Page 61 of Silent Betrayal

My mind starts yelling at me, telling me how worthless I am. It starts as my mother’s voice but quickly turns into my own.They don’t love you. They don’t even know you. They’ll leave you, eventually. They’re too good for you. They deserve to each have their own woman. You can never be what they need. They’re using you.

My chest tightens and my breaths quicken. I need to get out of there, but Atlas is blocking me from leaving the booth. I want to ask him to move, but my throat feels constricted, so I reach down and double-tap his hand that’s been on my thigh this entire time. He shoots his gaze to me with concern, and I just stare at him with a plea in my eyes, begging him to understand.

Chapter twenty-five

Her small fingers tap my hand twice, and I whip my head to hers, recognizing our old sign for panic or alarm. I stare into her eyes and see all her emotions there—fear, panic, sadness. I grab her hand and start pulling her from the booth with me.

“We’ll be in the car,” I say, quickly heading to the door. My brothers will handle any needed explanation and our goodbyes.

“Hey! Now wait just a second, you can’t just take her—” Paul’s voice cuts off as I shift my entire focus to Mina. Halfway to the door, she starts to slow, and I turn to see her clutching her chest and struggling to breathe.

Fear grips me as I quickly scoop her up and move fast toward the door. I can hear the guys right behind me as I exit the diner.

“Get her in the car,” Gideon yells as he jogs past me to open the doors. He’s thinking the same as me—we need to get her out of here and somewhere safe and contained. She wouldn’t want strangers seeing her like this. Nor do we. I also don’t want her father to see and use it as a reason to try to take her from us. As if we’d ever let that happen.

When I reach the SUV, Ben holds out his arms for her, and I pass her over. With his smaller frame, she’ll fit better on the seatwith him.

“Fuck,” I mutter when I finally get a look at her face and see she’s passed out. I wasn’t fast enough to stop her panic attack. “I should have helped her de-escalate while we were still in the booth.”

“I don’t think it would have changed the outcome in this case,” Ben says, trying to reassure me.

“What happened to set her off?” Max asks. I shake my head because I don’t know.

“Maybe it was us arguing with her dad?” Tucker suggests.

Nobody says anything because we’re all unsure. We’ll find out when she wakes up. For now Ben stays sitting with her in his arms, and the twins sit in the back row of seats, leaning forward to gaze down at her, with Gideon and Tucker sitting in the front looking back, and Dom and I standing at the door, looking in. All seven sets of eyes are watching her face, hoping she’ll be okay. Ben strokes her hair and the side of her face as he cradles her against his chest, rocking her softly.

To stop myself from reaching out and pulling her from Ben’s lap and into mine, like I long to do, I pull my knife out, flick it open, spin it in my palm, calming the part of me that needs to do something other than stare at her. Watching her like this makes my chest ache.

I’ve missed her so much the past few days, and this just adds to that pain. I know she has every right to be mad at us, but I can also see as much as she thinks she doesn’t trust us, she does. She looks to us for comfort in times of stress, knowing we’ll always be there for her.

I know we were told to get closer to her, to see what we could find out about her home life. But from the second I saw her being carried into our home, I knew she was special. It was never just about the case to me. It was always about her safety first.

It’s killing me not to spend the nights cuddling her. We had agreed to give her a bit of time to process everything that’s happened, but I can’t wait any longer. Seeing her passed out like this reminds me that we can’t take our time in this world for granted, and I need to make amends. As soon as possible.

“I’m done holding back. I’m ready to start showing her how sorry I am and how much I care for her,” I tell the others, set in my decision to fix things between us.

“Me too, we’ve waited long enough,” Tucker agrees easily.

“She needs us,” Max says, staring at her.

“Okay, we’re all grown men here, I think we can all figure out how to make amends on our own?” Dom asks, glancing around.

Everyone nods as we stare at her tiny body curled against Ben.

“Just be careful and sensitive. She’s been through a lot,” Gideon reminds us.

A lot of the time, Mina acts so normal that you almost forget what she’s been through. It’s at moments like this that I remember it’s been less than two months since she was locked in a basement, beaten, starved and hadn’t seen anyone outside her horrible family in over a decade. Her mind is clearly fractured, and it is going to take time to heal.

“We need to get her help. Professional help,” Gideon says, clearly thinking the same thing as me.

“She won’t like that. She can just talk to us,” Max defends.

“It’s not the same. A psychiatrist can help her work through it all,” Gideon tells us, and I nod.

I wish I could help her, but I know I can’t when it comes to this, so I add, “he’s right. She needs a professional. We have to sendher to someone who can help her.” I pause to take a breath. “Her head is messed up, and we can’t fix her on ourown.”

Chapter twenty-six

---