Page 7 of Taking

“Because Sheriff Bradshaw has connections I don’t. He’s the one who found out about your stints in juvie—it wasn’t from me.”

I didn’t believe a word he said, so I kept silent while studying his profile. Furrowed brow, strong nose—both inherited by me, both of which I wanted to ruin with my fists. The side view of him wasn’t as easy to read as a full-on face, but I still felt sure he lied.

“Did you hear about Ingrid?” he asked, not looking at me.

His selfish cunt of a wife who’d rubbed off on her daughter more than I had expected.

“Overdose,” I muttered what I’d heard through the grapevine. “But I’m thinking she got under your skin, and you finally decided to do away with her like you did your last wife to take advantage of being a grieving widow.”

“She had a separate will that left everything to Addilyn.”

Everything…

Well, fuck. I bit back a laugh, figuring out exactly where our conversation headed. He thought I was some badass motherfucker, a hopeless criminal for life since I’d spent time behind bars. “I hope you put money of your own aside,” I said, unable to keep the snark and satisfaction from of my voice.

“I have control over the estate until—”

“The princess turns twenty-one,” I tossed out what I suspected.

“Exactly.”

“And I suppose you want me to take care of that little problem?”

His lips twitched as he kept watch on the road—and tapped the side of his nose to let me know I’d guessed right.

Heat flushed through my body. I had made plans for Addilyn already, and while most of what I’d fantasized about involved her pussy and a hate fuck with my dick that hadn’t gotten action outside my hand in years, I had every intention of drawing blood too. Ruining her both physically and financially for what she’d done to me.

But the mental aspect of playing with her head would come first. She deserved to be fucked up emotionally like I’d been. I’d already thought along the lines Lloyd suggested.

“She’s the one who got you put behind bars,” Lloyd continued when I didn’t give him the answer he wanted.

Like I needed reminding. I’d heard her one-worded answer that had slammed the final nail in my coffin.

Yes.

Hated that fucking word.

“It was her testimony that sealed your fate, Gideon. She should pay for what she did, and taking everything away from her, leaving the spoiled brat destitute, would be beautiful, wouldn’t you agree?”

Of course he would know I agreed.

I eyed him while he drove, wet, heavy flakes of snow slapping at the windshield. Did he think I’d stayed a stupid seventeen-year-old during my stint in jail? “I’m not a dumb fuck, Lloyd. You’ve got no damn foot to stand on with Addilyn Reed still breathing unless you can get her to fall for you like you did Ingrid.”

A muscle ticked in his smooth-shaven jaw, letting me know he’d failed. Even though the princess deserved what she had coming, a sense of…satisfaction over her escaping him swelled inside me.

“She needs to disappear,” Lloyd said. “For good.”

“And what makes you think I’d be willing to take care of your little problem?”

“Have the anger management classes helped?” he asked rather than answering—and he had a fucking point I didn’t mind admitting to him.

“No.”

“Then I expect when faced with the chance for revenge on that bitch, you’ll want to take it.”

I’d rather take her ass, make her cry, and laugh in her goddamn face as she broke beneath me.

“After your sentencing, I asked her why she did it,” Lloyd said, turning into a hotel’s parking lot.

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