Wasn't ready for anyone to have her name.
Her name belonged to her, and she hadn't given permission for it to be used, so when she heard Thunder say it again, another wave of betrayal washed over her.
“If Maya knows that we found out who she is, it might push her further away,” Thunder continued. “I'm starting to build trust with her, but it’s a slow process, and I don’t want anything to set it back.”
“Since we need to know if she knows anything about Dr. Gardner, we can't afford to let anything set it back,” Steel added, and it felt like she was doused in icy water.
They didn't take her there to be nice. They didn't care about helping her. They weren't even trying to keep her safe.
She was there for one reason and one reason only.
Because they wanted something from her.
That betrayal cut even deeper than knowing they’d gone behind her back to find out who she was. That she shouldhave been expecting. Then again, maybe she should have been expecting this as well.
Of course, they were just using her. It was stupid to believe otherwise. Hadn't she already learned the lesson that there were no good people? Just minutes ago, upstairs in her new art studio, she’d been thinking about how wrong she was, that Thunder was a genuinely good person.
Stupid.
Maya knew better than to believe a person could do anything for unselfish purposes.
“We need to keep providing her with a safe place so she feels comfortable enough to start opening up,” Lion said.
The words made her hunch over, curl in on herself, the slight pains of hunger turning into an agony that came from knowing she was being used. And so blatantly. The clothes, the food, and the bath products weren't gifts, they were bribes. The art studio was an even bigger bribe, and now the thing she loved felt tainted and dirty.
Just like her.
Why would she think that the offers of friendship were genuine? Of course they weren't. And those soft touches and kisses she’d shared with Thunder now took on a completely different vibe.
Those weren't expressions of growing feelings, they were attempts to manipulate her body, lull her into a false sense of security.
And Maya now knew it was false. How could she have ever thought a man like Thunder would see anything of value in a filthy, ruined woman like her? It now seemed so obvious that they were all only being kind to her because they needed to know if she knew where Master had gone when he left his home.
Everything had been a lie. From the beginning, they’d been playing her. She wasn't safe there. Wasn't safe anywhere.
Once they got the information they wanted from her—and she wasn't even sure if she had anything of value to offer them—they would throw her away. Pass her back to her family and wash their hands of her.
No.
That wasn't going to happen. She didn't want to go back to her family, not right now, possibly never, and she sure as hell wasn't going to stay there, not now that she knew the truth about why she’d even been brought there in the first place.
Which only left her with one option.
Tonight, once everybody went to sleep, she was going to escape.
Relying on anybody other than herself had been a mistake, one she was going to rectify. She was going to take charge of her own life, and that started with getting away from everybody who sought only to use her for their own desires.
Chapter
Ten
March 2nd
12:47 P.M.
The room felt empty before he entered it, and yet Thunder was surprised not to find Maya in there, brow furrowed in concentration as she worked on her latest painting.
There was a partially completed work sitting on her easel. It appeared to be the cliffs where she’d jumped that night they’d found her on the island. Considering what must have been running through her mind, she’d managed to capture everything perfectly. It was just as he remembered it as well. Somehow, she’d brought the picture to life in a way that made him almost expect to hear the waves crashing against the rocks and feel the humid air against his skin.
