Page 151 of Magic or Madness

The next order of business is to share the knowledge I gained while I was with Mr. A., and get a move on with figuring out who he is.

I can’t stand a reality where we work for him, especially after all I went through. It was hell and back, and while I appreciate Ozzy doing everything in his power to bring me home, I won’t work for someone who throws temper tantrums in the form of ransom, retaliation, and leverage.

It’s repulsive, and exactly the kind of people the guys swore to avoid doing business with when Max took over.

“Alright, I have a few things to fill everyone in on while we wait for our dinner delivery, then we can celebrate our girl coming home?” Ozzy asks, and we all gather around, getting comfy on the couch.

I snuggle up with Cami, Oliver, and Pepper, each of them laying on a piece of me as we share a blanket. Ozzy smiles at us, knowing that this is important to me, rather than being jealous or feeling threatened by my relationship with Cami, and Oliver, too.

I still need to thank Olly for the ways he helped with my rescue, especially him stepping in to take the phone call when he knew we’d both rather be talking to each other.

I listen as Ozzy breaks things down, explaining how jobs will work from here on out. Democracy is still open, but with the pressure of working for a ruthless client, it’s time everyone picks a role and sticks to it.

I’m a little pissed when he leaves me out of the discussion, and I wait patiently while he outlines things, but he never offers me the chance to inform everyone of what I learned while I was with the man who’s been dictating our lives for the better part of the last three weeks.

He doesn’t want me involved in this side of things anymore, and I feel like I’ve just been fired from a job I gave my life for, without so much as a fuckingthank you.

If you thought Max’s power trips were rough, it’s harder to sit through one led by the only person who’s supposed to believe inyou through anything, but instead, chooses to alienate you from the very thing you put your life on the line for.

I put on my best face, keeping my vow to support him through anything, but on the inside, my mind is running a mile a minute, the betrayal hitting harder than the horse tranquilizers I was given.

Ozzy can kick me out of the crew business, but that doesn’t change my ultimate end goal.

I will get my revenge, whether he’s with me, or against me.

OZZY

GettingFallon back was the most important thing, but the other terms I agreed to are gnawing at me, threatening to rip me apart at the seams. Working for this man is going to piss everyone off, cause a divide between us, and most likely end up with one – if not all – of us dead, or in prison.

I’ll forever be grateful for their dedication to me, and her, but this feels like the end of something, like we’re being led toward the edge of a cliff. I had no other choice, and with no credible leads to Fallon’s location, we had to make a choice.

Our lives for Fallon’s.

I’ve been going a million miles a minute since she was taken, but there’s a lot she’ll be mad at me for. I need to own it. Make her realize that everything I’m doing is for her, but things aren’t going back to the way they were.

I can’t have her in our War Room anymore, planning jobs or giving advice. After this, she needs to be as far away as possible because the less she knows, the safer she’ll be.

Not only that, but I never wanted this life for her.

Fallon is smart as fuck, stronger than any man I’ve ever met, and can handle her own without issue, but she doesn’tbelongin this world. It never should’ve come to this, for fuck’s sake, today I took a bag of cash to a remote location and was willing to exchange it forher life.

It’s too much to bear, especially now that I’ve established myself as the leader of this crew. A call needs to be made, and I’m locking it down. It’s always been the five of us, and that’s how it’s going to be from here on out. I hate doing this, knowing how much she loves to help, but one day she’ll understand why I’m making this choice.

From the second I laid eyes on her, I knew she would be mine someday, and I’ve loved her since she made her mark on my body, proving that we’d be in the thick of it together, forever.

It’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to heal together, that much I’m sure of. She’s my fucking angel, and there’s nothing better than having her back where she belongs.

My mind is racing, knowing that I’ve gone back on the deal I made, but her safety is at the top of my priority list. Nobody was supposed to get hurt, but the second Fallon hit the ground, all bets were off. Now, I will have to accept the consequences of my actions, whatever those may be.

The client will be dictating how things work from here, and I have a feeling it’s going to be even more brutal than before we dropped two of his men.

I don’t care what happens to me, but Fallon will not be implicated in the death of the second man. I’ll lay my life down with a detailed confession before I ever let anyone breathe an idea that she was the one who stabbed him.

Any bargaining I did has gone to shit, but none of that matters right now, and I keep my eyes forward as I address everyone, not daring to make eye contact with Fallon because I canfeelher rage from across the room.

She looks peaceful, cuddling with Camila, Pepper, and Oliver, but inside that beautiful mind of hers, I know she’s ready to rip my head off.

She wants to share the information she learned about the client while she was gone, but that can be done in private. I meant it when I said the crew was only five members, and in that instant, her face fell and she understood exactly what I was saying.

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