Queen In Play (The Manhattan Tales Book 2) (24 page)

26. Mason Woodward

My mind was haunted by flashbacks of the last phone conversation I had with my father.  He interrupted the date night I had planned with Jillian, enraged because he’d heard rumors of our engagement. 

“You will reconsider this preposterous situation.”  My father had said into the phone.  “I may or may not have to send someone over to pay your girlfriend a visit.”

I was shaking as I gripped the phone in my hand.  He was making suggestive threats, more powerful this time.

“I have a network of connections all along the Eastern Seaboard, son.  From Maine down to Washington D.C.  Don’t you dare forget that.  I’m not going to allow a penniless tramp destroy the legacy our family worked so hard to build!”

I knew what he was saying.  It was spoken to me loud and clear.  How foolish I had been to believe that my father would simply disown me and allow me to carry on with my life.

Rage boiled within me. He had threatened to have Jillian killed.  He threatened to steal my love, my light.  Now his death is all over BBC World News, and the front page section of the New York Times.  The papers painted him as a philanthropic saint who was taken too soon in a terrible, accidental fire.

Yet, I know better.  I regret nothing.  I will fucking do what is required to keep my Jilly Bean safe.  I will take her to Ohio, allow her time for a nice visit with her family and let her mother and aunt help her with wedding plans while I deal with the sharks.

I held Jillian, reveling in the way her body fit within my embrace.  Her sigh disrupted my turbulent thoughts. I knew that deep down, she sometimes wondered what kind of future we had together, if she would ever fit in with my world.  Tipping her chin upwards, I met her gaze with my own.  “Gorgeous girl,” I whispered.  “You
are
my future. You
are
my world.”

I fucking did what was necessary.

~~~

Mason’s and Jillian’s story will continue in a concluding third installment.

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