Page 64 of Deserving Maisy
“Jesus.”
Maisy couldn’t blame the men for reacting the way they were.
“What about you?” Jack barked.
Maisy couldn’t stop herself from flinching. “Whataboutme?” she asked.
“What would’ve happened to you after the three months were up?”
“He would’ve killed me too. Can’t risk me telling someone what he’d done.”
“Did he really think he’d get away with more people in his life just disappearing?” Brick asked.
“I don’t think he really thought about it much,” Maisy said honestly. “As long as he had access to the money, he didn’t seem to care about the details.”
“But that didn’t happen,” Owl said. “Stone woke up and didn’t remember who he was. When was the decision made to make him think you were already married?”
Jack had obviously already told his friends the parts of the story he knew.
“Jason came up with it on the fly. As soon as Jack woke, the moment Jason figured out he didn’t know who he was, he said something about being his brother-in-law and things spiraled from there.”
“And why did you go along with it?” Brick asked in a hard tone, leaning forward.
Maisy knew that question was coming, but she was no closer to knowing how to answer it than she was before.
“You see that bruise on her face?” Jack replied for her.
Maisy’s gaze swung back to him.
When everyone nodded, Jack went on. “She’s got more on her arms, and a huge one on her hip. She’s had others. All over her body. She always told me she was clumsy, but Inever saw her so much as stumble when we were together.”
Maisy’s face flamed with embarrassment, but she didn’t interrupt.
“When I first woke up, I heard Jason being nasty to her. I didn’t understand what I was listening to, and I figured maybe I’d misheard things because my head hurt so badly. But I’m guessing if the man was willing to put a gun to his sister’s head in order to force me to marry her, he wasn’t above threatening her to get her to do what he wanted…namely, stay quiet and go along with the story about us being married. Let me guess, it was his idea to tell me I was a bounty hunter?”
Maisy nodded, more relieved than she could say that he’d figured things out on his own. “He said it was a solitary profession and would explain why you had no friends.”
“And living in Spokane, the fire at my apartment complex?”
Once again, Maisy nodded.
“The renewal of vows ceremony was actually genius. I didn’t suspect a thing.”
She had no idea what to say. No, that wasn’t true. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Are you?” Jack asked.
Maisy bit her lip. She was sorry for deceiving him. That he’d gotten caught up in her brother’s greed. But was she sorry about the last few weeks? About being his wife? About everything that came with the title?
No. She wasn’t sorry about that in the least. Even with dread hanging over her, she’d been happier than she’d been since her parents had died. Jack made her feel as if she wasworthy. Like it wasn’t an obligation to take care of her, but a privilege. She wasn’t in the way, she wasn’t a pain in his ass. She was his wife, someone he cared about and wanted to protect because she was important, not because he was beholden.
But she didn’t think saying all that would be in her best interest at the moment. So she simply said, “Yes.”
Jack didn’t look happy, but he also didn’t look as if he wanted to spring across the table and strangle her either. She was counting that as a win.
“So, now what?” Pipe asked. “You’re back. Asshole kidnapper doesn’t know where you are. But you’re presumably legally married, so that means the clock for Maisy getting her money is still ticking.”
“They reallyaren’tmarried,” Owl said. “The name on the license isn’t his. Jack Smith doesn’t exist. And we all know Ry could make that marriage license disappear in a heartbeat.”
