Page 65 of A Deceitful Pact

“Who’s Jack?’ I don’t recall her mentioning his name before.

“Jack was… my fiancé.” The guilt on her face says it all, and suddenly everything becomes clear. “I was working my way up in the police force, doing my own private investigations on the Gendrys in my free time. I was certain by the way those men handled me that more girls had suffered. Kaleb was just a kid; his parents must have been the ones who protected him,” she gets back to explaining.

“I knew local law enforcement wouldn't be able to touch them, so I kept applying for jobs at the FBI, and eventually I got one. That’s how I met Jack.” She smiles fondly, and my chest feels as if it’s gonna cave in.

“We were on the same training programme. I’d never had a relationship before. What happened with Kaleb put me off dating, and I was always so busy with Sasha and work. But Jack was sweet, he was committed to work the same way I was, and desperate to be an agent.” I can see that talking about him is hurting her, and she’s trying to be brave. Jack is undoubtedly the guy who broke her heart and made her certain she’ll never love again. I wanna tearhisnutsack off too.

“I never told him or the bureau about what happened to me. I just kept my head down, used the resources I could to keep digging, and after a few years, I found enough evidence to open a case.”

“What kinda evidence?” I ask, wondering why those fuckers weren’t behind bars.

“There were some neglected cases, reports of girls like me that never got investigated. I had to look real deep to find them, but I was determined. I gathered everything I had together and took it to my boss. He said he’d look into it.”

“Did he?” I ask, wondering how all this led her here and where the fuck Jack is now.

“He sent me on an undercover case, and while I was away, he promoted my boyfriend. Wanna take a guess at what his first assignment was?”

“No.” I shake my head.

“I was happy for Jack; he worked hard and he deserved it, but it should have been me.” She takes a long, steady breath before reaching for my hand again.

“I slept with you the night I found out about it.” She hangs her head in shame.

“That’s why you were lookin’ so sad. I always wondered. Is that why you left without saying goodbye, because you had a boyfriend?” I question her, hating the thought of her belonging to someone else that night we were together.

“I hated myself for it. I’d never done anything like that before, and Jack deserved better.” She wipes away more tears. “I went home and pretended it didn’t happen. I celebrated his promotion, I said yes when he asked me to marry him. I was determined to put everything behind me,” she whispers.

“So what happened? Where's Jack now?” I ask.

“Jack's dead,” she tells me softly, and hearing the pain in her voice is like taking a knife to the heart. “He’s dead because he got too close to finding out the truth. I read over his files, the Gendrys weren’t just covering up date rapes, Jack was building evidence that suggested they had a whole business trafficking women, women like the girl who Hayden picked up today.”

“Holy shit.” I let everything she’s just told me sink in. “So, you’re saying that the Gendrys make their money from trading women?”

“They take vulnerable girls off the streets, then keep them drugged till they’re sold to the highest bidder. These women are being sold as sex slaves. Some sick bastards buy them just so they can torture and kill them. And that's why you aren’t gonna kill any of those Gendry men. If you do, there are women out there who will never be found, and there are victims who will never see justice. I want those monsters to stand in a courtroom and be held accountable for what they are doing. For that, I need enough evidence to ensure that there isn’t a lawyer in this world who can get them off.”

I see how passionate she is and decide that I’ll do whatever it takes to get her what she wants..

“Did ya explain any of that to Jace?” I ask, knowing how much he wants the Gendrys dead. Especially since his kid’s been born.

“I made it clear that we’re doing this my way. I don’t know if I can trust him to stick to his word, but I had no choice. We can’t both be gunning for the same enemy, and I can’t do all this by myself anymore.” She looks down to where her hand rests on her stomach. “I wasn’t supposed to even think about starting a family until those bastards were locked up behind bars.” The smile on her face as she keeps looking at her hand tells me she doesn’t regret it, but it goes without saying that she wishes it was Jack’s baby inside her rather than mine. The whole donor situation makes perfect sense now.

“Thanks for telling me.” I slide my hand behind her ear and draw her close enough for me to touch my forehead to hers.

“I figured I owed you some explanations.” She snuffles back tears.

“I understand.” I swallow back my hurt and force myself to smile. I may not like it, but at least I got all my answers. She’s never gonna love another man, because when Jack died, he took her heart with him. I’m just a reminder of the night she let him down.

“Do you mind staying here tonight?” she asks, looking vulnerable and so painfully pretty that I wanna tear my heart out my chest. “I don’t want to be by myself.” It’s a huge deal for her to ask, especially after we’ve been apart for so long. She’s distanced herself from me since I fucked up and let everyone know she was pregnant and I know it’s to stop people from talking about us. She doesn’t want to admit that I’m her baby’s father, and it hurts like hell.

“Whatever you need.” Kissing her knuckles, I try to accept that this girl will never be mine. It ain’t gonna change the way I feel about her, I’m too far gone for that, and my heart breaks a little more.

“Oooohhhh!” Riley screws up her face like something’s wrong and suddenly I panic.

“What's the matter?” I ask when she quickly takes my hand and places it flat against the side of her tummy.

“Youmustfeel that.” She looks up at me, and all the sadness in her eyes has been replaced with hope and excitement. A tiny ripple moves beneath my fingertips, and I nod my head and laugh.

“I felt it.” I look back down at my hand in amazement when the same thing happens again.

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