Page 9 of Puma's Pride

“So you gave up?” I ask.

Corinne blushes with anger, and I hear Trouble suck in a breath as he watches her. I can appreciate his reaction. Corinne is a stunning woman. A pissed off Corinne is otherworldly.

“I didn’t give up. I packed my shit and moved to Vegas.” She snaps.

“You might want to let her tell her story.” Alisa suggests.

“You’re right. Sorry. Continue.” I tell Corinne.

“After your accident, I reached out to Brock again.” Corinne says. “I didn’t know if it was a good idea or not, but I thought I should try. He told me you weren’t up to dealing with a kid. That you had to focus on getting healthy again.”

“Fuck.” I say, pushing out of the chair. “That son of a bitch never said a damn thing. Did he see Mal?” When Corinne nods, I want to punch something. “There’s no fucking way that asshole didn’t know Mal was mine. I’ll fucking kill him.”

Alisa slid into the seat I had vacated. “Maybe he thought he was protecting you.” She suggests.

“Not from this. This isn’t protecting me, it’s fucking me over.” I growl.

“When I learned you retired and moved to Las Vegas, I came here. I own a business. Bookkeeping. I kept some clients and found new ones once I settled here. I thought that if we were in the same city, it would be easier to find you and approach you.”

“What I don’t understand is if you didn’t know you had a son, how did this Juan person discover him?” Trouble asks, drawing my attention away from the many ways I want to destroy Brock.

“I’m missing something. What does Juan have to do with anything?” I ask.

“He’s the one who broke into my condo today. After he demanded I call you, he locked us up in Mal’s room. He was waiting for you, but when you didn’t show, he left.”

“Wait, what?” I ask, reclaiming my seat by lifting Alisa up and lowering her on my lap. The need to hold her is too strong so I’m grateful when she stays.

Corinne explains how Juan busted his way into her condo and forcing her to call me. I’m amazed at her courage in escaping from Mal’s room and then waiting to keep me from entering a trap. My stress rockets up a notch when she describes how she found Trouble, and through him, our clubhouse.

“How did you know I was part of an MC?” I ask her.

“I saw you at 1% when I met a client at Blacktop for a meeting.” Corinne explains. “I saw you walking through the lobby and could tell you were a regular by how everyone greeted you. I asked our server about you and he explained how the MC owns the casino and that you are the President of the MC. When I tried to find you today, I followed a couple of guys wearing kuttes hoping they’d lead me to you.”

“I take it you are the one she followed?” I ask Trouble and he nods.

“She tried to tell me that Malik was in some kind of danger. It took me too long to realize she was talking about you. That’s when I brought her here.”

“Juan ran out of the building while you were waiting for me to arrive?” I ask her and she nods.

“He was in a hurry and talking to someone on the phone.” Corinne explains. “I think he realized we escaped.”

“No, I don’t think he thought about you again after locking you both up in Mal’s room.” Trouble says. “I had a couple of my guys go to your place and check it out. The door to the condo was wide open, but Mal’s door was shut and locked.”

“Then why…?”

“He got word that someone grabbed me.” I say, considering the implications.

“What do you mean?” Alisa asks. “You don’t think he set you up?”

“If he set me up to be captured before I got to the condo, then he wouldn’t have been waiting at the condo for me to show. I didn’t ask Josef, but I bet them finding me and grabbing me was serendipitous.”

Trouble snorts.

“What?”

“Look at you using big words. I thought the only words you knew were ‘fuck’ and ‘asshole’.”

“Fuck you, asshole.” I say, grinning. “I know other words, but most of the time, those are the only ones I need.”

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