Page 14 of Traitorous Lies
If an opportunity presented itself, he would take it.
Hell, he intended to make sure therewasan opportunity to take advantage of.
So, for now, he had to hold onto his secrets and pray that when she did learn the truth, Monique realized that he’d done what he had to do for his family. That it wasn't personal and hurting her hadn't been his intention. If he’d had even a whiff of a plan from her father to take him out, he never would have gone through with this. Putting an innocent person’s life on the line to save his family wouldn't have been an option.
“Because they’re going to kill us?” Monique asked, going right to the point.
Probably.
Although given she’d offered her body to them, the men might toy with her a little first, pretend that they would keep him alive until she gave them what they wanted.
“Maybe.”
“If this is a kidnapping for ransom, my dad will pay,” she said, so surely like she believed it one hundred percent, and he believed that if this was a kidnapping for ransom, she’d be right.
But it wasn't.
“He’s not the world’s best dad, not at all. But he would pay to get us out. If I …” She squirmed on his lap, clearly embarrassed, he didn't have to be able to see to know that her cheeks had gone red.
“If you what, princess?”
“If I pretend that we’re together … you know a … couple … that my dad would pay for both of us then they won't kill you. You won't be a liability anymore, you’ll be another bag of money.”
“Only your dad would know we weren't a couple.”
Monique scoffed. “Yeah, because we’re so close that he’d know if I was dating someone.”
He all but heard the eyeroll, and Jax realized that he’d likely signed a death sentence for Monique over something she didn't even have. Right now, if he had to play the odds, he would be betting on her not knowing where her father was.
Which meant she was going to die for nothing.
No.
The word roared through his head with a ferocity that had him feeling like a caged tiger who was ready to pounce.
There was no way he was going to allow Monique to become a casualty of his family’s war against her father.
As soon as the van stopped and the men got them out, he was going to find a way to get his hands on a weapon. Then he was going to kill every single one of them before Monique had a chance to sacrifice herself for him. No one was putting their hands on her tonight or any other night.
“Listen to me, princess,” he said urgently, shifting them so they were both on their knees, with his hands on her shoulders, keeping her steady. Even though it was too dark to make out anything more than the shadowy outline of her body, he leaned in so there was mere millimeters between their faces. “I will get you out of this alive, I swear.”
“How?”
Since he couldn’t tell her everything and risk her not trusting him when the only way this would work was if she did, he merely touched a kiss to the tip of her nose. “I just need you to trust me. I have some training, and I know what I'm doing. All I need for you to do when we get wherever they're taking us and they drag us out of the van, is to pretend that you're weak and dizzy.”
“Easy. Iamweak and dizzy,” she said dryly, and he smiled. Monique was scared, but she was holding it together, being so brave, and now making jokes. She was someone he could become addicted to if he let himself.
“Smart alec,” he teased. “But I mean it, Monique. They know we’re both injured, and that’s our biggest asset right now. They think we’re not a threat, but we’re going to show them how wrong they are. You with me?” he asked, just as the van came to a stop.
“I'm with you,” Monique replied without a single hesitation.
Too bad if she knew the truth about what was happening to them right now, she’d be telling him the opposite.
The only way he could even begin to make it up to her was to ensure that she lived, so this plan of his had better work.
October 31st
11:13 P.M.
