Page 100 of Mortala
I can’t lose it on her now, not in front of Maddie. There’s something up with this bitch and I intend to find out what it is before she hurts my girl any further. I pull Maddie away from my chest and go to hold her face when I remember the blood on my hands and stop myself. She sees the blood and her eyes grow wide.
“Oh my god, Miles, the blood!”
“Hey, it’s alright, it’s not mine. I need you to do something for me, alright? I need you to pack your things. We have to go somewhere else. Can you do that for me?”
She doesn’t ask questions, she just sniffles and nods her head in agreement, immediately grabbing a duffle bag and doing what I asked her to do.
Good girl.
I look over at Kaitlin with pure hatred and walk towards her. She sits up a little straighter, fear laced in her expression. Good. She needs to be afraid of me.
“You need to leave.” I spit the words out like venom on my tongue and I know she feels it.
She doesn’t say anything, she just nods her head and gets up and walks out of the room. I don’t care what happens to her at this point. If he’s still out there, I hope he finds her.
My phone vibrates in my back pocket, and I pull it out to see a text from Nate.
Nate: We’re taking Hudson to the hospital. It’s not looking good, man.
Me: Keep me posted. Maddie and I are going to stay in a hotel. I’ll send you the details when I have them. We still need to talk.
“Is he gone now?” Maddie whispers from across the room, and I look over at her. She’s standing next to the bed where the duffle bag sits filled with most of her belongings. This isn’t how today was supposed to go for her. She was supposed to have a good day with Morgan shopping and having fun. Now it’s turned into another day from hell.
“Did you kill him? Why are we leaving?”
I can’t lie to her. She deserves to know the truth and know the danger that she’s in, but I know it’s going to hurt her.
“No baby, I didn’t. He’s still out there. He shot Hudson. They’re taking him to the hospital now.”
Her eyes fill with tears, and she sits down on the edge of the bed. I knew this news was going to get to her.
“This isn’t your fault, Maddie. Hudson knew what he was getting himself into when he agreed to protect you. He knew the severity of it and knew all the possibilities.”
She nods, but I can tell she’s still blaming herself even though she shouldn’t.
Hudson, Nate, and Morgan were trained for this. They knew exactly what they were signing up for from the very beginning. There was never any illusion that working on my security team would be safe. The job came with risks, sometimes life threatening ones, and every one of them accepted that before they ever stepped through my door. That’s why I chose them.
The need for security started with Benny. For years, I suspected he was involved with dangerous people. He always had too many secrets, disappearing for weeks at a time, but somehow always managed to stay one step ahead of everyone around him. I never had proof that he was working with anyone, but my gut told me there was more going on than he ever admitted.
When I started digging into the things he left behind after he disappeared, I realized my suspicions weren't completely unfounded. Whether Benny intended to or not, he left me standing in the crosshairs of people I never even knew existed. From that moment on, living without security was never an option.
“We need to go see him.”
“We will. Let’s just finish packing and get settled. You’re my priority.”
I help Maddie finish packing the rest of our things and call Julius to bring one of the cars around to the front. Maddie and I have already been followed once before in the Jeep, and I don’t want to risk being followed this time. All the other cars havebeen parked in the garage since we’ve been here, so they should be safe.
There’s a soft knock on the door before Julius announces himself.
“It’s all set, Alexander. Would you like me to load up your things?”
“That would be great, Julius, thank you.”
We follow Julius downstairs and load into the Durango he parked out front. All of this is fucked. I hate knowing that my childhood home is in danger of being destroyed by this guy.
How is he always one step ahead? How does he keep finding us? Why can’t he just leave us the hell alone?
I’m so fucking over this shit. I can feel Maddie starting to slip away again, but I won’t let it happen. She’s fucking mine, she belongs with me. I just need to get her out of this mess so we can finally move forward with our lives.
