Page 11 of Traitorous Lies

And that voice, it didn't belong to Jaxon.

Someone else was there.

Someone had … run them off the road?

The memory tickled the back of her mind, making her squirm as pain spiked behind her closed lids.

Forcing it away, Monique made herself think. If someone was shooting at them, then she had to be sure, had to remember what had happened. But the harder she tried to find the memories, the more they shimmered out of reach.

“Jaxon,” she whimpered. Why did she need him so badly? It didn't make sense. They’d only just met and yet he felt like he was … important.

“We have you surrounded,” the other voice called out.

Surrounded?

That meant there was more than one of them.

Against only her and Jaxon.

It wasn't like she was going to be any help, and what could Jaxon possibly know about men shooting at him? After all, he was one of those rich, boring, stuffy men who always attended those charity galas.

Yet …

That didn't feel like it was true. Jaxon felt capable and confident.

“If you stop shooting back at us, then no one has to die. Don’t be stupid now,” the other voice cautioned, and it took a few seconds for those words to sink in.

Shooting.

At them.

Someone had been shooting at these people, and since it wasn't her that meant it had to be Jaxon.

“I'm sorry, princess,” he whispered, so softly she almost didn't hear him. He sounded so guilty, and yet this was her fault.

Had to be.

Being the only next heir of a family with more wealth than most people could comprehend meant there was always a risk of being kidnapped and used for ransom.

That had to be what was happening now.

Which meant this was all her fault.

She should never have said yes when Jaxon asked her to leave with him, she should have told him they would stay and talk at the ball. That way they both would have been safe, because now they were going to be kidnapped. The voice had said that neither of them had to die, but she wasn't so sure they meant that.

If she was the target of this abduction, then that made Jaxon expendable.

Whimpering, she reached blindly for Jaxon, and the next thing she knew, she was in his arms. His lips touched the top of her head as he tucked her close.

Something went thud on the ground close by, and then she heardJaxon’s reluctant voice speaking. “I’ve put my weapon down, we’re both unarmed and injured.”

Another whimper tumbled from her lips as she felt a rush of people approaching. Too many people. Her head pounded, her body ached, and she was so scared she could hardly breathe. The last thing she wanted was to cause Jaxon pain, and yet that was exactly what she was doing.

Wanting to apologize to him, before she could make the words come out of her mouth, Monique felt hands on her, ripping her away from her only safe place.

“Careful with her, she’s hurt,” Jaxon snarled, and she was surprised at the ferocity in his words. There was something else there, too, something that said he wasn't as scared as he should be, as she was. It didn't make sense, and Monique chalked it up to the disorientation she felt, making her hear things that weren't there.

Without Jaxon close to her, she needed to see him.