Page 29 of Redemption

“Obviously, it doesn’t matter.” Victoria clamped her back molars down. Too many emotions came at her from different directions. Her job. Her past. Her parents. Her inability to avoid being a statistic.

“It matters.” His hand smoothed circles between her shoulder blades.

“I could’ve been a superhero, and I’ll still be the woman who was trafficked and raped. I was powerless to stop it when everyone thought I could.”

“Are you a teacher?”

She shook her head. “Stripper.”

“I’m not here to judge, love, but bullshit.”

“Waitress.”

He hummed and shook his head. “Maybe part-time. But no. You’re hiding from a successful life at home, wherever your home is.”

“Nowhere, USA.”

“Nowhere, USA, for Victoria No Last Name. Sounds like a very generic place.”

“Must be,” she muttered. “Except for the traffickers.”

“Who are you, love?”

“What do you want from me?”

“It was an easy question. I want the truth.” A bullfrog croaked. “I want to know more from the girl who won’t tell me anything.”

She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them as she ducked her head. “I was a sham. It doesn’t matter. I didn’t realize it. But now I do.”

Tears she thought she left under the covers before a lack of good sleep and food crept back up and threatened to fall again.

Ryder put an arm around her shoulder. “Why is this so hard for you to admit?”

She squeezed her eyes tight and couldn’t handle her own truth. “Delta can easily figure out who I am at this point, can’t you?”

“Yeah, we can.”

“Have you?”

“Not yet.”

“Will you?”

“I don’t know. Not my call.”

She was so embarrassed at how much she’d failed despite all her training. It was best to leave Mia and Colby’s place. Victoria would thank Mia and hit the road as soon as she was able to figure out how and where to go start over. Surely, she could do that by the morning.

“Pick.” Ryder’s low voice rumbled close to her ear. “Someone to trust.”

Pick me...The words seemed so close to falling off his lips but didn’t. Or maybe those words were only in her imagination, and she wanted someone to cling to. No one would blame her for hoping this handsome, subtly sweet man would try to make the nightmare fade away. She’d trusted Ryder enough to sleep next to him and to tell him the secrets about her family. Ryder was the person she wanted to trust.

“That person could be you, huh?” she mumbled, knowing the answer.

“Could be,” he returned with a quiet, humorous lilt.

“I’m from Iowa. I was a bounty hunter and a private investigator.” Inwardly, she cackled at the irony of how she could do these great things and now was nothing more than a joke. Outwardly, she waited in stoic silence for his cackles.

“Victoria,” he breathed her name in reverence, holding her closer. “Love.”

---