Page 54 of Hateful Union

“Fuck,” he growls. “Who is Raylee dealing with? Which cop has her back? Those fucking Silvers have a lot of cops in their back pocket. I need to find out who her handler is and see if they’re on the Silvers’ payroll.” His voice is laced with anger.

Yeah, I don’t blame him, this entire situation is fucking shit.

“Raylee’s handler is a guy named Ramirez,” I inform him. “He's the liaison between the Spanish police and Interpol. There’s something about this whole situation that doesn't sit right. I don't want her in any more danger than she's already in. Going to the cops against her family's bad enough. If this dickhead is on the take, this is a hell of a lot worse than what any of us thought.”

“I agree, if they know that she’s the one that’s informed on them, fuck,” he growls. “I’m on this now, I’ll have information for you by the end of the day.”

“Thanks,” I say with sincerity. He’s helped Raylee stay off the grid with this shit while I was fucking around and not claimin’ her.

“She does not leave your side,” he snaps.

I clench my jaw. Fucking prick. “Do you think I'm fucking stupid? Don’t tell me what I should be doing. I fucking know. She's mine. Her safety is the most important thing.” I’m seething, who the fuck does this arsehole think he is?

“Good,” he replies and I swear the fucker’s smiling. “You love her,” he continues and my body freezes. “That's the way it should be. She deserves that. That girl has been used and abused her whole life. Everyone wanted a piece of her just to get to her family. Her father pushed her aside because she's a female. Her mother kept her at arm's length after what happened. Not wanting to be close to her, just in case it happened again.”

The more I hear about her fucking family the more I hate them.

“The only ones that have treated her as a woman were Bentley and Mayer.”

Yet again, I’m reminded about how much I fucked up by not stepping in when that shit went down. Everything I’ve been led to believe about Raylee and Mayer have been lies. All of it.

“Mayer protected both girls, he kept them safe. Now it’s our turn. If we don't, Malcolm, we could both lose a hell of a lot more than we had bargained for.” With that parting comment he ends the call.

I sit stock still on the bed. Fuck me. He’s right. I’m in love with her. When the hell did this happen? How the fuck am I going to protect her when I have no idea what we’re up against? Everything is up in the air.

“Raylee,” I yell once I’m able to breathe easier.

She doesn’t even take a minute to get to me, her footsteps purposeful as she moves towards me, her face etched with worry, those beautiful golden eyes on me, and her brows knitted together. She doesn’t stop until she’s at my side. “Everything okay?”

“It will be,” I promise her and watch as her face softens. “But, baby, we’ve got to talk.”

She climbs up onto the bed and sits beside me. “What’s wrong?”

“I need you to tell me about Sienna…”

Her eyes flash with rage. “What do you want to know?” The anger in her voice has me taken aback, I knew she wasn’t a fan, but the hostility is quite shocking. “Look, I understand that you and her had something,” her nose crinkles in disgust at that statement. “But she was a bitch. God forgive me, it’s not right to speak ill of the dead. But fuck, she was a raging bitch.”

Damn, why do I find it sexy as hell when she’s pissed?

“Okay, explain that to me.” I’m definitely missing something.

“Right, so Mayer met Sienna when they were young. Fourteen, I think, he loved her at the beginning. She hated Gabby and I, she despised us because in her eyes, we were taking away her time with Mayer. But whenever Mayer was around she was as nice as pie. The woman was a fucking psychopath. They’d break up and Mayer would swear he was done for good, she’d disappear for a month, maybe two and the next thing I know they were back together. It was only when she vanished the last time that Mayer let us in about his relationship with the she devil.”

I chuckle at her words, that’s too fucking true. Sienna was the devil incarnate. Sweet at the beginning, but as soon as she thought she was in, she changed, finally showing her true self.

“Mayer would break things off with her, hating how she’d pitch a fit if he was late, or had to go to work. She’d throw a tantrum if he was hanging out with Gabby and me. Mayer hated drama, despised it. It’s one reason that we all got along so well, I fucking hate women because they’re all about the drama.” She shakes her head in disgust. “So, Sienna would crawl under whatever rock she came from and lick her wounds for a while, then she’d call Mayer, telling him that she loved him and she was sorry, that she’d change. Mayer never bought it, but she’d lie and tell him she took pills or slit her wrists to get his attention.”

I swallow back the anger. Fuck, those raised bumps on her wrists. Jesus Christ. She lied. She fucking lied.

“The cuts weren’t deep enough to kill her and the tablets weren’t a lethal dose, but still, it was a cry for help and as much as you and others believe, Mayer wasn’t an arsehole. He loved her once and he hated the way things went on between them so he tried again. He helped her, but when things got too much, the cycle began and he was cleaning up after her constantly.”

She studies me closely, tilting her head to the side. “Why do you ask?”

“Sienna played me from the get-go. I saw her in the club and she was a beautiful woman. I had many women before you, baby, I’m a man with a past,” I tell her when I see the hurt flash through her eyes. She waves her hand for me to continue. “I enjoyed my time with her, in the beginning that is. Then she showed her true colours. Stealing from me, snooping through my shit, and other crap that pissed me off.”

She raises a brow. “So fucking stupid.”

“She was that, but I was also stupid. She told me a tale about your father. How he was the one that slit her wrists, that he was trying to get her to be a part of his stable. She didn’t want that and ran.”

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