Page 18 of The Perfect Escape
Without warning, he unfastened his seatbelt and stood before me. “I need to know what he did to you. I need to see it for myself. We are going to the back room.”
“Please, Davian. Don’t do this.” I knew what he was asking, and I couldn’t bear his disgust once he saw what Rui had done to me. All I needed was a few more weeks until the bruising wouldn’t be as noticeable.
“I saw your friend, Reyna. I saw what that bastard did to her. I need to see for myself if he did the same to you. If he hurt you in any way…” His breath brushed against my face as he positioned his hands on the armrests and balanced his body as he leaned in.
If I refused to go back to the suite, he would know. I was so ashamed of what I had done because I wasn’t strong enough to fight back. “If you saw what he did to Helga, then you know what he is capable of.” The volume of my voice grew, and so did the tears. “Rui Salko is a monster. I did what I had to do to survive. There wasn’t one day that went by that he didn’t show his displeasure with me. No man as cruel as him could ever be my father. My mother would never love a man like that.”
Davian’s expression revealed the hurt and pain my words caused him. My tear-stricken eyes remained on him as he straightened to his six-foot-four frame and took a seat in the chair across from me. “What did you have to do, Reyna?” Forking his hands through his hair, he lifted his head with a deep sigh, refusing to look at me.
When he finally looked at me, the blue of his eyes had turned to ice, and I knew what he was insinuating. “If you are asking if I slept with him… you can go to hell.”
The tears that filled my eyes blurred my vision as I struggled to unfasten the seatbelt. I couldn’t breathe, nor could I remain seated next to a man who would, for one second, believe I would willingly sleep with someone like Rui Salko. It was bad enough that I kissed him. I would have died a thousand deaths before ever having sex with Rui Salko.
Getting the seatbelt unfastened, I pushed to my feet and made my way past Davian to the back of the plane. Davian’s hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me to a halt. “We learned that Rui Salko wasn’t your father while you were held captive. We came across the information during our search for you.”
“So, your initial information was wrong. What else did you find in your search?”
The cabin became silent, and I knew he was keeping something from me. Davian was deciding whether or not to tell me. “Tell me what it is, Davian. I’m a big girl.”
“Nothing.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Seems like there is a lot of that going around.”
~12~
Davian
There was so much I wanted to tell Reyna, but how? How was I going to tell her that her father and mother were still alive? My heart ripped in two when I saw the look on her face as she made her way to the back of the plane.
When she didn’t return, there was so much guilt inside. She didn’t deserve what I accused her of. I didn’t even know where to begin. I had roughly five hours to figure it out. If it hadn’t been for me, Reyna would never have undergone the torture that Salko put her through. As much as I wanted to know just how bad the abuse was, just seeing her told me the torment she went through. She was thinner, and her cheeks and eyes were sunk in. There was no one to blame but myself. Salko might have been the one who administered her abuse, but I was the one who allowed him to take her.How could Reyna ever forgive me?
Jeannie appeared with a tray holding a bowl of soup and a sandwich. “I thought you might be hungry.”
“Maybe later.” I smiled, unfastening my seatbelt. “Keep it warm. Reyna might be hungry when she wakes up.”
Patton was busy in the conference room reviewing the details of our escape to see if there was anything on the security footage that he was able to hack. He wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything that might give us a clue as to where Salko could have fled. Finding Salko wasn’t on the top of my list of priorities. I needed to tell Reyna the truth about Giles Curtis.
There was a couple of things that I needed to go over with Patton before we landed. I headed to the conference room, exhausted and mentally drained. I wasn’t sure how much help I would be, but helping Patton was much better than thinking about how I failed Reyna. As I entered the conference room, Patton was leaning back in his chair, his hands perched on his head. “That bad?” I closed the door and pulled out a chair across from where he sat.
“Bad is not the word I would have used, but yeah, it’s bad.” Patton turned my way with a grunt of annoyance. “I got nothing. Salko must have encrypted the camera feed. I don’t have the software needed to decode it.”
“Well, I guess it is going to have to wait until we get to the villa. You should have everything you need to break the code there. Kian and Darius have been informed of our arrival. They should be able to assist you, as well.”
“How is Reyna doing?” Patton asked with concern.
“As well as can be expected.” The truth was, I didn’t know. I had barely said two words to her about her condition. “She’s resting.”
“Have you told her about her mom and Giles Curtis?” His question was the reason I came to the conference room. How the hell was I going to tell her that her father worked for Salko and was his right-hand man? After what Salko did to her, how could she ever accept a man as her father who essentially helped Salko obtain women and children to help secure his sick empire?
“Just tell me, how the fuck am I going to tell her that her father worked for the same man who held her captive and abused not only her, but the women and children we rescued from the compound?”
“Sorry, boss.” Patton raised his hand in surrender. He didn’t deserve being treated the way I felt.
Unworthy.
A complete failure.
