The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 96

Chapter 61-2

I blink. “That’s the fastest apology known to man.”

“I practised it.”

“Did Jade help you?”

“You fucking know it.”

That makes me laugh again. He smiles briefly, but it disappears almost immediately.

“I’m serious, Zara.”

“I know.”

“I was worried about you, and I turned into an overbearing, sexist asshole.”

My eyebrows rise. “Sexist?”

“Maybe not intentionally.”

“Comforting.”

“But I did the big-brother thing where I decided I knew better because I’m bigger and louder and have testicles.”

I choke on a laugh. “That’s your formal explanation?”

“It’s the best I’ve got.” His expression softens. “I’m really sorry.”

The words land hard and deep, because they’re not offered to make my anger disappear. They show me that Mayhem really, truly understands. He gets it.

“I’m sorry I talked over you,” he continues. “I’m sorry I made plans about your life like you weren’t sitting right there. And I’m especially sorry I told you what you wanted didn’t matter.”

I look down at my hands. “That one hurt.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Mayhem has always been protective. Even as children, he was the boy standing between me and scraped knees, playground bullies, barking dogs and boys Dad deemed suspicious. For years, that protection felt

like love.

Then Knox taught me how easily everything could become a cage.

Mayhem watches me quietly. “I’m not sorry that I love you, by the way.”

“I don’t want you to be.”

“I’m not sorry that I want to keep you safe.”

“I know.”

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Chaptm 6L

“But I am sorry I forgot that keeping you safe doesn’t mean I get to run your life.”

My eyes sting, and I blink quickly. “You really practised this, huh?”

“Jade threatened me with fullon dismemberment if I didn’t get it right.”

“That sounds more realistic.”

He smiles, then reaches across the distance between us, palm open. Not taking or forcing – offering.

I put my hand in his, his fingers close around mine.

Chain

“I don’t know how to do this,” he admits. “I don’t know how to watch Knox come after you and not want to lock you in a room until he’s killed in some painful and torturous way.”

“You don’t have to know immediately.”

“No?”

“No. You just have to ask instead of deciding.”

He nods. “Okay.”

“And listen when I answer.”

“Less easy.”

“Mayhem.”

“I said less easy, not impossible.”

I squeeze his hand. “We can make a plan.”

His eyes lift. “Together?”

“Together.”

The relief on his face is almost painful. “All right. You tell me what you can live with.”

I take a breath. “I’ll have an escort when I leave the clubhouse.”\

He nods once.

“I’ll share my location while I’m out.”

Another nod.

“And I’ll tell someone before I change plans.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Someone?”

“You, Dad, Jade or…”

The name catches.

Locke.

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Chapter 612

Mayhem hears it, and his expression changes slightly. “I was going to ask about him.”

Hook away. “Don’t.”

“Zara.”

“I don’t know where he is, Mayhem.”

The words sound worse aloud.

Mayhem goes still. “What do you mean?”

“He left after the argument.”

“Yeah, I know and he didn’t come back here.”

My stomach tightens. “You’re sure?”

“I was here until three this morning.”

“Why?” I say, startled. “What was going on?”

Claim

He gives me a look. “What was going on was that my annoying little sister vanished after being stalked by her ex-husband.”

“Okay, that’s totally fair.” I look down, away from those blazing eyes. “I bet Locke just went home.”

“He didn’t.”

My head lifts. “How do you know?”

“Dad sent Brick by the penthouse at about one o’clock, this morning. Locke’s motorcycle wasn’t there, and nobody answered when Brick sent the admittance message for the elevator.”

The room suddenly feels colder.”He might’ve stayed somewhere else.”

“Maybe.” Mayhem doesn’t sound convinced. “I mean, you did, right?”

“What about his phone?” I say.

“Off.”

Locke never turns off his phone. Not during club business, not when I’m sick, not even when he sleeps.

A thin thread of fear works its way beneath my anger. “When did anyone last hear from him?”

Mayhem hesitates, and that hesitation tells me more than the answer. “After he left Dad’s office. Maybe an hour later.”

“Who spoke to him?”

“Dad did.”

“What did he say?”

Mayhem’s jaw tightens. “Not much.”

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Chapter 51

“What did he say?”

“That he had to do something,” Mayhem says reluctantly. “Said he was the only one who could.”

I stand so quickly the chair scrapes backward across the concrete. Mayhem rises too.

“What?” he says, startled. “What are you thinking?”

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