I couldn’t say shit and I wasn’t about to judge. Trooper was my boy and I’d take his secrets to the grave. I also knew I would do the same for somebody I loved. Hell, I would do it for Maddie right now and I wasn’t even there with her yet.
“How the fuck did this shit just get so damn complicated?” I asked, changing the subject.
“The fuck if I know, but I’m really starting to wonder if all this shit has something to do with Story getting out. If they know that Sophie is his and not Prescott’s, it makes sense.”
“So you thinking Alana is the source?”
“Has to be. I wonder if Story knows that. It puts him in a compromising position. I don’t know how it all ties together, but the way I look at it, to get what they want from her, they’ll use Sophie.”
“Fuck yeah, you’re right. You think her mother knew that?”
“Nah, she did some foul shit, but she loves Sophie. She wouldn’t put her in the middle of all that.”
“She would if she thought Story could protect her though,” I added, trying to process it all.
“I don’t think so. She wants her old life. Using Sophie as a pawn would be about the only thing that would make Story walk and never look back. She knows him better than anybody, so I'm sure she knows that. What I think is she didn’t think things through. It never registered to her that Sophie even played a role. She ain’t about this life. The feds are nasty, they don’t give a fuck about family. It’s by any means necessary, and if they want Prescott that badly, they’ll do whatever. You have to spend money to make money, and in their eyes, Story was money well spent. They let him out, but only to make sure they had all the pieces to the puzzle. We’re all connected, so they’re trying to force all of us into the same position. I guarantee he’s next. If they haven’t already, they’ll reach out to him with a proposition.”
“Yeah, makes sense. So what now?”
“Now, I find these two muthafuckers and handle that. Then we talk to Story. You can’t take down a man like Harold Prescott. Not legally anyway. The only way you can end this is to end him.”
I nodded to agree. “So we killing Prescott?”
Trooper didn’t speak, but the look he gave me said it all. Shit was officially set in motion.
Chapter 51
Sophie
“Do you regret dealing with Trooper?”
I frowned at Maddie, but her expression didn’t change. She was seriously asking.
“No, why would I?”
“I don’t know, so much has changed. Your family’s not your family anymore, you got attacked by strangers, you don’t have a clue what is about to happen with your career, and you’re also pregnant. It’s a lot, and like it or not, it’s all connected to him.”
“Wow, hearing you detail how screwed up my life is makes me think maybe I should have regrets, but no, I don’t. I love him, Maddie. I love us. I don’t care about all the other stuff. It’s just details, and it won’t make or break me as long as I have him.”
Maddie grinned and threw a pillow at me. “Ohh, boo, you got it bad.”
“Shut up, no I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.” She shot back at me and nodded at the same time. “But that’s a good thing. Lord knows it’s about time. I’ve never seen you this happy. Even with all the chaos in your life right now, you’re still happy.”
“I’m a nervous wreck right now is what I am. I’m worried about Trooper, I’m worried about my father, and I’m worriedabout what William will do to my mother. But even with all that, I’m still happy. My life feels like a movie. All the things happening just don't seem like they should be, but here we are.”
“Yep, an episode straight out of did this shit really just happen.”
“Maddie,” I yelled through a laugh and she returned a huge grin.
“What? You know it’s true. But I’m happy too. Like really fucking happy, Sophie.”
Maddie was beaming and it looked good on her. She and I had both found what we didn’t know we were missing and that was worth smiling about.
“And you’re talking about I got it bad. Look at you all giddy.”
“It is what it is,” Maddie said with a grin, like it just made sense. “But, Sophie, he's so imperfectly perfect. His mouth is reckless, the man is fine, oh lord is he fine, and sex with him is fucking amazing.”
