out town car.

While I have him tracking down the vehicle, I call Jayce to fill him in.

Back in my car, I speed away from the curb, making a left turn at the stop sign instead of my usual right. I race down the empty streets to an address I have memorized but have never been to in order to confront a woman I’ve never met.

I had hoped that when I did, it would be under different circumstances, but I’m afraid it can’t wait any longer. Someone has stolen my Little Rose, and if what Becks said was true, then Jane Austin knows a lot more about Maggie’s past than she has been letting on. It’s time for some fucking answers.

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