Then he smiles, and it confirms that this isn’t about a clean arrest. It’s about intimidation. Leverage. Same old play Sheriff. I know your history. And I recognize the setup before anyone else does.
“You’re out of your jurisdiction.” Because I know whatever he’s about to do. It’s not legal. Warrant or not.
“Got a warrant right here.” Knox taps his chest pocket like a threat.
I’m going to have to play this out, but Judge will have me out in no time.
“Going to arrest your lady on conspiracy charges.”
A bomb goes off in my head. I knew I should have hidden her. “That’s bullshit, and you know it.”
Knox is cocky, smiling. “Guess we’ll let the courts decide.”
With a quick flick of his wrist, Knox’s men approach. I nod to allow them to go inside, and they make noise immediately and likely a mess, too.
The sheriff finally steps on my property, slowly meandering his way to stand in front of me.
Cold rage envelopes me, a slow rise that gets harder to keep in check with every passing second. Knox plants himself for a stare off.
“Your lady’s been busy.”
He didn’t say her name. Didn’t saywife. Didn’t saywoman. He said it like she was a thing that wandered off and got found.
I let the silence stretch—long enough that my men shift. “Say her name.”
Knox smiles wider. “Wren Delaney. Missing person. Potential co-conspirator. Depends how cooperative she feels today.”
“Maddox. Wren Delaney is no more.”
Arms crossed, his eyes light up. “Until that marriage of yours is annulled, and she’s back where she belongs.”
My jaw tightens once. Just once.
Cooperative.That word never means what men like Knox pretend it does. I step half a pace forward—still inside the law, still calm. “You don’t get to talk about her like that.”
Knox tilts his head.
“Funny thing about women like her—they always need someone to belong to.” The sheriff’s brows raise suggestively, taking a quick catalogue of the men standing with me.
“Careful.” My voice is low. A promise. I’ll disappear his body with all the others.
Knox laughs softly.
When two men walk out a terrified Wren in cuffs, her hair is a mess around her face, my t-shirt barely covering her. Fuck, her wide eyes kill me. “Don’t say anything without a lawyer present.”
She nods, and it breaks my heart to watch her get stuffed into the backseat of a cruiser.
I hold back only because I know that one wrong move will validate Knox’s excuse for arresting Wren. The restraint costs me.
Sin’s bike revs, and he’s speeding after the car as they pull away. “Hey, he can’t leave. We’re not done here.”
“You’ve got me, you don’t need him.”
“I say who we need and when your people can leave.”
“Well, if your men are really taking her to a police station, you’ll have him in custody, too, won’t you?” And if not…Sin will get her back.
22
