Page 35 of No Mistakes
“You think I’m letting both of you walk into the centre of a sex trafficking exchange?” His voice rises with every word. “Do you have anyfuckingidea what they do in those places? What they’d do toyouif something went wrong?”
“I know exactly what happens,” I snap, jabbing a finger at the screen. “I’ve seen it. Heard it. Lived it through the girls I’ve tried to save in the past. You want to sit here and play protective big brother, go for it. Butdon’tpretend I’m some glass doll who doesn’t know what’s at stake.”
“Protective?” Axel steps forward now, too, his voice a dark growl. “You want to call it that?Fine. I’ll wear it. I’m protective because I’veseenwhat this business does to women like you. They don’t just hurt them, Mandy. Theybreakthem. They strip them down until there’s nothing left. And I’m not letting that happen to someone I-” He cuts himself off, jaw clenching.
I scoff. “To someone youwhat, Axel? Lied to?”
Eva stands in the corner like she wants to step in, but she knows better than to get between me and a storm.
“I’m going,” I say, “And if you think you’re going to stop me, you’ve forgotten who the fuck I am.”
“Mandy-” Eva starts, but I don’t wait to hear what she has to say. I turn on my heel and storm toward the hallway, the sound of my boots echoing like gunshots through the tension-filled room.
I make it to the guest room, the one I was taken from and slam the door behind me. The adrenaline still pulses through me, bitter and alive. I’m shaking,furious, scared out of my mind for all of those women, but I meant every word.
I press my back to the door and exhale hard, trying to stop the burn behind my eyes. A soft knock comes a moment later, but no one speaks. Just one quiet knock.
Ant.
I don’t need to see him to know. I feel him. I feel his presence like gravity pulling me back to something solid.
I turn the doorknob slowly, opening the door just enough for him to slip inside before closing it quietly behind him. Thesilence between us is thick with the weight of everything left unsaid.
He leans back against the door, his eyes dragging over me like he’s taking a mental note of every emotion I’m trying to hide, and it makes the air around me feel too hot.
“I’m fine,” I mutter, arms crossed, even though I’m anything but.
He tilts his head, those sharp eyes narrowing like he’s calling bullshit without a word. He doesn’t need to speak. Heneverhas to speak for me to understand exactly what he’s thinking.
My pulse stutters when he pushes off the door and walks toward me. Slow, deliberate steps. He stops just short of touching me, like he’s daring me to close the distance.
“You don’t get to look at me like that,” I breathe.
His gaze drops to my mouth, lingering for a fraction too long before flicking back up to my eyes. I swear he smirks. Not a lot, but enough to make me notice.
I feel the air shift when he lifts a hand, but he doesn’t touch me. Just hovers his fingers over the curve of my jaw, the ghost of contact enough to make my knees weak.
“You’re not saying anything.”
He lifts one brow as if to say,Do I need to?
“No. That’s the problem.” I say, my voice catching.
He steps in closer, and the smell of his aftershave takes over me, it’s the type of smell that makes you swoon, and boy, does it make mefuckingswoon. He keeps walking forward until my back finds the wall. His hands press flat against it on either side of my head, caging me in with nothing but his body and that deadly stare.
I swallow hard, “You trying to intimidate me?” I whisper.
He leans down, mouth near my ear. Close enough that I feel the heat of his breath, but not a single brush of skin.
No.
The word doesn’t need any sound. It’s in his eyes, in the way his body angles just enough to let me feel the power coiled inside him. My breath comes out shallow, my pulse hammering in my throat. I should shove him away. I could move his arm and step around him but I don’t. Instead, I look straight into his eyes. “This is dangerous,” I whisper.
He doesn’t flinch. Just leans in a fraction more, eyes searching mine with something fierce before pulling away.
He turns like he’s about to walk away without a single look back, instantly pissing me off.
“Don’tyou dare,” I snap, my voice low and shaking. “Don’t walk away from me.”
