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32
CONOR
“How the fuckcould you let her run away, Maverick?”
Rubbing a finger down the bridge of my nose, I watched as Star’s temper hit peaks and troughs throughout the conversation with the biker, where I found myself both amused at seeing the Momma bear in action and turned on by the defense of her kid.
How couldn’t a man like myself react to that spike in temper?
The child in me, who’d been failed, loved to see her fight for Katina. Even as she’d defended Maverick’s inability to corral her kid in the face of her fear for Star, it didn’t stop her from ripping him a new asshole.
“Look, Star—”
“No, I won’t fuckinglook. I left her with you,” she snarled. “You know what that means? She was your mission. You failed, Maverick. You fucking failed her, and you failed me.”
“I know. I’m sorry—”
“Sorry wouldn’t have saved her from some pedophile creep who could have taken advantage of her!”
“This could have ended a thousand times worse than it did and that fucking kills me, but I can’t cuff her to a chair—”
“I’m not asking you to cuff her to a chair! Just, you know, for her not to head to Manhattan while your back is turned. Mission. Goddamn. Failure.”
“I know! I’m really fucking sorry, Star. It won’t happen again.”
“How do you know that? How can I trust that?”
“I’ve set protocol in place. She got out by sneaking into one of the housekeeper’s vehicles. The guards know to check—”
“Why weren’t they already?”
“It was an oversight. Oneweboth missed. Link too.” That gave her pause because she stopped sniping at him as he continued, “The threat of her going MIA is low now that she knows where you are.” Maverick sighed. “I hate to say it, Star, because I know I screwed up, but the change in her when you stopped calling was immense.”
“I was taken captive, Maverick,” she said wearily, some of her ire having diminished, but it didn’t stop her from countering, “What would you have preferred for me to do? Tell my jailor that he was ignoring the Geneva Conventions? Maybe I should have thrown my lot in with Amnesty International. Do you think they’d have helped? Oh, wait, I didn’t have access to them either.
“I left her with family. With people who love her. Who want to keep her safe. More than that, I left her withyou. You had my back in the sandbox. You knew what it meant when I left the only thing that matters to me in your care.
“Yes, I fucked up. Yes, I’m sorry about that. You’ve no idea how much it hurts me to know that I scared her. She’s lost so much already and I never intended on letting her down—
“You’re a mom now. That changes everything. You can’t just head out like you did in the past. That’s not how it works.”
“Fuck. You. You know what I’m working toward. I’m trying to stop women likeyourOld Lady,” she spat even though his tone hadn’t been argumentative, “from ever being hurt again. I’m stopping these bastards from ever getting their hands on women they think will slip between the cracks and using and abusing them.
“You think you had it rough, Maverick? I know you’ve been to hell and back, but you have no idea what Alessa, Amara, and myself have gone through. Never mind the fuck knows how many women the Sparrows have trafficked over the years.Thosewomen are who I’m fighting for. Kat’s goddamn mother was among that unknown number.
“I didn’t fuck off to Mexico for some winter sun and a spa treatment. I went to change the world so that it’s a better place for my kid.”
By the end of that speech, she was breathing heavily and Maverick was silent.
I didn’t need to fight Star’s battles for her, but I approached her with caution and gently slid my hands up her arms when she didn’t shove me aside.
As I reached her biceps, I drew her against me, letting her rest her forehead on my chest instead of leaving her to stare blankly at the wall of windows beyond. Her shudder as she burrowed into me made me gladder for thinking to comfort her.
She was so strong that it was easy to think she didn’t need that. But things were different with me, weren’t they?
Miserably, Maverick stated, “I’m sorry, Star. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I don’t need you to say sorry,” she whispered. “I need you to make sure my daughter is safe.”
