Page 7 of Traitorous Lies (Prey Security: Charlie Team #6)

Chapter

Four

Giving Monique his real name was stupid.

Granted, Jax wasn't all that far off from Jaxon, which was exactly why he’d chosen it for this short undercover gig, but it was still wrong giving her his real name when he was deceiving her, and the reason she was currently injured and curled up in his lap in the back of a van.

But that was exactly why he’d had to tell her.

She might not know it, but she’d been kidnapped because of him, and she’d gone and put herself between him and death.

He wasn't sure if the men had planned on killing him then and there. Likely they weren't once they realized he wasn't in the car. No doubt their orders had been to make his death look like an accident, and if Monique wound up collateral damage, then so be it.

His not being in the car when they got there changed things.

Shooting him and Monique, or even just him and leaving her alive, would then make it obvious that someone was the cause of his death, and that would bring in the cops. Given that her father was doing everything he could to remain off law enforcement’s radar, that would be the last thing he wanted.

Monique didn't know any of that though. She believed that she was the cause of the abduction, that she’d been kidnapped for ransom, and he had been taken solely because he was unfortunate enough to be with her when they came after her.

But that wasn't what left him feeling sick.

Sicker than the head injury had left him.

After telling him in no uncertain terms that she was absolutely prepared to bargain with her body, she’d said that she could handle it, that she’d survived once and could do it again.

What the hell did that mean?

And why wasn't whatever she was talking about in the dossier that Prey had put together on her?

The van bumped over something, and Jax braced them against the corner of the van so they didn't get bounced about too badly. In his arms, Monique whimpered, and he knew she was in pain, pain he could do nothing about because he was the one who had dragged her into this.

Maybe he should just tell her everything.

He was still holding out hope that her father’s orders had included not harming his daughter. Surely the man wasn't sick enough to allow his only claimed child to go through hell just so he could try to desperately hold onto his secrets.

If he died and she somehow survived, if she knew the truth, knew how dangerous her father was, knew what he’d done years ago and more recently, then she could go straight to his family.

They’d keep her safe, and if she gave them her father’s location, this whole mess would be over, all his family would be free to live their lives, and make their dreams realities.

Including Monique.

Because she deserved the world. He’d already thought that before when he met her, saw how sweetly shy she could be, realized she was nothing like the media made her out to be, that she wasn't into typical rich guys, and loved her animal rescue above all else. But now that she’d quite literally put her body on the line for him, how could he not think she deserved only good things ?

“Jax?”

The sound of his real name on her lips made him feel a whole hell of a lot better than it should, given everything he was lying to her about. Tightening his hold on her, he looked down to see she’d tilted her head back a little so she would be meeting his gaze if they could see one another.

“Yeah, princess?”

“It feels like we left the road.”

Not only beautiful, compassionate, and brave, but smart too.

Monique was right, they were no longer driving on a road, and he had to assume that was because these men were winding their way through the forest looking for a secluded location where they could kill him, possibly both of them, and their bodies would likely never be found.

It would be easy enough to spin that after the car accident, disoriented, the two of them had wandered off into the forest, gotten lost, and perished.

There would be a search for their bodies, but both their blood was inside that car, and everyone would assume that because they were injured, they hadn't made it back to the road, eventually succumbing to their injuries or being taken by wild animals.

“Yeah, it does,” he agreed, still trying to decide if he should spill all.

If he told her everything now he would lose her trust. Once she realized it had been a setup, that he’d been there for her, that asking her to leave with him wasn't innocent, that he’d intended to use her from the very beginning, then there was no way she would trust him ever again, and he might need that trust.

He wasn't giving up.

If an opportunity presented itself, he would take it.

Hell, he intended to make sure there was an opportunity to take advantage of.

So, for now, he had to hold onto his secrets and pray that when she did learn the truth, Monique realized that he’d done what he had to do for his family.

That it wasn't personal and hurting her hadn't been his intention. If he’d had even a whiff of a plan from her father to take him out, he never would have gone through with this. Putting an innocent person’s life on the line to save his family wouldn't have been an option .

