Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(61)

“What was that about?” Santi asked, trying to loosen his death grip on the armrest.

“A few months ago, Livia showed me a photo of that guy with Sasha.” Quinn’s nostrils flared in anger. “He was in charge of some kind of special training she was conscripted into by the Senate.”

“The Senate?”

“Exactly.” Quinn turned to meet her gaze. “Why would a Soma agent be working for the Senate? He was teaching her how to use a sniper rifle. Livia threatened to have her brought here after her training was completed. If I submitted and signed over my life to Soma, Sasha was supposed to go home none the wiser. But I called her bluff.” Quinn shook his head in disgust. “I knew … I thought Sasha’s father would travel to hell and back to keep her safe.”

“You care about her a lot, don’t you.” Santi’s voice held a hint of uncertainty.

“I do. She’s … Sasha.” He couldn’t find the right words to describe what she meant to him. “If anything happens to her … if that man hurt her in any way, I will never forgive myself.”

“You love her?”

“I do. I always will. But we aren’t good for each other. We’ve both known that for a long time, but it’s still always been more than just friends with us.”

“I see.” She stared at her hands in her lap.

“It’s confusing when you have feelings for two people at the same time,” Quinn said softly, taking her hand in his. “And it’s not fair to you or to Sasha.”

“Me?” Santi whispered.

“You know I care about you.” Quinn gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “But the way I left things with Sasha.…”

“You don’t have to explain.”

“But you’ll understand more than anyone, Mina.” Quinn smiled. “The night Livia took me, Sasha and I were right in the middle of starting things up again after we’d broken off our relationship the year before. And then we were torn apart. To her, that is all still a fresh wound. To me … it’s ancient history. It still hurts. I still love her in the way you always care about your first love, but this distance … this whole experience … you … it’s all moving me in a different direction. Sasha will always be special to me. I suppose it’s a sad and bittersweet thing when you realize it’s time to move on from that first love.”

Santi nodded. “I know you don’t want to see her mixed up in all of this. We need to see if we can talk to Jay. He’s a good guy. When he wants to be.”

“You know him?”

“Yeah. He and Livia don’t get along because Jayesh is her father’s man. Marcus sends him to help her when he doesn’t think Livia can handle something on her own. She takes offense to it, so they butt heads like siblings vying for daddy’s attention.”

“Does he outrank Livia?”

“No. He’s a slave like the rest of us, but he has the old man’s ear. They’ve been together most of Jay’s life. I think he and Livia grew up together. They’re about the same age.”

“Can he be trusted?”

“I think so. It’s no secret Jay prefers not to have anything to do with Soma. He keeps himself separate from all of this, working in different parts of the world whenever Marcus hires him out. But he’s broken. He doesn’t care about much. He’s cold and calculated. Kind of goes through the motions of whatever’s expected of him. He doesn’t have much patience for chitchat. He’s a career soldier. Does what he’s told.”

Quinn laughed at the thought of this guy with Sasha. “She probably made his life a living hell.”

Quinn caught Jayesh’s eye and thought he saw a subtle nod, as if in agreement.

~~~

“Sir, let me get that for you.” The flight attendant tried to intercept Jayesh at the entrance to the alcove where Santi and Quinn sat.

“I can make my own drink, thanks.” He stepped around the young man, closing the curtain in his face.

Jayesh shot them a warning look to keep silent, peering over the curtain to see if Livia was watching.

“I have maybe five minutes before she get suspicious,” Jayesh said almost inaudibly. “I left Sasha safe with family a few months ago, but she’s drawing too much attention to herself. How do I get her to stop trying to find me? She’s refusing to let me walk away without an argument.”

“She’s safe?” Quinn rested on the edge of his seat.

“Yes. But if she doesn’t stop asking questions about both of us, she’s not going to be.”

“That’s Sasha,” Quinn said.

“She is … very special to me.” Jayesh busied himself making a drink and a sandwich. “But this life.” He gestured toward Livia and the others. “I can’t ever let this place touch her any more than it already has.”

“Then you need to do whatever you have to do to get her to forget about you. Simple as that.”

Jay nodded, taking a bite of his sandwich. “She’s not making that easy.”

“Sasha is a force to be reckoned with,” Quinn said. “Have you … is there anything going on with you two?”

“Not like that. I’m too old for her, and I’m not a free man. But we are close. I don’t want to hurt her.”