***
"What the hell is going on?" Axton asked, seeing his father with the large gun.
"Gia Love is on our property."
"What, are you going to shoot her?" he asked with a strange look on his face.
"Not a good idea." Dexter said, coming up from behind.
"Come on," his father barked, "we have to find Maddox!"
They were going to follow their father all right, they were going to make sure he did not do anything stupid, Xavier Payne was an entirely different man when it came to his sworn enemies. They also knew from experience that when Gia came around, Victor Love was not too far behind.
***
The police were there instantly, they did not mess around when it came to Xavier Payne. Xavier paid the department very well to keep his family safe at all times.
The Payne family was filthy rich, more money than they could ever spend in 33 lives, but with the good, came the bad. Being rich opened them up to a completely different world of dangers like kidnapping, bribery, and ransom, the list went on.
Xavier had a fellow colleague whose daughter had been held for ransom, fortunately, they caught the killers and he was able to keep his money, unfortunately, they had never found his daughter.
Money came with a price and Xavier would never risk his family for any amount of cash.
***
Maddox just stared at Gia for a moment, a million memories flying back to him. She looked so innocent and so damn beautiful.
"We have to talk." she said breathlessly, still in shock that she was actually face to face with him.
"No." his voice was cold and his face was blank, nothing of the Maddox she remembered.
"I dare you." she held out her hand, her fingers parted to show the old ratty, somewhat red bow. He looked down at the one thing in his life that had given him pleasure. Then he looked up at her face, sure, she was sincere now, but she was too weak, which made her a liability. Hearing a scuffle, he looked to his right to see the police headed right towards them.
"I'll take care of them! Get her out of here!" Alice yelled, driving in reverse, making the entire posse of officers scatter.
"Come on." Maddox said as he grabbed the bow then grabbed her hand before sprinting to the side of the house.
He took her deep into the garden, his great, great, great grandfather had designed a labyrinth on the property. There were seven-foot tall walls with roses, vines, leaves and ivy crawling up the stone, giving only glimpses of the grey below the thick foliage weaves.
"Where are we?” She asked looking around in awe at all the flowers, as he led her into the maze. He immediately found the perfect spot, a secluded little dead end, hidden by the thick, twisted ropes of falling vines.
"The labyrinth, it's the only way off the property."
"No!" she stopped and yanked her arm from him, “I am
not
leaving until we talk!" she snapped before he finally turned to face her.
"You shouldn't be here." he said.
"I had to." she said taking a step towards him, her bare feet sinking into the perfectly groomed lawn below. The heavy cloak she wore was weighing her down and slowing her pace.
"There's no reason we said everything we had to say." he explained, his words were harsh and his face was void of any emotion, he may as well have been talking to some stranger.
"I didn't."
"It's too late now." he looked at her, wanting to hold her and kiss her. She was a weakness to him, something that could make him feel so wonderful then turn on him and destroy him. He could not fall for it again, no matter how he felt about her.
"No it's not!" she snapped as she rushed over and grabbed him. He stopped her with a look that could melt metal, and she instantly felt tears burning her eyes. She just wanted to collapse in his arms, she wanted him to hold her and tell her that he forgave her. She just wanted his love and to be able to love him freely in return.
***
"Did you find your brother?" Xavier asked his sons.
"No." Dexter answered curtly.
“He’s probably gone.” Axton added.
"No, he’s still here.” he squinted as he scanned the vast property, “Axton check the labyrinth and Dexter you check the stables.”
***
"I already put my family through enough, I betrayed them for you and you betrayed me in return." he hissed, the feelings he thought he had buried were now raw. "I told you last time I saw you to stay away from me, there is no reason in this world for us to ever see each other again."
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry is not good enough." he barked, then froze as he heard the footsteps drawing closer. He backed her against the wall, his large body trapping her as he put his hand over her mouth. “Shush.” he whispered then peeked around the stone wall.
Gia was suddenly overwhelmed with his nearness and over stimulated by the pressure of his strong body pinning her to the wall. The impact of his muscular body pressing against hers was her undoing and her body began to react to him. Gia pulled his hand down from her face as she rose to her tiptoes, then without thinking, she yanked his head down and kissed him. She kissed him hard, refusing to let go of his head as she orally attacked him with all of the emotion she had been holding back.
Maddox had not been prepared for that kiss.
However, he knew that if he had been prepared, it probably would not have made that much of a difference. Only this girl alone had the ability to stun him as well as enslave him to her passion. She was more familiar to him than his own home, her soft full lips pressing against his gave him a sense of peace. Her lips felt like a missing piece of his mouth had returned and he wondered how he had gone for so many months unable to feel them. What foolishness had come over him that he truly believed he would be able to resist? She was too addicting to refuse under normal circumstances and he would always be too weak to resist.
“Maddox.” they froze, simultaneously looking to their side to see Axton standing there.
“What?” Maddox eyed him warily as he pulled away from Gia.
"They have two police officers waiting at the end of the labyrinth, your only chance is the servants’ entrance."
"Thanks." Maddox said, wanting to say so much more. The fact that his brother had his back meant a lot to him.
"You better go," Axton grinned, "Xavier Payne is on a rampage."
Maddox grabbed Gia's hand and ran out of the labyrinth, he was going around the back of the house when he saw Dexter. Dexter, his eldest brother, was a grouchy, mean old man trapped in a younger man’s body. He rarely smiled, he did not joke, and he did not care about anything other than business, so Maddox was surprised when he saw him running towards him.
"Go through the back door, everyone's out here searching the yard, but hurry you don't have much time." Dexter barked out the orders like a drill sergeant.
"Thank you, brother.” Maddox nodded, overwhelmed with pride at the loyalty shown by his brothers.
"If you don’t go now, you will get caught,” Dexter informed him, “I’ll distract them.”
“Thank you again.” Maddox said as he took a step forward.
“Go!”
***
"Did you check the labyrinth?" Xavier asked Axton.
"Yea, if he's in there he's heading towards the end, and there are two officers waiting there for them." Axton answered.
"Good." Xavier stalked over to Dexter, "Did you see him?"
"No, but I heard some noise coming from the woods,” Dexter misled him, “a lot of noise.”
"Maddox is in the woods!” Xavier barked into his walkie-talkie as he led the squad to the other side of the house. Axton and Dexter watched their father disappear before turning to look at one another.
"Are they really in the woods?" Axton asked.
"No, I sent them through the house."
"Good, let's go to the front and make sure they make it safely off the property."
***
It did not take long for Victor to get the call from the police, it took even less time for him and Trent to get there. His tires squealed when he came to an abrupt halt in front of the broken gate. He jumped out of his car and started running up the yard with Trent fast on his heels.
"Hold!" one of the police officer yelled and Victor and his son slowed down.
"I'm here to get Gia Love." Victor snapped at the man with a look of disgust on his face.
***