Page 55 of Rescued By the Convicts
“I knew he hated me, but not enough to kill me. Every time I went to work on a project, something he couldn’t stop because The Company has so few pharmaceutical experts, he belittled or punished me.”
“He wanted to control you. Tobreakyou.”
“You know what my first thought was when I was condemned to Veenith? That he couldn’t get to me there. I didn’t think about the rest. Not what life would be like there living among rapists and murderers. Just the fact that I’d finally be free of him. All my attempts to flee from him in the past had failed.”
With his thumb, Zev wiped the tear from her cheek. “You’re going to make it, Mel. All of us will.”
She laughed, a rather defeated laugh as her arms hugged around her. “All I ever wanted was a nice quiet house with kids, maybe even a pond for them to fish like I had as a kid. Then I was given to Namir in the lottery. I quickly got used to the idea that I’d never have a family or that little house with a pond for fishing. But on Veenith, I had a chance at peace, even if I didn’t survive more than a few months. Then I found Reece, and, well, you know the rest. I didn’t think I could fall for four men so quickly, but you were all so kind and special, so different from what I’d had with Namir and my other husbands. I’m glad Namir sent me to Veenith.”
“Oh, Melina, you deserve all that you want and more. I’ll make it happen. Somehow. I promise.”
She leaned forward and kissed him, so unexpectedly that he thought he was dreaming. “As long as the four of you are with me, the rest doesn’t matter.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked when he tensed.
“I don’t belong with you.”
“Of course you do. You, Ivan, Jayce, Reece, and I. We’re a unit. We’refamily, Zev.” Her eyes grew wide, betraying her fear. “Unless it was all an act. From the beginning. Every time you touched me. . . even. . .” She gripped the essence stone hanging between her breasts. “Even this.”
He laid his hand over her hand that wrapped around the stone, his promise to return to her. He had returned, but he couldn’t stay.
“You need to understand, Mel, I didn’t want to love you. Ican’tlove you. But then I fell for you. Back in that bunker, a part of me wondered—feared—it was Namir in my head, pushing me, taunting me to use you. You made loving you so easy. When I finally left the bunker, it was because of Namir, not Ivan. Namir was heading to Veenith, and I had to ensure he didn’t touch you. I was going to tell him I got kicked out of the unit and no one could get into the bunker. I hoped I could convince him to leave you on Veenith, make him think pursuing you wasn’t worth it. I planned to come back for you as soon as I completed gathering my intel and got away from Namir. I mean, once in that bunker, no one could get to you.”
“Liden,” she said in a whisper.
“Yes, Liden. Thorne knew of a back way in, and he was determined to safeguard the Section B operation or answer to Namir. He feared you’d destroy the Section B operation and that Namir would punish him, but Thorne also knew Namir sent you here and planned to retrieve you. Thorne couldn’t let you get killed.”
“He warned me to stay in the med-center. He thought I’d be safe there, and yet he didn’t care when Akins tried to rape me.”
“He didn’t care what happened to you, as long as you were alive to hand over to Namir.”
She shuddered and leaned against Zev’s chest. The weight of her head against his shoulder, the smell of her, so feminine and perfect, stirred too many feelings. He had to let go, leave before she pulled him in deeper. First, he had to make her understand everything that had happened. He wouldn’t have her blame herself for any of this mess. She deserved to live in peace.
“Namir was coming for you. I had to give you to him, or he would have killed me for failing him and he would have found a way to take you, anyway.”
She nodded. If there was anyone who understood Namir, it was Melina.
“Why involve Ivan and Jayce? You could have lied to me and I would have gone anywhere with you. You could have easily handed me over to Namir.”
He hated the truth in her words, how much she’d trusted him. He’d decided her future for her, without every including her. She was right to be mad at him.
“I wasn’t going to turn you over to him without a way of keeping you safe. I always planned on getting on that ship with you, but I wasn’t sure I could take out Namir and his guards by myself. I needed Ivan and Jayce for backup. Having them turn you over to Hawke was the only way I could manipulate Hawke into sending them on the ship with the other criminals. I twisted the truth to Ivan and Jayce, making them think they were helping The Company, which they were. They didn’t know I was working undercover for Namir on Veenith. When I told Namir I couldn’t reach you, he ordered Hawke to get you. That’s when I knew Namir wouldn’t give up. I had to turn you over, but I wanted to control the situation the best I could.”
“You kept our unit together,” she said, sounding proud of him.
“Fortunately, Hawke was as eager to get rid of Ivan and Jayce as I was to have them aboard Namir’s ship.”
“What about Reece?”
“He’s always been my ace in the hole.”
“Ivan said he was supposed to take me away from Hawke.”
Zev released a deep breath. “That was just one in a string of lies I told Ivan, to ensure he played his role as Hawke expected. But since Reece had to get aboard the ship on his own, he needed to know everything. I confessed everything to Reece, Mel. I hope you understand, I had to say and do what was necessary to get the three of them past Hawke and onto that ship.”
“You should have trusted them. You should have trusted all of us.”
He did trust them, and he’d wanted to tell them everything. He was too used to the deception, the manipulations, to simply hand over that control when so much was at stake. But maybe she was right. If he had fully trusted them to do what was necessary, Namir never would have hurt her.
