Free Fire and Ice (an extended epilogue) by Victoria Paige Page A

“Personal
reasons aside, AGS is a good investment for MDI. They’re the
perfect testing ground for implementing advanced small arms
weapons—”
    “ Quit feeding me that bullshit!”
Maia yelled. She stepped back a little, so she could regain some
physical advantage. Standing so close to her annoyingly attractive
fiancé played havoc with her resolve. “Can you imagine how
embarrassing it is to sit there and have Viktor tell us that you
own part of the company and I have no fucking clue?”
    “ Babe, I’m sorry—” Jack’s eyes
softened as he stepped closer and raised his hand to touch her
face. Maia flinched and took another step back, ignoring the scowl
darkening Jack’s face.
    “ Don’t. Don’t try to sweet talk
me,” Maia warned. “God, I’ll be marrying you in two months, you
sneaky bastard, and you keep a secret from me that directly affects
my job—a job I happen to love, which I know now you can never
understand.”
    “ That’s not true,” Jack argued
roughly. “I just need to have some semblance of
control.”
    Maia gave a short, derisive laugh. “Control? I
was right. You want to control me.”
    “ Stop twisting my
words.”
    “ You just said it yourself; you
want to control me.”
    “ Not you, the
situation.”
    “ Tell me, Jack? Does this new
investment of yours give you the right to veto any of my
deployments?”
    Jack’s face grew darker, but he did not
respond.
    Maia snorted in disgust. “I thought as
much.”
    “ Maia—”
    “ Don’t,” Maia said quietly. She
took a deep breath and repeated. “Don’t. Jack, I am this close to
throwing your ring back at you—”
    Jack blanched. “You fucking throw my ring back
at me and that’s it. I will not go through—”
    “ I know,” Maia cut in gently. She
backed away from Jack and Derek. How she hated to put that stricken
look on Jack’s face, but she was furious at him. “That’s why I’m
walking away to clear my head. To calm down. Because Jack, once
this ring leaves my finger, I’m never putting it back on.” She
exhaled deeply. “I’ll be gone for a few days. If you want to save
our relationship, I’m asking you to give me space.
Please.”
    Maia’s eyes burned as she turned away and
headed for the door. She ignored the hoarse whisper of her name
that followed her and the pain in her heart screaming at her to
swallow her pride and forget her anger. She opened the door and
shut it quietly behind her.
    *****
    “ Goddamn it!” Jack raked his fingers through his thick black
hair and paced the length of the office. He glared at Derek. “Much
help you were.”
    His friend raised a brow. “I was about to say
something, but you cut me off.”
    “ She’s overreacting,” Jack
declared.
    “ Are you telling me, or are you
telling yourself,” Derek asked.
    “ This is not funny, Lockwood,”
Jack snapped. “You heard her. She was going to break up with
me.”
    “ But she didn’t,” Derek reminded
him. “Maia is levelheaded in the face of anger; haven’t you figured
that out yet? She wouldn’t throw a ring back at her fiancé as some
kind of manipulation to get her way. If she gives you back that
ring, Jack, it’s over.”
    Hearing his friend say the words made Jack’s
chest spasm painfully. What had he done? Had he broken their
relationship? Keeping the AGS negotiations from her seemed like a
good idea at that time. Derek and Viktor were dubious about it, and
he should have listened to them. He had made a power play and Maia
had called him on it. When Maia took off with Nathan Stark to
Mexico, Jack was beyond furious. During the flight to Texas, Jack
went through several tracks on how to keep Maia from harming
herself. Scenario 1: Sell everything, buy an island, tranquilize
her, whisk her off to said island, and keep her hostage for the
rest of her life. Scenario 2: Build a compound where he could still
maintain control of MDI, tranquilize her, whisk her off to the
compound, and keep her hostage for the rest of