say, whirling around. “What the fuck? You bring me to these crazy people after I spent the last ten years squeezing the psycho out of me one drop at a time? Just what the actual fuck?”
Jax’s face gets serious. “Julian was not supposed to be here. He knew better than to approach you tonight.”
I open my mouth to ask what that means, but Madeline has my arm. It’s a gentle grasp, up near my elbow. Meant to guide, not threaten. But I shrug her off. “Fine, lead the way, Auntie,” I sneer the word. “But the next asshole who attacks me will not get back up when I’m done with them.”
“Duly noted,” she says with a swish of her long gown as she turns. “Please follow me to the library.”
I don’t look back at Jax as I make my way after her. But if my paranoia was piqued when I got in that black jet with him earlier, it’s off-the-charts manic at this point. I have to take deep, cleansing breaths in rhythm with my steps to calm myself down.
I made a huge mistake back in that car. I should not have had sex with him. But it’s easy to come to that conclusion after two orgasms. Not so much when you’ve been in a two-year dry spell.
I need to get my head on straight because he’s hiding something. All these people here tonight are hiding something.
And I have a feeling they’re about to tell me everything. But there’s only one thing worse than not knowing about secret shit, and that’s knowing more than you should.
We end up in a room I would assume is the library but for the fact that it’s lacking books. It’s more of a sitting room filled with butter-colored leather couches, overstuffed chairs, and a grand floor-to-ceiling window that must have some stunning views during the day to warrant such a prominent place in the room.
Madeline waits for me to enter first and then quietly closes the double doors behind us and walks over to a couch. “Please, sit. Make yourself comfortable.”
I walk to one of the chairs, still looking for the books in this library, and take a seat.
“It’s all digital these days, right?” Madeline says, waving a hand at the room in general. “Everyone reads books on a device. I resisted for years, but technology. The future cannot be denied, no matter how hard we try to rebel.”
I shrug.
“Besides, we move too often to have collections of anything.”
“Move what?”
“Places, Sasha. Residences. I don’t own any homes in my own name. They are all purchased or leased under company names.”
I know what she means. I understand that the word company has a generally benign definition to most people. But we are not most people and my spine goes stiff at the mere mention of the word. “What is it you need to say?”
“You’re not the least bit interested in me?”
I have nothing for that. She’s serious. “Why would I be? You show up in my life after all these years and expect—what? I’ll run into your arms and give you a hug? I’m so over that.”
“Over what?” she asks, reaching for a tea set on the large oval coffee table. “Drink?” she offers.
I ignore her offer. “Over wishing my life was anything but what it is. You could’ve found me at any time after my birth and you didn’t. You left me to figure all this shit out for myself.”
“You did a remarkable job. You turned out much better than most.”
“I was lucky.”
“You were taught well.”
“And that has nothing to do with you.”
“True. But your hostility towards me is misplaced. I’m not part of the problem. I’m part of the solution.”
“I don’t need your solution. My problems were solved a long time ago.”
“Is that why Nick Tate is on the hunt?”
“I have no idea. I haven’t talked to him in years. But I’m sure if he wanted to find me, he’d find a way.”
“That’s his number one priority at this very moment, Sasha. He’s looking for you. And he’s broken away from his handler in Central America. Matias is just now figuring it out, but Nick Tate was never part of his gang. He was always one of us.”
“Define us.”
“Company.”
Once again the word shuts me down.
“I have a simple request, that’s all. And I’ll get right to the point since you are so eager to leave. You can think about it overnight, but I need an answer in the morning.”
“I’m not staying here, so