Page 91 of Selling Innocence

I expected her to speak up, to tell us she wanted to run. Perhaps she’d tell me that she didn’t want to do this anymore, that she wanted us to help her escape?

None of that would have surprised me—they were the obvious responses. She’d gotten dragged into this by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, by somehow catching the attention of Lorien, then used as a pawn by the rest of us.

That made it all the more shocking when she did lift her gaze and speak, her words so unexpected that it took a long moment for my brain to wrap around her statement.

“You should hand me over.”

Kenz

No one spoke again, as if I’d said something crazy.

It wasn’t crazy, though.

It made perfect sense. If Lorien got what he was after—me—this was over. Nem and the Quad would be safe. No doubt he’d let me contact her, just to ensure she didn’t come looking for me. We could fake a romance and marriage, and it would give him what he wanted. While these men wouldn’t get their revenge, they would get their lives back, and I wanted that for them more than anything.

The only one to suffer would be me, and that sounded like a fair trade.

“Fuck no,” Char snapped, the first to speak, and his sharp tone made me smile. While I might not have liked his attitude in the past, I appreciated it, now. It was the him that few saw, and for that reason, I cherished it.

“I don’t like agreeing with Char, but I have to, here,” Vance said. “There’s no chance we’re just handing you over.”

I sighed, trying to use my best reasonable tone. “I know you want revenge, but what’s the point if you lose everything else you have? Why keep at it if it only hurts you and those you care about?”

Vance looked the other way, a tightness in his jaw saying he understood what I said even if he didn’t like it, but the stubborn man didn’t respond.

Good. Let them just listen. “All Lorien wants is me. If you hand me over, you’ll all go back to your lives and can get back the money you spent on me. It’ll be like none of this ever happened.”

“You think we’d just turn you over after all this?” Hayden asked.

“If you hadn’t intervened, I’d have been in his hands anyway. You’re not doing anything wrong—you’re just putting things back the way they would have been.”

“And you think that solution is okay with us?”

“I think it’s better than the alternative. I know you want revenge, and you deserve it, but I don’t want to see you all hurt anymore. There are things that are more important than revenge—”

“Kenz.” The harsh voice took me by surprise, one I didn’t recognize. I lifted my gaze to find Tor staring hard at me.

That was his voice? It had come out like a whisper, yet had managed to rise above my rambling and silence me.

“Tor?” Even though that had obviously been him, I couldn’t quite believe it. He came closer, bending down to cup my cheek, his palm warm and large and comforting. His golden eyes bore into mine, anger flashing in them, before he shook his head and turned around, storming back into the house.

My cheek chilled without his hand, and I touched the spot with my fingers as my gaze followed him.

“That’s Tor for ‘fuck your stupid plan,’” Char offered before he stood. “And I’m going to second it. Now, kindly shut the fuck up with that bullshit and go to bed.” He didn’t wait for a response before leaving, slamming the door behind him.

Vance laughed, shaking his head. “Way to piss everyone off at once. And to think I said you had no skills…” He stood as he reattached his prosthetic, then put his glove back on. “If you get lonely, feel free to stop by my room. Otherwise, guess I’ll see you at breakfast.” He left as well.

It left only Hayden and me outside. At least it left me with the nice one, the one most likely to be reasonable. “I know you want to get back at Lorien, but is it really worth risking this all?”

“You really are difficult, you know that?” Hayden’s tone came out colder than I’d heard it before, at least when speaking to me.

It made me turn toward him to find a matching harsh expression on his face. The look silenced me. Disappointment tended to shut me right up.

“You really think this is just about revenge anymore?”

“That’s why you bought me. That’s what you wanted with me from the start.”

“And things have changed. At least, they have for us. Jesus, Kenz, do you really think we could just hand you over to him?”

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