I narrowed my gaze, jaw ticking. “What do you mean, you know? As in, you know she moved all of her stuff out of the house and left town?” I exhaled, heart racing… a rage building inside me.
“Yes.”
“Axel, I’m about ready to punch you in the fucking face. You better talk because I’m wondering why in the fuck you didn’t tell me sooner. Like before she left town.” I seethed, my hands violently shaking as I stared at him.
“Because I felt she would be safer out of town. While we were in Vegas, I learned…” Axel’s hands were in tight fists, eyes hollow.
“Safe? What in the fuck did you learn? Speak, goddammit!”
“Abe and Cori are not FBI agents. I’ve confirmed it.”
I gripped the steering wheel, squeezing it with all my might. My heart was ready to burst out of my chest.
“And Jason isn’t mixed up with the Mexican cartel. And there was never a meeting in Vegas with a Mario.”
I saw red… fucking red. “Then what in the hell has been going on?” I roared.
“They’ve been manipulating and controlling you. When I figured it out, Tessa had already seen Miranda moving her stuff out of the house, but she couldn’t camp out because Abe was watching your house. Had Tessa not driven by, we wouldn’t have known Miranda’s friends helped her move her out.”
“This is so fucking messed up. Does Tessa know where Miranda went?”
“No. Tessa followed her out of the city and stopped at the Grapevine. She has her little girl to think about.”
I slammed my hand on the steering wheel several times.
“You need to remember this job was just a side gig for her. She’s a mother first and foremost.”
“Yeah, yeah… I know. Why in the hell didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
Axel crossed his arms over his chest, inhaling deeply. “What could you have done to stop her? You were in Vegas when it happened. And she’s safer out of the city.”
I stared out the window, trying to process all of this. Abe and Cori, fucking Jason… all of them manipulating me. Everything I thought was real was nothing but lies. Lies.
And now Miranda was gone, and I didn’t have a fucking clue where.
“I did try calling you thirty-seven times. I couldn’t get into your house because they’ve been watching you.”
I hit my head on the steering wheel and let out a feral growl. How did I manage to fuck up so much? First, being friends with Jason, then believing everything Abe and Cori told me.
I couldn’t take this madness anymore. It all had to stop.
Stop before I lost my mind.
9 Axel
“YOU DIDN’T MENTION Lily kissing Miranda’s stomach, did you?” Tessa asked me. If looks could kill, I’d be a dead man. She had been shooting daggers my way since I picked her up after meeting with Will.
We didn’t have proof Miranda was pregnant. But it would’ve been fucking weird for Lily to kiss her stomach just for the hell of it. Tessa was positive Miranda was pregnant. Something about her giving up coffee and peeing all the time. I didn’t know shit about this kind of thing, so I didn’t argue.
“No.” I gripped the steering wheel of my truck as we sat in a busy Target parking lot. Tessa’s girlie Starbucks caramel-macho-frap something or other drink was stinking up my Chevy.
“Why not?”
“It might break him.” No might about it, it would break Will. “The guy feels like he’s lost everything and that it’s all his fault. Just imagine if he knew she was pregnant.” If it were me in Will’s shoes, I’d go ballistic. I knew how he was feeling because I’d lost everything before too. I wouldn’t break him anymore if I could avoid it.
“You can’t keep this from him. It’s bad enough you didn’t tell him she moved out right away. He probably doesn’t trust you anymore.”
“He’ll probably never trust anyone ever again when all is said and done. With what he’s been put through with the fake affair that didn’t have to be, and now Miranda’s hiding his baby, the guy is going to be pretty fucked up.”