Paisley sniffles once more, leaning into Landon.“I’m so sorry.”
“Stop apologising when you’ve done nothing wrong,” he pleads.“Was it the best idea you’ve ever had?No.But it’s not your fault.”
Summer sits up, her movements stiff as she clutches her chest.I know a large bruise is hiding under the T-shirt because I saw it during her examination.
“Paisley, you are talking like you acted recklessly.As soon as you thought it wasn’t safe, we left.You didn’t argue or hesitate.”
Paisley looks at Summer with tears swimming in her eyes.“I antagonised him.I made him come after us.”
“You said no more than I did,” Summer reminds her softly.“Do you blame me?”
Paisley’s eyes widen.“No.Of course not.”
Eli’s leather jacket rustles and squeaks as he sits up.“Did you see me chase Katherine after what she pulled and said at the function we were working?”
Jaxon nods.“People have a choice, P.Sebastian chose to get in that car.He thought he would get away with it.”
Summer leans back with a groan.Hunter whines sitting up, resting his head on her knees.She brushes her fingers along his snout, soothing his anxiety.“He got what he deserved.If that is all it took for him to run someone off the road, then he deserves to be behind bars.A dog has more patience waiting for their food to be dished.I keep thinking about all the things he would have done to us had I not had my phone recording.Or what he would have done to us after he stopped caring about the damn phone.That look in his eyes when he took that step before we got in the car...It really freaked me out.I don’t know about you, but I’m glad he’s been arrested.”She pauses for a moment, squeezing my hand, but her gaze is still on Paisley.“I’m really sorry.”
“Sorry?”Paisley questions.
“I shouldn’t have crashed the car,” Summer rasps, then glances around the room.“I really didn’t mean for us to get hurt.I would never want to hurt Paisley or any of you.”
“We know,” I soothe, even though my entire body tenses.“We know.”
I briefly glance at Landon, making sure he’s keeping it together.Unlike me who was too slow to reply to the nurse, Landon was quicker and told them he and Paisley were married.That’s when I overheard Paisley telling him she gave Summer approval to stop the way she did.She assured him it wasn’t Summer’s fault, and after a minute or two, I saw his shoulders relax.More so after she gave him a list of reasons as to why she was at fault, and not Summer.
The blame game once again.
It tears people to shreds; scrambles their minds and breaks hearts.
It’s a game I’ve played too much.
Summer and Paisley knew braking was the only way they could get Sebastian caught red-handed.If it weren’t for the live feed of him ramming into their car, or him resisting arrest, he may have gotten off with a fine.As it stands, he has been arrested for assault, actual bodily harm, public order act offences, criminal damage and harassment.And because luck seemed to be on our side today, a drug possession, and intent to sell charges, were added on to his arrest.It turns out, Sebastian had forgotten what he was hiding in his car.Although he tried to shift the blame onto his bodyguard, I have a feeling that won’t fly this time.
“Are you kidding?”Paisley asks.“You braked preparing to block the road.We didn’t know it was going to flip.And I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but something good came from it.”
“If you say a new car like my dad, I’m not speaking to you,” Summer teases.
I snort, because I was witness to that conversation.Apparently, her dad doesn’t like the car and hasn’t since she first bought it.He didn’t like she was involved in a crash, but he is relieved she’ll need to get a better car, one that won’t break easily.
“No, Sebastian having those other charges piled onto him.I know he’ll probably talk his way out of this or at the most, get a short sentence, but it makes it worth it,” Paisley admits, her cheeks turning pink.“But I am sorry about your car.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Maverick rumbles, picking up another piece of paper.“These files contain a lot of evidence that the Black family are drug trafficking and have been for a while now.You were kind of right about why he wanted your shipping routes, Jaxon.”
“Kind of?”Jaxon questions.
“He wanted them to bring in guns, not drugs.”
Well fuck!
Liam nods.“There’s also blackmail in here for a lot of high-ranking government employees.It looks like they’ve managed to run drugs for as long as they have because of them.Although the financial document theft will get them a heavier sentence.They have Andrew’s name on them, Sebastian’s, and there are a couple with his wife’s.”
“So you did find stuff there?”I question, referring to the antique building Paisley pointed us to.A group went straight there whilst we carried on to the women, wanting to help them.All this time we’ve been looking for solid information and it was twenty minutes away from us.
“Washethere?”Paisley asks, clutching her hands together.
Maverick nods, his expression twisted.“Sebastian must have gotten word to him or they did hear you guys, so he ran.Either way, he was there.”
