Unbreakable: Unrequited Part Two (Fallen Aces MC Book 2) by Max Henry Page B

filth from my house.” The blood, the drugs, the packaging, and my mother. At least, what used to be Mama.
    Not again. I swallow back the bile at the memory and stare at my clenched hands as Sully stands silently by my side. I’m seated on the kitchen counter, my legs swinging over the side as the staff cook prepares dinner. Sully picked me up after Maria left with two buckets filled with the packages, and carried me through to the galley. He probably knew as well as I did that had I returned to my bedroom, Carlos would have gladly disturbed my peace to mock and berate me. But here . . . he’s never set foot inside the servants’ area, or so I’m told.
    “Do you think Maria’s okay?” I ask quietly.
    Sully shifts on his feet, his lower back pressed against the edge of the counter as he stands with his arms crossed. “Don’t know.”
    “You should go find her,” I urge. “I’ll be okay.”
    He shakes his head. “If I show up, any strength she has will vanish. She needs to suffer through it alone to get it done and keep that asshole happy, and then I can comfort her, let her break.” He pinches the bridge of his nose and ducks his head. “Fuck. If I held her now, I’d never let go.”
    “You love her?”
    “Of course,” he grumbles.
    I lift my head and smile weakly before resuming my Mexican standoff with the floor.
    “What did King say this morning?” Sully turns side-on to pay full attention as I pick at my nails.
    “That he wants me ‘home.’ He needs me, or us I guess, to help figure out how I can leave.”
    “Simple,” Sully says. “I drive you out the gates and drop you off.”
    “And then what?” I ask. “What happens to you when you return?”
    “Who said I’ll return?”
    I stare at the guy, incredulous. He’d leave to help me? “Where would you go? Carlos would find you.”
    “Would he?” Sully smiles. “My background is a little better suited to knowing how to drop off the grid than his is.”
    Hope blooms. Could it really be that simple? Just getting in the car and going? “It can’t be so easy.”
    “Of course not. He’s got trackers on his cars, phones, and access to personal information on all of his staff. Even after all that is destroyed or corrupted, he might not find me or you, but he’d sure make life hell until he did.”
    I already knew all of that, so why did I let myself get so excited about taking such an easy way out? Because fighting only brings more pain. Carlos took retaliation to an all new level with Mama. If he could do that, then what else is he capable of?
    “Besides,” Sully muses, “there are the cameras. If he noticed you leave without pass, there’d go your head start.” He stares off into nothing as the cook bangs and crashes around in the search for the right pot. “We’ll sort it out.” Sully bumps his knuckles into my leg in a friendly gesture.
    Our attention is dragged to the door as a pale and panting Maria steps through. I slip off the bench and rush over to throw my arms around her. She sobs into my shoulder, her hands fisting in the back of my shirt. Her tears call to mine, and before long we’re a crying, wailing mess sinking to the floor in each other’s embrace.
    “Elena . . . I . . .”
    “Shhh.” I shake my head on her shoulder. “None of it is your fault. I’m angry he made you a part of it.”
    Sully squats beside the two of us and strokes Maria’s hair as she sobs anew. The cook goes on about her business as if our spectacle is nothing new. Perhaps it’s not?
    Time passes, minutes, maybe hours, before either Maria or I attempt to let go. Her crying is a mere sniffle, and I’m sure my eyes are as red and puffy as hers. Sully helps her to stand, and as I lean on one hand, I take some comfort in seeing the adoration he has for her. He wipes her cheeks with his thumbs and places a gentle kiss to her lips.
    “I won’t let that happen again,” he promises. “I’ll get us away from here.”
    The comparison, the