Chapter 24

LOGAN

^FIVE YEARS AGO^

Maggie looks scared, and she has every reason to be. This puts everything at stake, and it’s all my fault.

I should have just taken her upstairs to my bedroom rather than doing anything here. I didn’t even realize that we would get caught like this.

If this started some rumor, it would damage both of us, and I can’t risk that.

I quickly straighten up my appearance and follow the maid outside. She is already walking off the lawn when I call out to her.

She stops in her tracks and turns around. There’s a neutral look on her face. I can’t tell if she’s planning something.

“Sam, what you saw there, I don’t want you to misunderstand. Maggie and I—”

“Mr. Malory, what you do in your personal life is none of my business,” she says with a straight face.

The problem is, I don’t believe this lady.

I push a check into her hand. “That is your price to make sure this doesn’t leave this house. When you walked into the room, you saw me cooking, and Maggie watching TV. If you need more money, all you need to do is ask.”

I don’t want to risk trusting this lady blindly. She’s only been working for me for the last few months. The next thing I know, I might just appear on the news for having an affair with a girl much younger than me.

She takes the check from my hand, and her eyes go wide when she sees the amount written on it. It’s a whopping two hundred thousand dollars just to keep her mouth shut, and I think I’m being very generous with my offer.

“You can use this as a college fund for your son,” I suggest.

Sam’s still staring at the check. “Thank you, sir. All I saw today was you cooking and Maggie watching TV,” she parrots my words like a robot.

“Good.”

***

There’s still a nagging feeling inside me that this is all my fault. I should have been able to protect Maggie from things like this, but I have failed miserably.

I don’t deserve her.

I’m sitting in my bathroom’s hot tub with a second glass of Jack, overthinking about everything that’s happened so far. I hate myself for having such weak willpower when it comes to Maggie.

Things could have been different if I’d just told Maggie to get dressed and sleep in her room when she’d insisted on sleeping with me.

I’m a bad person for wanting her, and what’s worse, I know it’s not just lust for her. There’s a lot more going on with me, I realize as I take a swig of my drink.

I would do anything for Maggie. Just fucking anything in this world.

I clench the glass in my hand. If only she was at least in her late twenties, I would probably marry her and take my chances, but right now, I can’t be that selfish a person.

She’s only eighteen, and she’s got her entire life ahead of her. Who can say she isn’t doing this with me because she’s just young and hormonal?

Her first sexual experience started with me two weeks ago. If she marries me, she might not feel the same in a few years.

She could also fall in love with a much younger guy and want to leave, and I’d be left to pick up the pieces.

The glass door of my bathroom slides open, and Maggie walks in.

“Hey, baby,” I greet her.

“Hey!” She ties her hair in a messy bun and strips off her clothes before getting into the hot tub with me.

“Hmmm…this feels nice.” She sits very close to me, her back facing my front.

She’s silent for a while before she says, “You’ve been quiet since this afternoon. What’s wrong? Did you talk to her?”

I nod. “Yeah, don’t worry about it, baby. I fixed it for us.”

She turns to look at me. “So, she won’t talk about us?”

“I promise you, she won’t.”

Maggie’s playing with her hands inside the water. “But let’s just say she tells someone. What happens after that? Do we have to get married?”

There’s a twinge of hope I’m hearing in her voice.

“No, it won’t come to that.”

She turns around to face me. Her body is pressing against mine. “I don’t mind marrying you, Logan.”

I sigh. “You’re just eighteen. You need to have some life goals, and I’m not marriage material,” I say, even though it hurts me to say it.

She wraps her arms around my neck, and her voice is very soft as she says, “Why not? Don’t I satisfy you?” There’s a new fear in her eyes. “Maybe you prefer someone older and more experienced?”

“No, Mags. What you do to me, no other woman has ever done for me before, and you do satisfy me, a lot.”

My cock twitches when she hugs me harder. “I want to keep living here with you.”

I thread my fingers through her hair. “I know.”

“What are we going to do next week when I have to go back to live with my dad?” She tries to grab my drink, but I push it out of her reach.

“I don’t know.”

She pouts when I don’t let her have my drink.

I haven’t thought about what I’ll do when she leaves. I’ll miss waking up beside her. I’m going to miss her waking me up in the middle of the night just because she’s hungry to have me inside her.

I’m going to miss her laughter and her constant talking in this house.

“Oh, I know. We could meet at a hotel a few days a week. What do you think?”

I agree. “Guess we could do that.”

It wouldn’t be easy sneaking out to meet her outside. Most people knew me in this town, and if we were caught leaving the same hotel on the same day, that would be a huge problem.

She grabs my face and pulls me down so our lips melt together. She kisses me fiercely, pushing her tongue into my mouth. Her strokes are unabashed, and I mimic her movements, deepening our kiss, holding her close to me.

Her tongue flicks over my bottom lip as she takes it into her mouth and sucks on it, rasping, “Mmmm, so sexy and delicious. You taste like whiskey and something else.”

I grab her round ass and bring her tight against my body, kissing her with wild abandon as I knead her softness to my heart’s content. I need her like I need my next breath.

She pulls away from me. Her lips are swollen from kissing. “I’ll give you as many kids as you want, but just stay with me.”

~Oh fuck. She’s so sweet.~

I hold her chin and look at her. “I just want you, Maggie. Just you.”

I take her back to the bedroom when we’re done with the bath, and I make slow love to her under the covers on my bed.

It’s like my soul is merging with hers, and I don’t know how I’m going to let her go, but I put that thought out of my mind for now.

I want to enjoy my time with Maggie as long as I have her with me, and time’s running out.

Maggie is mine, and I’m not letting her go.

It’s insane how much I love her.

That night, she falls asleep in my arms as I hold her close to me.

My phone vibrates beside me with a text message on my phone.

There’s an attachment. It’s a short video of Maggie and me in the living room. The maid must have recorded it secretly.

Maggie’s back is to the camera, but there’s no mistaking it’s her naked and riding me. Her moans echo in the video. I grab her and kiss her as the video stops playing.

All I’m seeing is red. Murder is definitely on my mind.

A message pops up below that.

Unknown number

I need five hundred thousand more otherwise I’m sending this video to your father and hers.