Page 37 of Redemption

“I’m Victoria. Who is we?”

“Luke.” The woman’s features softened, and it wasn’t that she had a severe hold on her face, but it was clear that even his name made her that much happier. “My husband.”

Victoria didn’t know how to react to hearing Luke’s name. She didn’t know what Luke would tell Maddy, but it seemed as though Titan and Delta were an open book with their families as to what kind of jobs they worked and where they went. But he wouldn’t say what had happened to her, would he? That was personal and humiliating. Then again, anybody could assume that a woman who had been kidnapped and trafficked had also been raped. “I’ve met him.”

Maddy didn’t say anything, and Victoria wondered if maybe she didn’t know or was curious. It didn’t matter. “Luke was with Ryder…” Volunteering that much seemed both appropriate and too much. She had no idea how to follow that up. Luke and Ryder had been together as they wrestled the gun from her hand before she could blow Ivan’s brains out? Before she chickened out after taking too long, Luke and Ryder had watched as she played judge, jury, and executioner, but hadn’t reached the sentencing portion because she hadn’t decided if she could pull the trigger on Ivan because she would have also killed their teammate Locke.

Ivan had hurt so many people. He’d hurt her far past the physical way he’d raped her. But in those seconds as she held the gun to his face and knew that there was a very good chance killing Ivan would also kill Locke, whose only crime was holding him in place until his teammates arrived. She didn’t know if pulling the trigger on Ivan was worth his death and also Locke’s, who she now knew was a very good person. That bullet would’ve been a through-and-through. Victoria wondered what Luke had told Maddy about his introduction to her and if he’d mentioned how Victoria almost killed Locke.

“We’re going to go swimming.”

Victoria’s eyebrows arched. That wasn’t what she expected Maddy to say. “Where? In the lake?”

“It’s fun. Mostly, we kick around in the water off the side that has sand and the boardwalk.”

“I didn’t exactly come prepared for a vacation and don’t have a swimsuit.” Victoria tucked the blanket around her knees, suddenly very aware that Maddy had no clue where she had been or what had happened to her, and that was not so much embarrassing as it was a testament to who Victoria used to be—confident, powerful, and unquestioning.

“You don’t need a bathing suit to get in the water,” Maddy stated as though she were discussing basic facts Victoria should have known.

“Are you going to wear a bathing suit?”

The woman raised an eyebrow, relenting. “Yes.”

“And Luke, Colby? They’ll probably wear trunks. Mia has her swimsuits. Whoever else arrived earlier when I came upstairs—”

“Rocco and Caterina.”

“If they knew we were going swimming, Caterina probably brought her swimsuit.”

“She probably did,” she agreed. “But are those your pajamas?”

Victoria’s eyes dropped down to the clothes she’d borrowed from Mia. Maddy was right. Nothing Victoria wore was hers. “There’s a difference between Mia making arrangements for me to have clean underwear and me asking someone to run to the store so that I can have a bathing suit. That seems ridiculous.”

“Borrow a bathing suit top from Mia, and wear some shorts in the water. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill, as you Americans say.” Maddy walked further into the room and let her hands run along the edge of the bed. “May I sit down?”

“Sure.” Again, everyone insisted on asking if they could be near her. She was damaged goods, and that confirmed that Maddy knew about Russia.

Victoria looked out the window at the lake surrounded by the perfect green grass, and she watched two dogs run in a field and wrestle each other as four men stood in the distance and tossed toys for the dogs to chase. A longing hit her, similar to what she’d found herself thinking the night on the boardwalk with Ryder.

It wasn’t only what had happened to her was overwhelming. But now she had an added problem: enjoying this too much. Another reason why she shouldn’t be awake. Iowa was great, and she had worked so hard to be a pillar in her community, respected by everybody. There were men who gathered and threw toys to dogs next to lakes, women who sat with others when something had hurt a friend, kids who ran around, food that was put on tables, but she’d never seen it with her own eyes, and it felt… intoxicating. Soon, it would be gone.

Iowa had friends. She missed Seven. The community, from the mayor to the grocery baggers, all knew her, but that was very different from this happy life that she didn’t know existed outside of TV shows.

“They’re not bad people,” Maddy said softly.

Surprised, Victoria’s head snapped to the side. “I didn’t say they were.”

“That isn’t what I meant.” Her French accent curled around the words. “What I mean is, they do bad things but only to bad people.”

“How did you meet Luke?”

Maddy pressed her lips into a closed smile and shook her head. “That is a very long story, and one that is hard to understand. It would prove that he is a good man, but perhaps you would need to know me longer before you thought I was a good person.”

Victoria thought about how she’d tried to rationalize shooting Ivan, knowing that Locke would take a bullet, and how long that argument went on inside her head. “You might think the same thing about me.”

Maddy stood up and smoothed her fingers over the comforter. Outside, the sound of little kids tearing into the backyard filled the air. “That’s my cue to go put on my suit. I hope you join us. It’ll take your mind off things if you need it. And if not?” She shrugged. “You’ve already met the Winters’s kids. Rocco and Caterina have a hell-raiser running around and a little one if you like to squeeze babies. Plus when Mia walks outside in her bathing suit, it’s going to be a hoot.”

“Why’s that?” Victoria asked.

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