Page 21 of Defending Van

“I'm every bit as filled with darkness as they are.”

“Tell me the truth,” she insisted. Maybe she couldn’t really stop him from picking her up and putting her back in that room, but she would fight him every step of the way.

“I've told you the truth.”

“Not all of it.”

“All that you need to know.”

“That’s where you're wrong. I need to know if you're really here as a cop trying to bring them down.” It seemed like the most vital thing in the world right now. Like her entire future depended on him either confirming or denying her assertion.

August 27th

6:45 A.M.

Well, that escalated quickly.

Should have either just given Makayla some sort of halfhearted punishment to keep her off his scent or dragged her straight down the hall and tossed her back in the room with the others.

Van had known those probing eyes of hers were going to be a problem from the moment they first met his. Causing her physical pain hadn't changed anything, having her sexually assaulted, her body used against her will, hadn't changed anything. Nothing was going to change this woman, he accepted it now, but that didn't mean he was going to play this game with her.

He couldn’t even if he wanted to.

Because this woman confused the hell out of him and unsettled his world in ways he hated, he fell back on what he knew and gave her one of his mocking smiles.

“Quite the imagination you’ve got there,” he taunted, his fingers tightening around her bicep to the point where he saw her flinch slightly, but she didn't pull away, didn't look away.

Instead, she did the opposite.

Lifting her free hand, Makayla pressed her palm to his cheek. “Don’t do that. Don’t hide.”

Because he didn't like being called out, especially by a woman who should be terrified of him instead of trying to reassure him, he tightened his grip further, not enjoying causing her pain, and yet at the same time, needing to punish her for seemingly caring, for being stronger than he’d ever been. “You're the one who’s hiding, Makayla. Making up stories to try to comfort yourself and pretend you have a way out.”

Again, the woman didn't do anything but offer him a smile of her own. A genuine one where his was as fake as it was possible to be. “I'm not hiding behind anything, Van, and I think you know that. I understand that you can't confirm or deny anything for me.”

Although she said the words, it was as clear as day from the way she looked at him that she’d already made up her mind.

Where did that leave him?

If Makayla knew the truth, she would tell the others. While she might be able to keep the knowledge to herself, even while the other men abused her body in ways he hated to think it had already been abused, there was no way the others could. One of them still cried nearly constantly, and even the next strongest after Makayla couldn’t come anywhere near her strength, her ability to handle the darkest horrors one person could inflict upon another.

Letting her go back in there to spread what she perceived to be comfort to the other women, and given she was a healer at heart, that’s what her instincts would drive her to do, could ruin everything he was working toward. There was no way he was close enough to end this now, which meant that having his cover blown wouldn't just lead to his own death, but also to Prey all but losing this opportunity to bring down this ring.

Which meant he didn't have a choice.

The only way to ensure her silence was to give her what she wanted.

Abruptly releasing her, Van stalked down the hallway, needing a bit of distance between them to clear his head, but then stalking right back to stand before her, needing her closeness like it was oxygen.

“Van?”

“Don’t,” he snarled. Something about hearing his name from those plump lips of hers stirred up emotions he’d long since deadened. His name had always been something he hated. Who the hell called their kid after the vehicle in which they were conceived? At least most people assumed that Van was short for Donovan, and he never corrected them.

“Well, I'm not calling you sir, or master, or whatever weird name you guys think sounds cool,” she said, amusement clear in her tone. It seemed she wasn't fazed by his fury, seemed to have no idea that he could make grown men quiver with one of his empty smiles.

Her blatant disrespect would have earned her a punishment of its own, but for some reason, it amused him. The same way her calling his smile obnoxious had made him laugh earlier, a small chuckle erupted now before he could contain it.

The answering smile she gave him reminded him of a time when he’d believed that not everyone was selfish, that there might be people in the world who put others before themselves. A notion he’d long since given up on, but Makayla … she convinced him there was a small percentage of the population that weren't self-serving.