Page 41 of Traitorous Lies (Prey Security: Charlie Team #6)

Then he had to believe they could work on repairing their bond.

Because he wasn't giving up on getting his miracle.

November 13 th

5:25 P.M

Ugh, that man was annoying.

Just who did Jax Holloway think he was being so understanding and taking her anger like he knew he deserved it?

Was he trying to make her fall harder in love with him?

Because if he was, it was working.

Monique sighed as she dropped down onto the bed in her room. She’d fled there after her confrontation out in the woods and hadn't been brave enough to leave yet.

It had felt so good to let out all her rage, to tell him exactly how she was feeling and how his words had hurt her. It was like she’d let go of a heavy boulder she’d been dragging around with her these last few days.

Actually, it was like setting down a boulder she’d been carrying around most of her life.

Just because she didn't allow her grandparents to dictate her life didn't mean she didn't have big feelings about everything they’d done to her. Denying her the love and affection she’d needed as a child, the care and comfort she’d needed after her kidnapping and rape, the support she’d needed as she built her adult life.

There was anger at her dad, too, for walking away after her mom ditched them both. For not wanting her either. And she absolutely held a huge amount of anger directed at the mother who had abandoned her so easily.

But she’d never allowed herself the freedom to tell the people who had hurt her the damage they had caused.

Maybe it was something she needed to start doing.

When her phone began to ring, she shoved herself off the bed and crossed to the dresser where she’d dropped it earlier. It was probably the rescue calling to check in. She’d asked them to keep her in the loop of any issues and any new arrivals.

Only when she reached her phone, it wasn't the rescue’s number on the screen, it was her father’s.

Sucking in a sharp breath, she froze. Should she answer?

Get Jax? Last time she’d spoken with her dad, he’d freaked out on her.

If she didn't answer now, though, who knew when she’d get another chance.

This was the first time he’d called her back since she’d delivered the news that he had another daughter.

She had to answer.

She needed her father to convince Jax and his family that he wasn't a rapist so that maybe she and Jax could move forward. Maybe. If he kept showing her that he saw her.

Snatching up the phone, she accepted the call. “Dad, I've been trying to talk to you for days. Why didn't you call me back?”

“Maybe because I just learned I had another child, Monique,” her father snapped in that brisk tone of his she knew so well. He wasn't doing well, knowing he had another daughter, which she supposed she could get. Cassandra was twenty-four, which meant he’d missed out on a huge portion of her life.

Although he’d also willingly missed out on almost all of her life, too.

“You need to meet with this family, Dad. You need to tell them that you're not a rapist.”

Silence met her request.

Why was he being so stubborn about this?

He had to know that the Charleston Holloway family worked for Prey Security.

Eagle Oswald was not someone to be messed with.

If her dad didn't agree to talk with Jax and his family, she had no doubt that Eagle would pull whatever strings he needed to force her father’s hand .

“Dad—”

“I’ll meet with you and the girl,” he announced, cutting her off.

“You mean me and your daughter, not the girl,” she reprimanded gently. While she understood her father had a shock, Cassandra deserved better from the man who had fathered her.

“I’ll meet with you both.”

“I don’t think they’re going to let Cassandra come without them.

Someone is after their family, keeps trying to kill them.

They won't just send her off without knowing she’s safe.

” Actually, Monique doubted they’d let Cassandra or her go alone.

She was starting to allow herself to believe that this family cared about her, would protect her, and wanted the best for her.

“I’ll meet with you both,” her father repeated in a voice that brokered no arguments.

Well, she’d warned him. If he chose to believe that Cassandra’s brothers weren't going to tag along then that was on him.

“I’ll text you a location once I finalize my flights.”

Her dad was ready to hang up, she knew it, but there was one more thing she needed to ask him about. Something that had been niggling at her ever since she learned of her father’s affair.

“Dad, wait.”

“What is it?”

“About Mom … did she … was the reason she left … did she know that you cheated on her? Is that why she left you?”

“Your mother had a choice when she left, Monique. She could have you go with her or leave you behind. She chose to leave you behind. She became a problem that needed to be buried, and I gave her a choice. Choices she made, and we all had to live with the consequences. I’ll text you an address shortly. ”

With that he was gone, leaving her frozen in place.

A problem that needed to be buried.

What did that mean exactly?

And why did she get the feeling that it was nothing good?

It was a weird way to acknowledge that her mom knew about the affair and obviously wanted to take it public. Knowing her dad, he probably blackmailed his wife into leaving destitute and with their daughter, or leaving with a bag of money but no child.

But buried …

There was something about the word that had her insides churning.

What if he meant it literally?

Phone still clutched in her hand, Monique left the room on shaky legs that felt too weak to support her. Somehow, they did, though, and she stumbled down the stairs and across the huge entrance hall to the front door.

Jax would be on the porch in the swing. She had no idea why she was so certain of that, but she was. And as she flung open the door she saw she was right. He was sitting right on the porch swing where she’d been when they talked yesterday before working on the fire pit.

“Monique? What's wrong?” he asked, jumping to his feet as soon as he saw her.

When she opened her mouth to tell him, the words seemed to get stuck in her throat. It couldn’t be true, could it? Her dad blackmailing her mother into leaving her behind was one thing, but if it was more than that …

Then it meant her entire life was a lie.

That all her anger had been majorly misdirected.

“Princess, you're scaring me,” Jax told her, now standing before her. “Tell me what happened. I can't fix it if I don’t know what the problem is.”

Again, she tried to get the words out, but she couldn’t seem to make her voice work.

All those words, all those emotions, all those fears were trapped inside her.

“It’s all right, I'm here.” Jax’s strong arms closed around her, pulling her to rest against his chest, and she sagged into his hold, allowing him to take her weight.

It felt so nice.

Held like this, she felt safe and protected. There was lingering anger and hurt from Jax’s words, and she knew she wasn't ready to take a leap of faith with him, but she trusted him to help her with this.

“You have your phone. Did your dad call?” Jax asked .

Keeping her face pressed against the hard planes of his chest, she nodded.

“Did you get him to agree to a meeting?”

Another nod.

There was so much she needed to say. She had to get it together because there wasn't another choice, she and Jax were going to have to come up with a plan.

“Just me and Cassandra,” she managed to whisper.

“No way are the two of you going alone.”

The fierce protectiveness in his voice made her smile. He’d said the two of them. Not just Cassandra. He wanted to protect her, too, and that thawed a little of the icy fear clogging her veins.

“I told him that,” she said, lifting her head so she could look up at him. “If he chooses to think only Cassandra and I are going to show up, that’s his problem.”

“Damn right it is.” Jax’s large hands lifted to frame her face, the heat of his palms seeping into her cheeks and slowly spreading to the rest of her body. His thumbs swept softly across her cheekbones, and she allowed his touch to ground her, strengthen her.

Remind her that she wasn't alone.

Gripping Jax’s wrists, she clung to him, regardless of everything going on between them, she needed him right now.

“What else did your dad say, princess? What upset you?”

Saying these next words aloud was almost impossible because speaking them to another person felt like making them real. But if they were real, then her father was a monster.

A dangerous one.

Just like Jax had been insisting all along.

“I think … I think my dad might have killed my mom.”