Page 5 of Deceitful Promises

“It doesn’t.”

She takes a moment, then says forcefully,“Hmmmmmm.”

I bite down before I can let out the biggest laugh of my life. Of all the ways I imagined this going, holding back laughter wasn’t one of them. She’s too captivating and exciting to me in ways she shouldn’t be.

Despite her sleepy look and suspicious eyes, a grin lights her face up. “You were about to laugh then.”

Fighting this smile is so damn challenging. “No, I wasn’t.”

She laughs in the most alluring way, a laugh that makes me want to hold her, kiss her, and protect her, again, from myself. “Sure you weren’t, bro.”

“Stop calling me that,” I grunt as I pull up beside the hangar.

Climbing from the car, I walk around to the back and open the door for her. She steps out, giving me what I automatically think of as a seductive look, even if I know that’s crap. She’s not trying to seduce me. She seems so naive and innocent. I wonder if she’s ever tried to seduce anyone. I’ve got to stop thinking that because it just makes me mad.

She looks up at me like she’s reading my mind. “Do you have any gum?” she asks. “My breath stinks of puke.”

It’s like she knows what I want, and she’s trying to put me off. I need to get my mind under control, calm the battle raging inside me, and stop all these thoughts from fluttering about. She doesn’t want me. She doesn’t need me. Or maybe she feels the same intensity coursing through her that I do.

“Come on,” I say, gesturing to the surrounding emptiness. “It’s not like you’ve got anywhere to run. I’ve got gum in the plane, I think.”

She frowns, like she’s annoyed at me for reminding her I’m her kidnapper, nothing more. She follows me to the hangar, frowning again when she sees the small one-engine plane.

“That’s going to take us all the way to the East Coast?”

Outwardly, she’s calm, but she can’t stop her hand from tapping endlessly against her leg. She shifts from foot to foot constantly, too, though I don’t think she knows she’s doing it. I almost reach over and touch her hand to calm her down, but obviously, I can’t.

She’s my sister, sort of. She’s eighteen. She’d probably think I was going to assault her or something.

“I’ve got us a couple of seats on a military cargo plane. This is what’s going to get us there.”

“It seems you’ve thought of everything,” she says, with a toss of her head, maybe an attempt to make me think she’s not panicking. But I can read her too well. “Do you mind if I sleep on the plane?”

As I fly—my alibi being that I’m a man called Scott Simmons, a recreational flyer—I try to focus on the sky. On the clouds. On the mission. I can’t help but glance every so often at Ania in the seat next to me. She stares down at her hands, breathing slowly. Sometimes, her breath will ramp up, like hiccups of panic, and then she’ll force herself to breathe slowly again.

When we hit some turbulence, she gasps and darts her hand out to me. The second she clutches onto my arm, she snatches her hand away. “Sor—” She stops herself before she can saysorry.

“It’s okay,” I tell her.

“I don’t like flying.”

“It’s okay.”

Not exactly the most well-thought-out words of support, but they are the best I can offer her.

“What’s my mom like?” Ania asks. “If you’re really taking me to her, you should be able to tell me that. Or do you have something made up, hmm? Maybe you’ve got a whole biography written out, like you’re writing a book. There’s no point asking you for the truth.”

“She likes to dance,” I tell Ania once her rapid-fire talking has stopped. “She hums when she cooks. Dad and Molly?—”

“Molly,” Ania cuts in, her voice breaking. “Molly. That’s my mom’s name? I askedyourname, but not hers! What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing,” I say.

“Why didn’t she try to find me sooner?”

“She was terrified, Ania,” I say. “Konstantin put the fear of God into her. She just wanted to forget, but I knew about her history. After my mother passed, I wouldn’t let my father get involved with somebody without knowing everything. Your mom hasn’t told my father yet. I think it’s too painful for her.”

“Then why take me to her if she never cared enough?”

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