Page 37 of Traitorous Lies
She’d almost crashed into him right at the beginning of the event, and they’d left almost immediately. If he was there for work, although what work he’d be doing at a charity Halloween gala she had no idea, then why would he leave? If he left, he couldn’t do whatever work it was that he’d gone for.
Oh …
For a moment, it felt like her heart stopped beating in her chest as reality sank in.
Shewas the job.
He was supposed to be there to ask her something, which he hadn't yet done because he wanted her trust.
Trust she’d given freely and without reservation.
While she didn't recall doing it, she must have made some sort of noise because the next thing she knew, she was surrounded by big men in black, including Jax. Five weapons pointed at her, but when they saw it was her and not a threat they all lowered them.
Anger and humiliation warred inside her now that she knew the truth.
Jax was nothing but a liar and a user just like everybody else. No matter how much she wanted to be seen for herself, for who she was and not what people thought she was, it never seemed to work out for her.
This betrayal hurt worse than all the others combined, because she hadn't just trusted Jax, she’d allowed herself to develop feelings for him.
“Monique, you were supposed to wait in the tree for me to come and get you,” Jax said, taking a step toward her, care and concern on his face that added fuel to her anger.
How could he pretend that he wasn't using her? That nothing about their interactions had been real?
He was a good enough actor to fool her before, but no longer.
“Yeah, you would have liked that, wouldn't you?” she snarled in a voice she’d never heard herself use. No matter how angry she got, she always bottled it up, never unleashed it, it wasn't ladylike according to her grandmother, but more than that, she just always believed nobody cared so what was the point in yelling. Wouldn't change anything.
Now she was the one who didn't care.
Jax had taken her feelings, twisted them, and used them to his advantage, and she wasn't just angry about it she was downright livid.
“Would have liked continuing to play your little game, using me, toying with me, just like everybody always does. Well, you can just go to hell, Jax, all of you can. I don’t care what question you came all the way to France to ask me, you don’t deserve an answer.”
With that, she held her head up high, hugged her little fox tight, and brushed past all five men to stalk away. She didn't know where she was going, and quite frankly, she didn't care. It would suit her perfectly if the earth just opened up and swallowed her whole to put her out of her misery.
Chapter
Ten
November 5th
12:34 P.M.
This was not how it was supposed to go, Jax thought in a panic as he watched Monique walk away from him.
She was supposed to wait in the tree until he came to get her. He would have thought up how he was going to approach things on the way, but instead, she’d overheard enough for her to lose all trust in him.
For him to lose her.
All the secrets he’d been keeping were falling like a house of cards and he didn't know how to stop it from happening.
“You and her …?” Jake asked, the others moving with him as he went to follow her.
“It’s complicated,” he muttered, not ready yet to admit to his brothers that not only had he slept with the target, but he’d committed the most grievous of sins possible on an op. He’d fallen for the target.
After coming face to face with a weapon, he’d been prepared to open fire, kill as many of them as he could, and keep killing until every threat toward Monique was eliminated. But then he’d seen Cole’s faceand knew that it was his brothers who had come to find him. The relief had been instantaneous as he’d seen Cole, Connor, Cooper, and Jake, they were safe, rescued, and Monique wasn't going to die out there.
Now he hated that they were there.
