Page 11 of Stealing the Dancer

“That doesn’t mean anything.”Lots of people appear to be good on digital paper.

“You’re right,” he agrees, dropping his hand.“You shouldn’t trust someone you only met last night, but we don’t have time to waste.I’ll show you that I’m a good guy.”He grabs my bags for me, and I toss the key to my room on the nightstand before leaving.

“Where are we going?”I ask when we pull onto the highway.

“Somewhere safe until I can figure this out.”He runs his hand through his hair in a frustrated motion.

“You’re tired.”

“I’ll be fine.”He must have sat outside my room all night watching me.Was he protecting me or keeping tabs?

“What do you have to figure out?”I ask, and he flicks a glance my way before his eyes go back to the road.

“Why did you run?”He asks his own question and ignores mine.

“Did my father hire you?”I turn the tables and ignore his question this time.Mack takes a long pause before finally answering me.

“Yes.”My stomach sinks before he continues.“But I’m not taking you to him.”

“Why?Did something happen to him?”

“He’s okay, as far as I know.”

“Oh.”I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

“You’re running from him yet you’re worried about him too?”

“I guess.”There’s no denying the rush of emotion I had when I thought he might be hurt or worse.“It’s complicated.”

“I’m getting that.Trust me.”He lets out a humorless laugh.“Are you scared of him?”

“I don’t know how to answer that.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“I don’t know how to answer that either.”Mack’s hands tighten on the steering wheel.“He’s never laid a hand on me, if that’s what you mean.”

“Do you know who your father is?”The question has me pausing, and I shrug my shoulder.My hackles start to rise.“Come on, little bit, talk to me,” he says gently.

“Little bit?”I smile.How is it he can so easily get me to calm down with a few words?It is kind of a fitting name for me, especially compared to Mack.You’d need three of me to make one of him.“Are you really a cop?”

He might be lying that my father sent him.Mack is clean-cut, but my father is too in his fancy suits.The difference is there’s a dark air around my father.

“No.”He shakes his head as a chuckle leaves him.

“I don’t know about my father’s business dealings.”

“But you know about his business?”He lifts a brow.

“Kind of.”

“This gets messier by the second.”He lets out a long sigh.

“What do you mean?”

“You need protection from your father, but you also don’t want anything to happen to him.Am I getting that right?”

“I want to be free,” I whisper.

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