Page 47 of Risking it All

“Fine, thank you for asking.”

“This is not the time to be funny, bro. This is serious. Where are you?”

“I’m home. Why, did something else happen?”

“You tell me what happened. What the fuck are you doing with Zenia Morgan?” he quizzed.

My brows dipped at his question. “Who?”

“Zenia Morgan. She’s Zahad’s oldest daughter, man. I watched the video footage from the attack on the executive floor earlier today. First of all, imagine my surprise when I received the report from someone else that your girlfriend that I knew nothing about was attacked at the hotel. Anyway, I looked at the fucking video Chris sent us, and it’s some dude in all-black trying to grab Zenia Morgan from an executive suite. You know she’s missing, right?”

“Zahad Morgan from The Force?” I asked, scowling as I tried to make sense of what he was saying to me.

I felt her presence before I turned to face her. Z stood a few feet in front of me looking like she didn’t know whether to cry or take off running. She was terrified, and rightfully so, now that I knew who she was.

“Better yet, she’s Reed’s old fiancée, bro. You know, the one he was arranged to marry! What the fuck are you doing, Saw? Please don’t tell me you fucked her, Sawyer. They are going to kill you.”

The phone slipped from my hand as Nicholas’s words started to sink in. I should have sent that fucking picture when I had the chance.

13

Zenia

The tone of Sawyer’s voice stirred me from my sleep. Something was wrong. I was on my feet as soon as I heard him say my father’s name. First, he’d tracked me to the casino. Now he knew who was helping me.

I should have known that his reach would find me sooner or later. I actually did know that, but I trusted that Sawyer could protect me. It was stupid to let him convince me that he could protect me. It was even more foolish to let him put himself in danger to protect me. He didn’t know what he was getting himself into.

Now that he knew who I was, my savior might not have been such a savior anymore. I swallowed hard when he turned to face me. His silence terrified me. I had no idea what they’d told him or what he was about to do about it.

“Sawyer,” I whispered, taking a step back. I needed to figure out how to get past his big ass without him catching me.

“Zenia, relax, mama.”

“Sawyer, wait,” I said, trying to buy time as I worked out an exit plan.

His eyebrows snapped together, and he tilted his head to the side as he moved around the bed.

“Wait!” I held up my hands.

“Z, what do you think I’m about to do, mama?” he quizzed.

“I have no idea, but hearing you say my real name isn’t very reassuring. Please stop moving.”

Upon my request, he stopped walking.

“You were Reed’s fiancée?” he asked. His chest rose but didn’t deflate, like he might have been holding his breath as he waited for my response.

“Yes,” I replied barely over a whisper.

His disappointment was palpable as his chin dropped to his chest.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t know who I could trust to know who I really was. I definitely couldn’t have Reed knowing.”

“He’s my best friend, Zenia. What the fuck?”

“I couldn’t tell you who I was for obvious reasons. Reed and I weren’t in love. Our marriage was arranged, but I’m pretty sure you know that. When he threw me away like trash, everyone, including my own father, treated me like I was a pariah. I was telling the truth about my father using us for sex trafficking. There’s no telling how much money he made off his pure virgin daughter. He literally fucking sold me to the highest bidder and expected me to just marry him after my sister ran away and made the last deal fall through.

“I had just met the man I was supposed to marry right before I ran. He’s horrible. He bragged about killing his cousin for not being a virgin when they had her checked. I knew it was only a matter of time before he did the same to me. He would get away with it too. There were a ton of missing girls that would never be seen again because of the men of The Force. I decided before I let them kill me, I would do it myself.”