Page 26 of Traitorous Lies (Prey Security: Charlie Team #6)

Then because he knew if he didn't go now, he’d have her in his arms, kissing her senseless until she had no choice but to forgive him, Jax turned and walked out of the barn, still clinging to the idea that he’d get his miracle and have his girl back soon.

November 9 th

11:21 A.M.

Why did Jax have to say such sweet things?

It was so much easier to be angry with him when he wasn't standing before her, all strength and determination and sincerity, taking responsibility for his actions, and apologizing for them, and telling her he was going to protect her.

Whether she wanted him to or not was implied, even though he hadn't said those words out loud.

Hadn't needed to.

She heard them anyway.

And what did it say about her that a part of her absolutely wanted him to protect her?

Was she really that desperate to be loved that she would give a second chance to a man who had already shown her once before that he didn't really see her?

Yet that wasn't quite true.

Yes, he’d gone to France to meet up with her by “chance” at the Halloween gala, but back then, he hadn't known her.

All he could know was the things the press said about her, and they never missed an opportunity to paint her as a silly, spoiled little rich girl.

It wasn't like she could be angry with him for not being a mind reader.

It was that he hadn't told her the truth once he felt that connection. There had been plenty of time for him to. Even before they left the party, which she wouldn't have done had she known who he was, but she would have given him the DNA.

DNA.

She’d been putting off doing the swab and having it sent to the Prey lab they’d given her the address for .

Silly, but … once she did this, there would be no going back. What if they were right? After all, they seemed pretty sure of themselves. If it turned out that Jax’s stepsister was her half-sister, it would mean her dad had been lying to her practically her entire life.

According to Jax and his family, Cassandra was two years younger than her, which would mean that the time she was conceived was right before her mom walked out. Had her mom known about the pregnancy somehow, and left because her husband had been unfaithful?

That would certainly ease a little of the pain Monique had always felt about the abandonment. Although it wouldn't get rid of it entirely, after all, her mom had still left her behind even if she had reason to leave.

But a DNA test would only prove her dad had been a cheater, it didn't prove he was a rapist. While she’d had little to do with him, she just couldn’t picture the stuffy man in the suit she rarely saw raping a woman.

Her dad was always so … bland. Quiet, withdrawn, never showing any emotion, joy, anger, or sadness, it was like they didn't exist for him. He’d never even cried when she’d been returned after being ransomed.

Just patted her on the head once and then left her in the care of her grandparents like he always did.

She just couldn’t picture him having enough interest in anything at all to do something so vile.

A knock at her front door had her shoving up from the couch where she’d been curled up thinking and watching the flames dance in her open fireplace. Of course, the fire made her think of Jax, but in the end, she was thinking about him anyway, she hardly needed the reminder.

It was like he’d permanently taken up residence in her head, and she didn't know how to get rid of him.

Or if she wanted to.

Her anger and hurt said she did, but the rest of her … well, it wasn't so sure.

Since she’d clearly understood the whether or not she wanted him to part of Jax’s speech yesterday afternoon in the barn, she hadn't objected to him putting up the security cameras.

Truth be told, they would make her feel safer, and it was probably something she should have done when she first bought the place and was setting up the rescue.

Her last name was still a threat, and she had employees she didn't want getting hurt because someone thought they could use her to make a quick buck.

Opening the door, expecting to find one of her employees come to check on her, or possibly even Jax, who she was pretty sure had slept in a car in her driveway last night, instead she was greeted by the sight of a woman.

A pretty young woman around her age.

With long, light brown hair hanging down her back, red and gold highlights glinting in the fall sunlight, and piercing green eyes, the woman stared silently at her.

It was her.

Cassandra.

And as she stared back at the woman, also in silence, she knew. The shape of her nose, the angle of her chin, and the small birthmark there. Those features combined with the unusual highlights of her hair, told her the same thing a DNA test was going to.

This woman was her father’s daughter.

“Y-you look l-like …” Monique stammered, a whirlwind of emotions raging inside her. “I look like my mom, but you take … you take after him.”

Cassandra gave a solemn nod. “May I come in?”

Almost tripping over her own feet, her body feeling like it had gone completely numb, Monique stepped back to allow the other woman to enter.

Meeting a sister she’d never even known existed felt so weird.

A part of her was excited, she’d always wanted a sibling, especially a sister, but the other part of her couldn’t believe that her dad would cheat on her mom and create another child.

“It was my fault Jax went to France to find you,” Cassandra said, guilt and regret in her pretty green eyes.

“I was desperate. We all were, are, but I'm the one who put this all in motion.

If I hadn't been conceived, none of this would have happened.

None of it. My dad—at least the man I always thought was my dad—wouldn't have been killed along with his team.

My mom wouldn't have been arrested as a traitor. She’d still be alive, they both would, and my brothers wouldn't have spent their whole lives focusing on clearing their names. My existence … it ruined everything. Ruined all their lives. ”

When Cassandra burst into tears, Monique didn't even hesitate. She quickly wrapped the other woman in a hug and guided her over to sit on the couch.

They might not know each other, but Cassandra didn't hesitate to cling to her as she sobbed, and Monique just let her get it all out.

Holding onto her little sister, because she was convinced that was what the woman was, she stroked her back and murmured reassuringly in her ear that she wasn't alone.

“None of that is true,” she told Cassandra when the other woman’s tears began to ease.

“None of it is your fault. You being born didn't hurt anyone, you're not responsible for other people’s actions. You have six brothers who love you, who would do anything for you. Do you know what I would give to have that?”

“But you have money, and power, and?—”

“And that’s all I have. Had. Well, no power, but money, sure.

I also had a mom who walked out on me, a dad who was quite literally never around.

Grandparents who wanted to mold me into a high-society socialite who was only good for being married off to someone who would add more unneeded money to the family.

I would have traded it all for what you have in a heartbeat.

You had a mom who loved you unconditionally, a dad who loved you even though you weren't biologically his, and six brothers who would go to the end of the earth for you.

I can't say what's happened to your family is fair, it’s not, it sucks big time.

But you're not alone, and that’s the one thing I've always been.”

“I know I'm lucky to have such an amazing family, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful,” Cassandra said, and Monique quickly shook her head.

“I know you're not. I know you know the value of family.”

“It’s just … ever since I learned how I was conceived, I just … I feel so dirty.”

They were sisters, yes, it was hard to deny it when Cassandra looked so much like Monique’s father, but that didn't make her dad a rapist. She still couldn’t believe he would do that.

“My dad … our dad … I can't … I don’t think he would do that.

To your mom, I mean. I'm still not sure that it wasn't consensual.” Wincing because she knew that sounded harsh, Monique offered an apolog etic smile. “I know you don’t want to think your mom would be unfaithful, but honestly, I think my mom left because my dad was so coldly disinterested.”

“Or maybe she left because she knew the truth about what he’d done and fled for her life,” Cassandra said softly, also offering an apologetic smile to soften her words.

Only those words felt like they had opened up a trapdoor beneath her, and she was plummeting into a new depth of hell she hadn't known existed.