Page 33 of King

I wonder how she felt when he did that to her. Did she get upset when she realized that I would be a target of his?

“Did you try and rescue me from Halen?” I asked her, already knowing the answer.

“No, I knew Halen would not harm you.”

“You couldn’t know that. Some mother you are.”

I turned on my heel and made a move for the door.

“You were safer there. I couldn’t stop Zane from finding you, from being with you. Halen could do that.”

“No,” I said, turning back to face her. “A mother could. A mother would protect her child from someone like Zane, if she truly cared enough.”

“You wouldn’t listen to me,” she fired back. “You never listened to me.”

“A mother wouldn’t care if their child didn’t listen, she’d protect her child, even if she was to be hated for it.”

I pushed the door open and ran back to the hotel, tears flowing down my face. A few weeks ago, I thought I had it all sorted. I thought I had it all planned out and knew what I wanted.

That was before Halen blew my mind wide open and showed me exactly what I didn’t think I would ever get.

Now I was on a suicide mission to find a way to help him get rid of his egotistical brother before this entire city went under.

Halen

I threw the towel into the hamper and moved into the bedroom to put my shirt on. Ren stood by the door, a look of concern on his face.

He’d been hellbent on having me send someone up to the city to hunt down Paisley and kill her for her deception. As I lay half dead, I realized she may have felt trapped down here. After all, she had been a captive at first. I should have told her she was free to go if she truly wanted to be. I should have helped her escape.

“What is it?”

“If you won’t allow me to go and hunt her down, perhaps send Rusty to find her. She and he got along down here.”

It wasn’t a bad idea. I could find out if she was truly okay and if she had been spying for Zane. I doubted it, Zane wouldn’t have wanted her sullied by my cock. There had to be something else at play here.

I felt like I knew the woman.

“I’ll speak with Rusty. Get up to the club. I need eyes in the tunnel tonight.”

Ren nodded, even though he didn’t agree with my approach, he would always do what I wanted. It’s why I trusted him so damn much.

I pulled the shirt on and headed down the hall to see the boys. Cy was on the tunnel door, the one that had been vacant due to breakfast. He’d felt so guilty about her escaping that he now wouldn’t move from his spot, no matter what I said to him. Rusty was laying on his bed, his eyes on the ceiling when I walked in. Ben wasn’t in the room.

“Boss,” he said, as he got up. “Are you okay?”

“I’m good, Rus. I need a favor.”

“Anything.”

“I need you to go up to the city and find Paisley.”

“Oh…the city, boss?”

“Look, I know you haven’t been up there for a long time but you know the layout. I just need you to talk to her.”

He was twisting his hands together nervously. He hated the city, and I knew that. It was a big ask and one I wouldn’t normally put him in that position. I felt like a father figure to him, but I knew he would be able to get through to Paisley and he’d go unnoticed.

“Why me?”

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