Page 41 of Sanctuary

“No,” he said at last. “But when we’re safe, you’re going to tell me everything. No more lies, Mia. I need to know exactly what we’re up against.”

I nodded, relief and dread mingling in my chest. “Everything,” I promised.

What I didn’t tell him was that “everything” might be the very thing that would make him walk away for good.

Chapter 20

Connor

The motel room smelled of stale cigarettes and cheap air freshener. I threw my duffel bag on the bed closest to the door and looked at Mia. She was standing by the window, all beaten and bloodied, peering through the gap in the curtains. I wasn’t sure if she was watching the rain come down or if she was half expecting to see Craven standing in the parking lot every time there was a strike of lightning.

I wondered how many times he raped her and decided it was something that if she wanted to talk about she would. I cleared my throat, and she flinched, yanking the curtain shut.

“Sorry,” I said, softening my voice. “You should take the bathroom first. Clean up.”

She nodded without looking at me, grabbing the clothes that I held out to her and disappeared behind the bathroom. When the shower started running, I sank onto the edge of the bed and buried my face in my hands.

How the fuck was I going to tell Declan that my wife was sent to kill him?

I checked my phone. Three missed calls from him and two from Rory. No messages. Good because I wasn’t planning on calling either at the moment.

The shower shut off, and I straightened, trying to compose myself. When she emerged, her wet hair was slicked back, and she looked younger without the blood and dirt. My oversized t-shirt hung to her thighs, while she rolled up the ankles of my jogging pants. She looked adorably lost in my clothes, but somehow managed to keep the pants in place despite their much larger size.

“I used my hair tie,” she offered, noticing my curious glance at her waist. “Looped it through the drawstring.”

Her wearing my clothes made her seem even smaller, more vulnerable. But I knew otherwise.

“Feel better?” I asked, grabbing my own change of clothes.

She nodded, sitting gingerly on the edge of her bed. “Connor, I—”

“Save it,” I cut her off. “Let me clean up first. Then we talk.”

∞∞∞

The hot water did little to wash away my confusion. I stood under the spray, letting it pound against my shoulders as I tried to make sense of everything.

When I came out, she was still sitting in the same spot, hands folded in her lap.

“Hungry?” I asked, reaching for the takeout menu on the nightstand.

“I don’t think I can eat,” she replied, then looked up at me with those damned eyes that had fooled me for weeks.

I ordered a pizza anyway, enough for both of us. While we waited, the silence stretched between us like a live wire.

“Start talking,” I finally said, sitting across from her. “And don’t leave anything out.”

Mia took a deep breath, her fingers twisting the edge of the t-shirt. “Matheson has a hard on for your family. I have no clue why, he never said. He was the one to put the hit out on the captain of the clan.”

“Go on.”

She shifted uncomfortably, eyes darting to the window before coming back to mine. “I was assigned to get close to your family. It just so happened that Rory was looking for Cookie at the same time, and I wanted to meet Wren.”

I thought of Wren and how she would feel when she found out her sister was sent to kill her husband.

“So, you used your own sister to get to us? That’s cold, even for a professional killer.”

She flinched as if I’d struck her. “It wasn’t like that. I tried to refuse the assignment when I realized it was Declan and what he meant to Wren. But Matheson... he has ways of ensuring compliance.”

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