Page 20 of Hunted Temptation
“Before I got here, I drained your father’s accounts. Domestic and offshore. I figured you deserve that much.”
My words are met with more silence.
Miles go by until she speaks again, but she only repeats one word of what I’ve just said.
“Deserve,” she says softly.
She turns her head to look out the window, and I flick my gaze to her for a moment before I direct my attention out the front windshield again. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that to her. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, but it doesn’t matter now. I’ve said it, and it’s the truth.
The truth… It’s the best thing I can say.
It’s always the best thing that can be said. “Why do I deserve it?” she asks.
“Don’t ask me that.”
“How much do you know?”
I squeeze the steering wheel but don’t say anything. Instead, I pull over to the side of the road, then look at her and take her in. She’s watching me, focused on me, waiting for me to say something, to explain to her what I meant, and to tell her how much I know.
“Enough,” I state.
“Please tell me,” she whispers.
Pressing my lips together, I roll them. I don’t know why I’m so fucking nervous. Why won’t I just tell her? But there’s something about the hope in her eyes, the way she’s looking at me.
Maybe it’s her youthful naivety.
Just because she’s been through things that most people couldn’t imagine, it doesn’t mean she is without naivety. It’s there. She’s only eighteen, and there is an innocence that is just beneath the surface.
Clearing my throat, I shift in my seat, my eyes focused on hers still. I can’t look away from her gray orbs. My hands ache to touch her. My body screams to fuck her. But I hold back, my control holding on by a bare thread.
“The reason I was across the street was because your father was on a list.”
“A list?” she interrupts me.
I don’t mind the disruption. My lips twitch into a smirk. “A list of men who do very bad things to children, which include but are not limited to physical things, but also trafficking to other men who do bad things to them.”
“There are more,” she whispers.
I’m not sure if it’s a question or not. But I dip my chin in a single nod anyway.
“How many more?”
I think about ending the conversation right here and now. But I can’t. “More than you could count, spanning decades.”
“And you’re going after them?”
“I’m going after them,” I confirm.
“You’re a vigilante.”
Instead of confirming or denying her announcement, I shift my attention back to the road, shift the car intoDrive, and move forward. She’s looking at my profile. I can feel her eyes on me, searing into my skin. I want to pull over again and devour her, but I decide against it. I move forward, onward and forward… at least for now.
ELODIE
I’m notsure how long we’re in the car, but as the miles drone on, I turn the radio up and let the sounds of Imagine Dragonssoothe my soul. Music is about the only thing that I’ve ever had as a constant in my life.
My eyelids grow heavy, and eventually, between the music and the soft rocking of the car, I fall asleep. I’m not sure how long I’m out, but when the car stops, I wake up with a full-body jolt.
