Page 17 of The Vigilante's Lover
She sees my gaze and adjusts her body to rearrange the strips in a futile attempt at modesty. So now we’re back to innocence. I don’t get her. Her actions don’t match up with any training protocol I know.
“Who are you, Mia Morrow?” I ask, irritated. “Who are you, really? You have no records. Your parents have no records. Your so-called aunt has no records. The only people who are as blank as you are a special brand of Vigilantes. But you are too young for that treatment.”
“I don’t understand. Records? Vigilantes?”
My anger flares again. This little game is getting old.
“Cut the act,” I snap. “I’m not falling for it. You have some natural skill, I will give you that, but your training failed to prepare you for the real thing. Life will be easier for you if you just tell me what I need to know.”
This gets her.
“I don’t know what you want!” she cries. She tries to sit up as straight as the rope binding allows. “I’m Mia, just Mia!” Her words come in little stumbling bursts.
We pass a lonely farmhouse and she watches it pass. This seems to break her, as now her voice is full of tears. “I’m not some spy! I don’t know who Klaus is or where he is. I don’t know who you are, or what you’re doing, or that I was writing coded letters, or…”
Her voice fades out. The torn nightgown slips off one shoulder and comes dangerously close to uncovering her breast. I let my gaze linger onher smooth, slight collarbone for a moment. I feel a wave of desire pulse through me.
Manipulated. Not real. Don’t fall for it.
I turn my attention back to the road and take over driving. We ride in silence as the minutes and the miles tick by. I hear her take in a deep breath, like she’s steadying herself.
“You said Klaus was your partner,” she finally says, her voice soft and subdued.
“Yes.”
“When did you last see him?”
Another snide remark rests on my tongue but I bite it back. “Over a year ago. The night we were betrayed.”
“What happened to you?”
“I went to prison.”
“No, I mean what happened when you were betrayed?”
“That’s not relevant right now.”
“How do you know Klaus is alive, then?”
“He left a message for me in the house,” I lie. I don’t know that he is alive, not really. But Mia’s letters and her presence tell me he is.
“How? My aunt lived there for years! Did he know my aunt?”
“You tell me.”
“I…” Mia gives a little grunt of frustration. “Well, what does the note say? Didn’t he give you some clue where to go?”
“No, he…”
I stop myself. Stupid, Jax. She almost caught you in your lie. Alarm shoots through me like ice water in my veins. Why is she asking these questions? Nothing I say could help her right now. Unless it’s for someone else’s benefit.
Of course. It all makes sense. The ease of capturing her and our escape. Her helpless ploy. Her questions and dodges. She wants me to talk so someone else can hear.
I slam on the brakes and pull to the side of the road. Mia gives ayelp as the car jerks and bounces through rows of a grain field. I pull to a stop behind a large tractor.
I jump out and yank her door open. Fury at myself and Jovana burns in my chest as I jerk the rope from the seat ties.
“Get out,” I say, my voice cold and harsh.
