Page 98 of Captive of Outlaws

“You know why Rob went to prison, Maren? You know what crimes he committed? He wasn’t always just this noble thief helping out the little guy.” He works his jaw.

“What did he do?” I almost whisper.

“Felony,” LJ says. “Trafficking. Schedule I.”

Realization is slow to dawn. “He was—”

“Drugs, Maren. He was moving more smack into Virginia than anyone for miles. Nineteen years old and the top supplier to everyone in Sherwood. And Rob...” He swallows. “He sold to your dad. The night he died.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

THE AIR GOES COLD AROUNDme.

No, I think. No. No. Every fiber of my body resists this being the truth.

“You’re lying,” I say quickly. “That’s sick. You’re fucking lying and—”

“I’m not lying,” LJ says. “Maren, please, trust me, I’m not.”

Maren. Not Princess. Not “you” or “her.”

My name.

He’s serious.

“I knew he’d sold to someone important, some prosecutor who used and crashed his car with his wife inside. But that was before my time. Didn’t know who the guy was, let alone that he had a daughter. Let alone that...”

He trails off. But only for a moment.

“I hated that he wasn’t telling you,” he goes on. “That none of them were. Said he didn’t want youto run away again, think you could make it on your own. Said we had to protect you even if that meant lying. But I couldn’t do it, Maren.” LJ’s gaze finds mine, urgent, pleading. “I’m sorry. I wish—”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” I interrupt. I feel sick. This can’t be true. I can’t have let someone like that touch me, see me, make me feel...anything. Him and anyone who helped him. “You say they’re lying to me. Why should I trust thatyou’renot the one lying?”

“Because I’m not!” LJ roars. His anger startles me, and I take a step back. LJ notices and looks away, like he’s ashamed.

“Sorry,” he mutters.

“And why just tell me now, for that matter?” I say. “If you knew all along, and this was really bothering you, why not just tell me the first chance you got?”

I’m digging, desperate. I don’t see LJ as a liar—not the man who defended me from creeps and stole a necklace for me—but it’s either him, or the other three. And I guess he’s the less painful option.

“Well, at first, I didn’t know,” LJ says. “How was I supposed to know that the random runaway we found trespassing on our land was the daughter of a guy Rob and the others used to...anyway,” he trails off. “Besides, I didn’t think you’d be here long enough for it to matter. I didn’t like having you around—”

“And still don’t,” I interject.

“You don’t know that,” LJ bites out. “But I figured we’d collect the ransom and that’d be it. Except then Rob went all soft on you. And the other guys too. Then Tuck figured out who you were—who your father was—and I really didn’t want you here. I just...I felt bad, Maren. And then once it wasclear you were going to stay, the night of the Fox Hunt club, I got angry. Really fucking angry. Because I felt powerless. And...”

With that, LJ looks up at me, his eyes clear and piercing, and my heart just melts.

God, but I had him all wrong.

This guy isn’t the grumpy meathead son of a bitch who hates me and the fancy family I came from.

He’s the protector. The man who wears responsibility like it’s heavy armor. The man who builds strength so he can keep others safe. Even if it means keeping them at arm’s length.

And right now, he feels like he’s a failed one.

I’m still seething, raging, furious at this reality, restless and overcharged, but the need to reassure him, to offer him comfort, overrules all of that. I reach forward and touch his cheek.

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