“Jesus Christ. What happened to her?”
Moses lifts his head away from mine, and then slowly shakes it back and forth. “You don’t want to know. But . . . she’s gone. It was him . . . and she’s fucking gone.”
For the first time since this whole fucking thing started, tears stream down my face. “No!” I clench my hands into fists and pound them against Moses’s chest as agony rips through me. “No! This isn’t fucking fair! She didn’t do anything to anyone! What the fuck?”
Moses holds me while I rage and cry and scream until my throat goes hoarse. When I tire myself out, he cups the back of my head and brings it against his chest.
For several long moments, I stand there depleted, scared, and fucking livid.
I suck in a snuffling breath. “What the fuck are we going to do? This has to end. We have to fucking end this. Desiree didn’t do anything. This shouldn’t have touched her. He’s gotta fucking die. I’m gonna fucking kill him myself.”
My phone vibrates on the table, and Moses glances over at it. “Keira. You want to talk to her?”
My body vibrates with aching wrath, and the last thing I want to do is dump it all on Keira. “I don’t know.”
“I called Mount on the way back here. Told him what happened. She might already know. Talk to her, mama. Talk to your friend.”
He picks up the phone and offers it to me. My hand shakes as I take it from him and tap the screen before it stops vibrating.
“Hey,” I say, my voice raw.
“Oh my God, Mags. I just heard. I’m so sorry. I know you and Desiree were close.” She sounds utterly sympathetic and likely on the verge of tears herself.
“Yeah,” I say, not sure how else to reply.
“You’re not okay, so I’m not going to ask. But . . . I really, really want you and Moses to come stay with us. Lachlan agrees. Whoever this guy is, he’s not stopping until he finds you, and I’m not losing you.” She’s rambling, and her voice rises when she begs, “Please, just say yes. Please.”
I know my man won’t leave anyone behind. “There’s more than just me and Moses. We’ve got two of his guys too.”
“You’re all welcome. We have plenty of room. And no one can get to you here. It’s literally the safest place in the entire city. Hell, the entire planet.”
I look up at Moses, who is listening to the conversation. Without me voicing the question, he nods that he agrees.
“Okay, Ke-ke,” I tell her. “We’ll do it.”
“Thank God,” she replies with a sigh of relief. “I’ll tell Lachlan. V will come with instructions. Don’t worry, Mags. We’re going to keep you safe. I’m not letting anything happen to you. Not ever again.”
When I hang up with Keira, my hands aren’t any steadier. Tears slip down my face as I conjure up images of what Moses found when he went to check on Desiree.
“How . . . how did he kill her?”
“Mama . . .” Moses shakes his head. “Trust me when I say, you don’t want to know.”
I look deep into his gaze and see true sorrow and horror there. “I have to know. This is because of me. It’s all fucking because of me.”
He clasps my face between his palms. “You didn’t do this. You tried to make her go with the girls. You offered to pay her to go. She knew the risks of staying. You did everything right. Everything you could fucking do. You can’t control what some fucking psycho does. This isn’t your fault, understand me? You didn’t do this.”
My entire body shakes, and if I don’t get myself under control, I’m going to fall the fuck apart and be useless to everyone. I grind my teeth as I take a long, slow breath in and release it.
“Atta girl. Another. Deep breaths,” Moses says, releasing his grip on my face.
I inhale and exhale a couple more times. Although I still feel like my heart is shredded when I’m done, I’m no longer in danger of curling up in a fetal position on the floor. That’s something no one needs to see. I also don’t want to do it because I may never get up, and that simply isn’t an option.
This is bigger than me. I’ve put everyone in danger. But at least we have the strength and power of the most ruthless man in the city backing us.
“Good girl. Okay. Let’s go pack. The sooner we’re locked down at Mount’s, the better.”
Fourteen
Moses
I would have done anything to save Magnolia from feeling what she is right now, and I fucking hate that we haven’t been able to track this fucking monster down.
The shit in the box from Ricardo’s closet will have to wait until I get Magnolia somewhere that not even the devil himself could get to her.
After what I saw in that house . . . a shiver rips down my spine.
I’ve witnessed some fucked-up shit in my day. Really fucked up. Hell, once upon a time, I gave orders for bad shit. But nothing like what I saw, and I never want to see that again. There’s no doubt it’ll visit me in my nightmares as it is.
When the cops find the crime scene, they’re going to come looking for Magnolia again, and that’s another reason I want her somewhere untouchable. I’m not taking a chance that Cavender or another asshole cop will show Magnolia a picture of what happened to Desiree.
She doesn’t need to see that. Ever.
We both pack quickly, and as Magnolia fills her suitcases again, it strikes me that she’s moving for the third time in a fucking week. Yet she doesn’t argue. She doesn’t bitch. She just . . . does what she’s gotta do.
Any other woman would be losing her goddamned mind right now, catatonic with all the chaos and change, but not Magnolia Maison.
If I had any doubt about whether she could handle my life, it’s been wiped away. She’s strong as hell and all mine.
Within an hour, Jules is letting in Mount’s silent second-in-command. V’s got an envelope in hand and lifts his chin when he sees me, holding it out.
I don’t have to wonder how he knew where we were, because I gave Mount the address. Although, he probably knew it already. Wily bastard.
I take the envelope and open it. Mount’s instructions are in a dark, heavy scrawl.
Come to the same entrance you used before. Don’t bring a tail. After you park, give the keys to V. He’ll have the vehicles moved out of sight and stored with my personal collection. You won’t need them.
When I finish reading the note, I meet V’s gaze. “We’re almost ready.”
He gives me a nod and goes outside to wait.
Jules’s gaze follows him. “That dude is really fucking quiet.”
“Probably safer to be known for being silent if you’re around Mount all the time.” I glance toward the hallway where Jules and Trey have rooms. “You guys almost ready?”
Trey walks into the kitchen with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a hard case for his computer equipment in hand. “I don’t know about Jules, but I am.”
“My bags are already in the SUV. I’ll take yours and Magnolia’s out as soon as you’re ready.”