Page 59 of Vega

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re denying it because you think the truth will get you killed.”

“Wouldn’t it?”

His silence confirmed everything.

I looked away from him.

The room shifted slightly, and I closed my eyes until the dizziness passed.

“He hired me to take you. I was told you were a witness who needed to be secured until they could figure out what you knew.”

“Secured,” I repeated bitterly. “That’s a convenient word for kidnapping.”

“I’m not excusing what I did.”

“It sounds like you are.”

“I’m explaining it.”

“There is no explanation that makes this okay.”

“I know.”

That answer surprised me enough to make me look at him again. He didn’t appear ashamed, but he wasn’t pretending to be innocent either.

“If I refused the assignment, Roman would’ve sent somebody else who would’ve taken you straight to him.”

“So you kidnapped me for my own protection?”

“Yes. I needed time to find out why he wanted you.”

“And if you hadn’t found out?”

His shoulders became still. I searched the only part of his face available to me.

“Would you have delivered me?”

He didn’t verbally answer, but his silence told me everything.

A laugh left me, weak and humorless. “You would have.”

“I didn’t.”

“But you would have.”

His jaw shifted beneath the fabric of the mask.

“You were his obedient weapon until you discovered he lied to you.”

I saw the irritation enter his eyes. “Be careful.”

“Why? Are you going to punish me for telling the truth?”

“Don’t confuse my restraint with weakness.”

The warning in his voice should have frightened me more than it did. Maybe I was too exhausted to respond properly. Maybe part of me had started recognizing that if he wanted to hurt me, he had already been given countless opportunities.