Page 89 of Tactical Lies

“Sorry, moonlight, I should have scoped the place out first,” Connor whispered against her ear, the warm puff of air against her chilled skin comforting. But it was a comfort that was going to be ripped away at any second.

“Not your fault,” she whispered back. “I love you and I'm so glad we got to spend these last few days together. Thanks for coming to find me in Cambodia, and thanks for not leaving me at the cabin alone. I didn't realize how much healing I still had to do.”

“Guess baby sister knew something after all,” he said, and she felt the smile on his lips as he nuzzled her cheek. “I love you. I always have and I always will.”

“Aww, isn’t that sweet,” a man mocked as hands grabbed at her ripping her away from the only man she would ever love.

If this was the end, Becca was truly grateful that the last of the wounds from her attack had finally healed and she’d gotten to spend her last days on Earth with the man who owned her heart. While she wished that things weren't going to end this way and she wasn't going to lose her chance at happiness for a second time, at least she’d forgiven Connor, and they’d worked through their issues.

This way she could die with a happy heart, at peace.

“It is sweet,” she shot back, strength and determination that came from knowing she and Connor were one hundred percent in this together filled her up. Earlier, she’d fought for her life and won. As much as she was prepared not to win this time, she wasn't going to give up, and she knew Connor wasn't either. “It’s something you won't ever understand because you don’t know how to love so you can't know what it feels like to be in love.”

“You got a big mouth for someone who’s about to be dead soon,” another man growled as she was manhandled over to the center of the room where the chair she’d been tied to earlier still sat.

“People have been trying to kill us all night, but we’re still standing and they’re not,” she reminded him. This confident kick she was on would either get her killed quicker—more painfully—or it was going to provide them with an opportunity to strike back. Just because the odds were against them—and Becca wasn't pretending that they weren't—didn't mean she was counting Connor out.

After all, he’d somehow managed to convince her to forgive him, something she had spent twelve years being so certain could never happen.

Yet he’d done it in a matter of days by being open, honest, and giving her both the words and actions she needed to believe it.

If anyone could find a way to get them out of this, it was Connor.

A blow to the side of her face had her head snapping sideways and pain blooming, but what was new? She’d already been tossed about, threatened, and shoved off a cliff all in the space of a couple of hours. Adding more pain to that wasn't going to change their situation.

“You still got a big mouth, girly?” a different man asked, and even though she couldn’t see anything more of him than a shadowy outline, she straightened and made sure she was looking right where she knew his face was.

“Nothing you do to us will change anything,” she informed him.

“Becca,” Connor admonished, and she could feel his fear for her. Fear that she was going to be hurt worse for speaking up, that she was drawing a larger target on her back, that seeing her assaulted might make him cave and give in.

But it wouldn't.

She wouldn't allow it.

“Sounds like your boyfriend has a different opinion,” a man taunted.

“No, he doesn’t,” she said firmly, as much for Connor’s benefit as these men. She and Connor were a team, they were in this together, and she loved his family as much as she loved her own. They deserved answers, they deserved to know who had been involved in raping their mom, Cassandra deserved to know the paternity of her sperm donor, and Carla Charleston deserved to have her name cleared.

She was afraid of the coming pain, no use pretending she wasn't, but so long as Connor had her back, she knew she could endure it. There wasn't anything she wouldn't endure for the people she loved.

“I don’t care what they do to me, Connor. Don’t let it sway you. They’re bullies, they want our reactions, crave our fear, but I'm not giving it to them. We’re not giving it to them. If they want to torture us, they can do that, but it’s not going to change anything. It’s not going to get you to agree to convince your brothers to back down. Just like our deaths aren't going to stop your brothers. If anything, it will only make them more determined. So do your worst,” she told the men holding her arms. “But you should know that I bit the lip off the last man who put his hands on me, then killed his friend, and shot him when he tried to push me off a cliff.”

Becca was proud of herself for not giving in to her fears tonight. She was fighting back, she was being someone she could be proud of, and if by some miracle she survived then knowing she hadn't given up would help her in the healing process.

“Let’s see if you're still as mouthy after you get a little feel for the pain we’re going to inflict,” one of the men said as he grabbed her arm and bent it up behind her back.

“I was raped and dragged alongside the car when he shoved me out of it and drove off with me tangled in the seatbelt. I had skin ripped off, needed skin grafts, and wound up needing my foot amputated because they couldn’t save it. Do you really think I don’t know how to tolerate pain?”

“Maybe you can, but can he tolerate your pain?” the man holding her arm taunted Connor as he shoved it up higher and higher until she felt her shoulder joint pop out of its socket.

Being able to tolerate pain well didn't mean she was impervious to it, and she did cry out as her shoulder dislocated. But she was able to breathe through it and before the man could taunt Connor, she rushed to assure him.

“I'm okay. Don’t give in, Connor. Please. I don’t want to be the reason your family doesn’t get answers. Whoever these men are, they’re rich and powerful and if they hurt your mom they’ve done it to others as well. They have to be stopped, they deserve to be punished. I’m willing to sacrifice my life to make sure it happens. I don’t want to, I wish we got the happy ending we deserve, but nothing is more important than family and doing the right thing. This is the right thing, it just sucks.”

Connor let out a shaky breath, and she knew he was struggling to accept that he might have to stand by and not do anything to save her life. But she needed him to know that she wouldn't hold it against him, that she wanted him to do this, and she loved him even more because of his dedication to his family. They were her family, too, she loved every one of those men.

“I love you, Connor, and I don’t blame you. Always and forever.”

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