“Because they’re going to kill us?” Monique asked, going right to the point.

Probably.

Although given she’d offered her body to them, the men might toy with her a little first, pretend that they would keep him alive until she gave them what they wanted.

“Maybe.”

“If this is a kidnapping for ransom, my dad will pay,” she said, so surely like she believed it one hundred percent, and he believed that if this was a kidnapping for ransom, she’d be right.

But it wasn't.

“He’s not the world’s best dad, not at all. But he would pay to get us out. If I …” She squirmed on his lap, clearly embarrassed, he didn't have to be able to see to know that her cheeks had gone red.

“If you what, princess?”

“If I pretend that we’re together … you know a … couple … that my dad would pay for both of us then they won't kill you. You won't be a liability anymore, you’ll be another bag of money.”

“Only your dad would know we weren't a couple.”

Monique scoffed. “Yeah, because we’re so close that he’d know if I was dating someone.”

He all but heard the eyeroll, and Jax realized that he’d likely signed a death sentence for Monique over something she didn't even have. Right now, if he had to play the odds, he would be betting on her not knowing where her father was.

Which meant she was going to die for nothing.

No .

The word roared through his head with a ferocity that had him feeling like a caged tiger who was ready to pounce.

There was no way he was going to allow Monique to become a casualty of his family’s war against her father.

As soon as the van stopped and the men got them out, he was going to find a way to get his hands on a weapon. Then he was going to kill every single one of them before Monique had a chance to sacrifice herself for him. No one was putting their hands on her tonight or any other night .

“Listen to me, princess,” he said urgently, shifting them so they were both on their knees, with his hands on her shoulders, keeping her steady.

Even though it was too dark to make out anything more than the shadowy outline of her body, he leaned in so there was mere millimeters between their faces.

“I will get you out of this alive, I swear.”

“How?”

Since he couldn’t tell her everything and risk her not trusting him when the only way this would work was if she did, he merely touched a kiss to the tip of her nose.

“I just need you to trust me. I have some training, and I know what I'm doing.

All I need for you to do when we get wherever they're taking us and they drag us out of the van, is to pretend that you're weak and dizzy.”

“Easy. I am weak and dizzy,” she said dryly, and he smiled. Monique was scared, but she was holding it together, being so brave, and now making jokes. She was someone he could become addicted to if he let himself.

“Smart alec,” he teased. “But I mean it, Monique. They know we’re both injured, and that’s our biggest asset right now. They think we’re not a threat, but we’re going to show them how wrong they are. You with me?” he asked, just as the van came to a stop.

“I'm with you,” Monique replied without a single hesitation.

Too bad if she knew the truth about what was happening to them right now, she’d be telling him the opposite.

The only way he could even begin to make it up to her was to ensure that she lived, so this plan of his had better work.

October 31 st

11:13 P.M.

Who was this man?

One thing Monique was sure of was that Jax was not the usual kind of man she’d meet at one of those events.

Not that that explained who he was .

But it did explain how he could be so calm in the face of danger, how he could come up with a plan he seemed confident with, and maybe even why he’d apologized to her.

Because she would have sworn that she remembered him saying sorry to her after the crash. It was possible she hadn't remembered correctly, or that it was merely a hallucination from the concussion she very obviously was suffering from, but somehow, she didn't think so.

Whoever Jax was, she trusted him.

If anyone could get them out alive, it was him, that was something she believed down to her bones.

So when the doors to the back of the van were thrown open and Jax quickly shoved her down so she was lying on her side, she surreptitiously attempted to move her limbs into something resembling the recovery position.

Jax had said to pretend she was weak and dizzy, not at all a stretch given both things were true, so she was going to take that role and run with it.

“Get out,” a voice ordered, a different one from the one that had been giving orders earlier, although she suspected that man was around here somewhere, too.

“She’s unconscious,” Jax said, a tiny hint of reproach in his tone.