“What are you doing over there?”
“Destroying my apartment. No thanks to you, asshole.”Crash.“When will you be back? And don’t you dare fucking lie to me.”Crash.
“Saturday night.”
“If you fucking hurt her, I will beat the shit out of you.”
“Why in the hell do you think I’d hurt the woman I love? The mother of my child. Miranda is pregnant.” Silence. I couldn’t even hear Axel breathe. A hurricane-strength wind of anger blew over me. “Wait a fucking minute! You knew she was pregnant, didn’t you? You fucking knew!” I banged my hand on the steering wheel over and over.
“I suspected but didn’t have proof.”
“I’ll kill you for not telling me. I’ll kill you, Axel!”
“I was protecting her.”
“The fuck you were. All you ever do is whatever the hell you please.” I gasped for air. I was so furious this fucker hid Miranda’s pregnancy from me.
“Tessa and I thought it would be best. York doesn’t even know. At least I don’t think he does.”
“Tessa knows?” My heart felt as if it might burst from my chest. How long had they known?
“Yes, but she didn’t have proof other than seeing Lily bend down and kiss Miranda’s stomach the morning she left town.”
“You’ve known for three weeks?” I roared.
“If I told you, you would have lost your mind.”
He wasn’t wrong. After finding Miranda gone, I was so broken. I was still broken. But had I known she was pregnant, I wouldn’t have been able to come back from it. It would’ve decimated me.
“So, what now? She’s pregnant with this guy trying to latch onto her and Jason is nowhere near getting caught.”
“Not true. I broke into Cori’s apartment. The deal is really going down Monday night.”
“Are you serious?” I smiled, almost giddy like a kid on Christmas morning.
“Yeah. The notes I found showed the real meeting was after the fake one. These assholes just wanted to fuck with you, it seems. Give you a show to keep you in line. There’s still no connection that they are working with Jason. My guess is, they know about the money he stole and are trying to get it.”
“So you’ll be there too? You, Scout, and York?”
“Yep, and several others. York’s men and the Lords. You’re not going alone. But you need to get back here. The last thing we need is you bringing trouble to Miranda.”
My stomach twisted as I looked at her little cottage. Derek was still inside. I didn’t know if I’d been followed to Spokane. I honestly hadn’t paid attention. Stupid.
I bent forward in the seat as nausea hit me. This Derek guy might be what Miranda needs to keep her safe, but the thought of him touching her in any way made me want to kill him.
“I’m worried about Miranda. I’m fucking terrified right now,” I admitted.
“The Lords are there. I have eyes on her twenty-four seven.”
“It’s not enough. I want more here before I leave. I want to meet them.”
“You’re just being paranoid.”
“Maybe.”
“I’ll contact Mack, see about you meeting his brothers.” The line went dead.
My life was a fucking mess. My company. My family. My woman. I had absolutely no control over anything. I hated it.