Page 52 of Silent Betrayal

“Yeah, Angel, I’m here.”

“What happened?” I ask as I look around. “Is this your home gym? When did I come down here?”

“It is. We found you under your bed, I think you were having a panic attack, so I got you out of there and brought you down here, where you can’t hear the sounds of the storm.”

Right… the storm. I shiver at the thought of all those memories flooding me. It was too much and my brain couldn’t handle them all. I don’t remember anything after crawling under the bed until just now.

“I didn’t know you were afraid of storms, Sugar,” Tucker says from where he’s sitting beside us. I seem to be in Jasper’s lap as the other six sit close by.

“Me either,” I mumble.

“You didn’t know? Is it new?” Ben asks with concern.

I lick my lips as I think about how to answer. I’m still mad at them, but I know I need to tell them about Simon. I don’t know if I can tell them about the shower right now, though. It’stoo raw.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I tell him firmly. I watch as they all exchange worried looks. Like they want to push me to talk, but know they have no standing to do so.

Feeling uncomfortable sitting in Jasper’s lap, I stand up quickly. The blanket around me falls to the ground and I notice I’m still clutching TJ. My eyes meet Tucker’s, and he watches me intensely, almost daring me to drop it.

Part of me wants to drop TJ, in hopes it will make Tucker feel even a sliver of the pain that I felt. But I can’t. I’m not a spiteful person and I still care about him and TJ. I pull it closer to my chest and see a spark of satisfaction in Tucker’s gaze making me turn away.

My eyes land on Dom’s. But I don’t look away. I let him see all the pain and hurt that his team has caused me. I see my pain mirrored in his expression and he reaches out to me. “Please, Kitten, come here, let me explain.”

I shake my head and take a step back, watching as his outstretched hand drops in defeat. “No, I don’t think there is any way to explain this away.” I glance around at each of them. “Whatever way you want to spin this, the truth remains that you purposely got close to me to try and get information. That… hurts. I don’t know how to get past that, how to trust anything you say now. I keep looking back at those early times together with a completely different lens. I thought you cared, but you were using me.”

“That’s not true,” Max complains.

“Max, let her talk,” Dom chastises him.

“No, I can’t take any more of that. It’s not completely black and white. Were we asked to get closer to you to see what we could find out? Yes.” His words make me cringe but he continues. “But that doesn’t mean thateverything was fake. I promise, Mina, nothing about our relationship has been fake. Did I try to ask some questions about your home or family to gather info that would help us on the case? Again, yes. But I was doing that to help you,” he says, looking desperate for me to understand.

Ben speaks next. “Mina, what you need to understand is that we were all worried about you. Each one of us saw something special in you the moment we met you. We want to solve this case, but we’ve also been trying to keep you safe. We wanted to get you out of that house because we didn’t think you were safe there. We could have planned to send you somewhere safe, but it never crossed any of our minds for you to be anywhere but with us.”

“I know all of this is hard to understand, but please, Malishka, know that we would never purposely hurt you. That doesn’t just mean physical pain, it means emotional too. We’ll do whatever we need to do to fix this,” Atlas tells me, staring at me with a plea in his eyes.

I wipe my eyes, unsure of when I started crying as I try to compose myself. “I’ll think about what you’ve said. But regardless, I want to help you solve this case, so if I can tell you anything that will help, I will.”

“Thank you, Mina, we appreciate that,” Dom says with a nod and a tight-lipped smile.

“Are you hungry? I brought you a chocolate bar,” Atlas says, handing it to me.

I reach for the candy bar, studying it with a frown.Mr. Big.It reminds me of something I’d forgotten. The last time I saw Simon, I was saved by the power outage, and the repairmen needed to come in to restore it. Later that night, when I was looking for my phone in my bag, I found one of these chocolate bars. I never knew where it came from, but sinceI had told Atlas it was my favorite, I thought he had snuck it into my bag at some point when I was at their house.

But now I know they were watching me, I start to remember how the repairman’s voice sounded like Dom’s, and how lucky the timing of all that was.

I stare at the chocolate bar as my eyes start to blur from my tears. They saved me from something truly awful that night.Did they know?Is that why they did it?

Needing to know the answer, I lift my teary eyes to Atlas, then Dom. “You—you were there that day, weren’t you?” My voice shakes as tears roll down my cheeks.

They don’t say anything, looking at me with confusion. The emotions I’ve been holding in feel like they’re about to break free. I step closer to them, searching their faces for answers.

“You left me one of these,” I whisper to Atlas as I hold up the candy bar and shake it. “And it wasyourvoice I heard,” I add, pointing at Dom.

Neither of them says a word.

“Tell me!” I yell, my voice cracking. “Tell me you were the electrical repairmen that came into my house—the ones who saved me from being raped!” My words echo around the room as I clench my fists. I don’t even know why I’m yelling at them.

“Malish—”

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