Page 30 of Selling Innocence

The stuff from my safe…

Piles of cash, all unmarked bills in differing denominations, spilled across the table. In addition, a number of identifications and passports in all different fake names, along with bank information for each. The last item struck the table with a loud thump, sitting there like a scorpion.

A pistol, the 9mm Colton had taught me to shoot, the one he’d bought for me before I’d moved here.

I hated the thing, but the only way the Quad had agreed to me moving so far away on my own was if they felt I could defend myself. That had involved self-defense with Rune and shooting lessons with Colton.

I stared at the items on the table, my brain refusing to offer any explanation. Useless thing! While Dane could have come up with a lie in a heartbeat, then would have sold it like his life depended on it, I lacked that skill.

“These aren’t the sorts of things some rich college student would need,” Hayden said. “These identifications are meticulously made. If I didn’t know better, I might have even thought them real at first. They wouldn’t come easily or cheaply. All the banking information is untraceable, and it gives you access to no less than ten million, from what we were able to track down.”

“Then there’s the issue of the gun,” Vance said, a smirk on his perfect lips. “You seem like a nice girl, so why do you have something like that?”

Always bury your lie in the truth. Dane had taught me the best way to sell a story was to give them something real along with it.

“My bodyguards gave that to me in case I needed it. Even though, after my dad died, I’m not in a lot of danger, there are still people who could target me. They wanted to make sure I was safe.”

“From what I can tell, you haven’t had bodyguards for a while. That gun is new. Not only is it new, but it lacks the identifying marks a legal gun would have. You didn’t buy that at a store, and the only people who need untraceable weapons are criminals,” Hayden said.

Why did they have to be this smart?

I took a deep breath, then met Hayden’s gaze head-on. “I wanted to live a normal life. I wanted to be just like any other college student, to move away after my father’s death, to live my life on my own terms. I didn’t want bodyguards, to draw attention to myself, any of it. That didn’t change that people worried about me. When I moved, my old bodyguards got me those things just in case.”

“So you’re still in contact with them?” Char asked.

“Sometimes,” I hedged. “They check in on me, but that’s it.”

“What else do they do?” Hayden asked. “If Lorien is interested in you, maybe it isn’t about you at all. Maybe they’re involved in things that you’re now caught up in?”

You’re closer than you think, but not quite on the mark yet.

I had little doubt that Lorien was after me due to my connection to Nem, to my family line. It wasn’t the Quad—most likely—but rather my parents that had Lorien after me.Him knowing who I really was was the only thing that made any sense.

I couldn’t say that, though, so I shook my head. “I’m sure they aren’t caught up with Lorien. They don’t leave the West Coast.” True, at least for the most part. Nem kept them too busy to leave California let alone the West Coast. They only came out this far when visiting me.

None of the men appeared convinced. Then again, when someone couldn’t find an answer, they tended to latch onto any little hint or clue because they had nothing else. It meant they weren’t likely going to let go of this so easily.

“What are their names?” Char asked.

“What?”

“Your bodyguards. You want us to believe you, to trust your story no matter how little sense it makes or how obvious your lies are, so tell us the names of your bodyguards. Give us the contact information to them or their company so we can verify it.”

Which was the one thing I absolutely could not do. Not only would it blow my cover and put me in more danger, but it might just endanger the Quad and Nem, too.

I’d never claim I was anything other than a coward, but that was too far. I refused to cross that line.

And no lie would satisfy them, not about this.

So I pressed my lips together into a thin line and shook my head.

“Not going to tell us?” Char asked.

“No.”

“You realize that we’re willing to do whatever it takes to achieve our goals, right?” Char crowded me, bending forward and setting a hand on the back of the couch.

I leaned as far away as I could, but it didn’t help, didn’t change that he’d caged me in with his body, that his dark eyes were right in front of me, the green flecks in them bright.

---