Page 15 of Savage Cravings

Money had been just another way for him to control me.

I wasn’t even allowed to get a job.

Dad said it was because he didn’t want any kid of his to work a demeaning job.

He meant blue-collar jobs. Jobs that would require me to be on my feet all day or work with my hands—the only jobs I was qualified for. I only had a high school diploma.

Not many places would hire people with only a high school diploma and zero job experience.

Add that to Dad’s reputation in Chicago?—

Yeah, I would have been lucky to find something.

Besides, I didn’t think there was anything demeaning about working. It really wasn’t even about the work.

It was just another thing for him to dangle in front of me.

Icould do this.

4

SILAS

I tappedmy fingers on the steering wheel while waiting for Maverick and Killian to emerge from the gas station.

It was two and a half hours of air travel before we landed in New Orleans.

During that time, we tried to figure out what had prompted the girl to escape the night of the attack.

Why now? Especially when we knew Daniel was a possessive bastard, and I assumed that would be the case with his daughter.

The daughter he had kept secret about living with him. No way would he have let her out of his grasp.

The only logical explanation we could think of was that she knew about the attack.

Knew it was going to happen, so she ran.

I sat up in my seat when the passenger side of the rental truck opened, and Maverick plopped down on the seat. I glanced at him as the back door opened and Killian climbed in.

“What?” I asked, taking in Maverick’s dark expression.

“The mom left New Orleans.”

My grip tightened around the steering wheel. “No shit? When?”

Fuck, had we been too late? We couldn’t go on the hunt right away. Not when there was so much business to deal with, now that we had taken control. But fuck, it had only been a two-day delay.

“Yesterday.”

Killian leaned over in his seat. “Hold on. I’m texting Eli. He might know if there’s someone new to the city.”

I leaned back against my chair and stared straight ahead.

Eli was the president of the Road Sinners chapter here in New Orleans.

He might know about Kaley.

After all, it wasn’t common for the old lady of a patch member, especially the president’s, to just up and leave.

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