Page 82 of Renard's Deliverance

He grunted.

“Not sure I’ve ever slept really deeply,” she told him. “Come close to it living here. But . . .”

“But what?”

“I don’t know. I’ve always felt like I have to be on alert. Even when I’m asleep, you know?”

“I was a Marine, so yeah, I get that.”

She guessed he would.

“Since you’re awake, I’ve got something to ask you.”

“All right. If I don’t want to tell you, then I’ll just say.”

He grunted. “How’d you escape him? Master? How did the three of you get away?”

“That was all Lilac. Stefan’s obsession with Lilac . . . it was wrong and sick. Ryleigh and I were just a passing interest to him. When Ryleigh found out the truth about what an evil man Stefan was, we started to worry about what he would do next. That’s when Lilac started to form a plan to get us all out. She’s smart and she’s brave. Everyone was scared of Stefan. His men, the people he had working for him. They feared Stefan, but they loved Lilac.” She ran her hand over her face and realized it was trembling. “My hand is trembling.”

“Probably a reaction to the pain and the memories,” he told her. “We should stop talking about this.”

“No, no. I’m fine. So, Stefan had plans to marry Lilac off to one of his allies. One of her prospective grooms was actually a semi-decent guy. So she decided to ask for his help.”

“Fuck. That could have gone horribly wrong.”

There wasn’t enough light to see his features, but if she was a betting woman she’d say he was frowning.

Then again, that was pretty much a sure bet with Renard.

“Tell me about it. But we didn’t have much of a choice. He was going to marry her off to some asshole that would likely abuse her. And we’d be split up. Ryleigh and I had no chance against Stefan. Lilac was the only one who could ever get through to him when he was in one of his ‘moods’.”

Renard breathed out heavily. “So this guy helped her?”

“Yeah, thankfully, he got her some new IDs for us and a wad of cash. He even provided a distraction for the guards so we could sneak out of the compound. Stefan came after us, of course, he nearly caught us several times. Then Ryleigh got pregnant with Kye, and we knew we had to figure out a plan. We couldn’t keep running with a baby. That’s when we decided that the Malones might be our best bet.”

“And you came here,” he said.

“Yeah, then we came here.”

“Glad you did, baby. I’m glad you did.”

“Me too.” Best thing she’d ever done in her life.

“You need to go to sleep now, though,” he told her, fussing with her blankets.

“I told you I have trouble getting back to sleep.”

“It’s nearly three in the morning, baby. You’ll sleep and you’ll sleep well. Without any nightmares,” he said firmly. “Now, close your eyes. You don’t have to be on alert, because I’m here. You can sleep, because I’m here.”

He settled in the chair, then reached over a hand to grasp hers.

There was no way she could sleep.

No. Way.

But it was sweet of him to try and help her.

15

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