Mine To Protect (Mine #6)(5)

Had it been before she’d first been abducted? Because that was how her relationship with Victor had begun. She’d been abducted and held in the dank basement of some rundown house. A guy named Hugh Rowe had taken her, as part of some big elaborate revenge plan that he’d created against her father. Hugh had kept her prisoner, threatened her, hurt her.

She’d been sure that Hugh intended to kill her. After all, he’d strapped a bomb to her chest. She’d been so very certain that death was coming for her—

And then Victor had appeared.

We got out of that mess. We survived. How many more escapes do we have left?

Cats had nine lives. She was pretty sure she’d used up far more than nine already. How much longer could this really go on? How many more times was she supposed to escape death?

“Zoe?” Victor said her name softly.

She still flinched.

“Zoe, do you want me to drive?”

When had he gotten off the phone? She blinked and realized that she might be crying. How embarrassing. She hadn’t even been aware of the tears sliding down her cheeks. “No…no, I don’t want to stop.”

If she stopped, maybe that guy would come—

“He’s out of commission. My team will be swarming on his location soon. You’re safe.”

She laughed and the sound was so bitter, even to her own ears.

As she drove, she could feel the weight of Victor’s stare on her, but Zoe didn’t glance his way. “What would it take,” she asked him, aware that her voice was even huskier than normal, “for you to just let me go? I mean…I’d give you anything you wanted.”

“Letting you go isn’t an option, you know that.”

No, she didn’t know it. “I’ve never deliberately hurt anyone. I paid my taxes. I went to school. I had a job. I didn’t break any laws…I didn’t do anything wrong.” But she was still being hunted. Still being kept a prisoner.

“I know.” His voice was softer, gruffer. “Sometimes, we’re just dealt f*cking bad hands by fate.”

She swiped the back of her hand over her wet cheeks. “What would you know about a bad hand? I bet you grew up with some kind of silver spoon in your mouth. You probably never had to worry about anything or anyone. I bet—”

“For someone who lived in Vegas for so long, your bets are shit.”

Now she did toss a fast glance his way.

“One day, I’ll tell you about the way I grew up. The fights and the blood and the lines I crossed.”

Mr. Follow-The-Law had crossed lines? What lines?

“But that day isn’t today. Today, we’re going to keep driving for forty minutes and then we’re seeking refuge at a safe house.”

Not another one.

“It’s more of a safe motel,” he muttered. “But it’s been vetted, and we’re crashing there so that I can get a full report from my team.”

He meant so that he could hand her off to another team member. Because that was his usual MO. Swoop in. Stop her from vanishing. Pass her off.

“I’m sick of being passed off.” Her hands tightened on the wheel. “Why don’t you ask me the reason I was getting on that bus? Why don’t you ask me—”

“Fine. Why were you getting on that bus?”

“Because my friend needs me.” The words exploded out of her. “You know my friend Michelle Lane has been missing—missing too long.” She’d gone to Vegas weeks ago to try and find Michelle, but the woman hadn’t been there. “She was my only friend. I know someone took her to get to me. I know—”

“FBI agents are searching for her.” His fingers were tapping against the door panel. “I told you that when I got you in Vegas.”

When he’d swooped in…and passed her off yet again. “That isn’t good enough. It’s been too long. I’m worried that she’s dead.” Just saying that fear aloud hurt. “I have to find her. So if you pass me off to another agent, well, guess what? I’ll break and run again. I will keep running until I know where Michelle is. Until I know what happened to her. Until I find my friend. Dead or alive.”

Okay, wow, she’d gotten a little passionate there. Passionate and loud but she was not going to be passed along again.

He wasn’t speaking.

“Say something,” Zoe ordered. “Say—”

“If the agents searching aren’t good enough, then I’ll be the one to personally help you.”

She shook her head, pretty sure she’d misheard.

“I’ll help you,” he said again. “But you’ll have to help me, too, okay, Zoe? You were promising me anything before, weren’t you?”

Um… “Yes.”

“Then I think you and I will be able to work out a deal.”

Her heart stuttered in her chest.

“Keep driving, Zoe,” he told her. “Everything is going to be all right.”

Was she really supposed to believe those words?

***

Lauren Ward didn’t want to screw up her first assignment. She’d busted ass to join the FBI, and the last thing she wanted to do was start off her Bureau career with a screw up but…

Her hand tightened on her gun. “The guy isn’t here.”