Page 108 of Speak No Claim

I didn’t waver in my reaction. “I’m not who you think I am.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “I don’t understand.”

“And you’re not going to.”

“Try me. Please. I need to know you’re not going to hurt me.”

“For now, you’re safe with me.”

“For now?”

“You’re going to have to trust me.”

“Don’t you dare tell me that… not after all this.”

“You fell for the man you think I am.”

“That’s not true.”

“You can’t be this naive.”

She winced, not trying to hide it from me. “So what? I’m just a job to you?” Her eyes widened in disbelief.

It was blatantly obvious that her mind was spinning out of control. The realization of my statement caused her more turmoil than it did ease.

She peered around the woods, avoiding my eyes. Her emotions were getting the best of her.

“I just want to go home,” she whispered so low.

She wasn’t talking about her uncle’s. “You’re not safe there right now. You need to be here with me.”

She frowned, tears pooling in her eyes as she bowed her head, defeated. “With you?”

“Yes. With me.”

She peered up at me through her long, dark lashes as a few tears streamed down the sides of her face, but she instantly wiped them away, not wanting me to see her looking so weak.

Again, fear was a hell of a drug, and I understood that too. She was probably crying from the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

Still, she didn’t understand I could read her like the back of my hand without even trying.

“You’re safe here for the time being,” I answered her question the best I could.

“With a man like you? A Brotherhood member? You’re precious Blood Oath Brotherhood?”

“Something like that.”

She gave me a questioning stare. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Are you in danger too?”

“I’m always in fucking danger. It comes with the territory of who I am. I thought you understood that.”

It hurt her to hear the truth out of my mouth. I could tell she felt bad for me, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t faze me.

It did.