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“I don’t want to go with…” She stalls like saying his name might conjure him.

“Desmond?” I get a nod, but it’s accompanied by a shiver, and not a good one. “Yeah, I don’t want that either. That’s why I brought you here. No one knows about this cabin, no one but Christophe and Garrick.” I hoist a brow when her lips quirk up into a grin. “What?”

The attempt she makes at hiding that grin is cute, pursed lips have dimples popping in both cheeks. “It’s not… You can’t call this a cabin. It’s m-much too big.” She’s not wrong. “But you’ll stay here with me? You won’t leave?”

God, if it were only that simple. And there I go again, wishing I had a normal job so I could work from home and spend every possible minute with her. But if my job were normal, I never would have found her. Not initially when I was looking out for Winnie, and not when I carried her out of that dungeon.

“As much as I can, but there’s gonna be times I have to go to the estate, do things that can’t be taken care of from here.”

The skittishness that’s always lurking has abated, though for how long, I have no idea. But for now, I give in to the urge to touch Truie, to assure her that everything will be okay. That I won’t allow anything bad to happen to her. I wrap my hand around hers and hold it against my chest.

“And I’ll go with you, right? To the estate? I can see Winnie and⁠—”

I hate cutting her off, but… “No. Not now, not yet. You’re safest here.”

“I’m safest with you,” she insists, the little furrow between her brows deepening.

I fucking wish. Nothing about the current situation is good. How did we go from Truie stripping off our clothes and touching me, to the very conversation I brought her out here for—and avoided because of her fears?

“You’re safest here. Out there, at the estate, there are too many eyes, too many people watching us, seeing you. Too many people who have access to you. And if that gets back to Des, he’ll… Fuck, it won’t be good.” I cup her cheek with my free hand and wait for her eyes. Only when I’ve got them locked on mine, do I continue. “I will not let him take you, hear me? I’d have to be dead and buried for that bastard to lay a finger on you, let alone take you away from me, and even then, I’d find you.”

“You can’t promise that.” Curls bounce wildly as she shakes the thought away. “You can’t…you can’t know that.”

This is not how I planned to broach this with her. It was supposed to be a conversation in the light of day, over breakfast, maybe. Or after I had her good and relaxed, pliant from orgasm after orgasm after orgasm.

“Oh, hummingbird, but I can.”

She turns her head, shaking off my hold, and pulls at her hand I have clasped to my heart. I hold tight as she demands, “How?”

“You trust me?”

I wait and get a tilt of her head. That’s it. I don’t blame her for being wary, but this is me. The person who carried her out of Hell. The one who watched out for her before she was taken, who searched for her once she was gone.

“I know it’s hard, Truie, but I need your words. I’ve kept you safe, yeah? Made sure that you’re comfortable, that you have what you need, what you want?”

The muscles in her jaw tic as she clenches. When I think her teeth will crack if she doesn’t let up, she finally acquiesces. “Yes. I trust you.”

My eyes fall shut as I release the breath that I’ve held hostage for way too long and when I open them again, she’s right there, staring at me. Not avoiding me anymore but pinning me in place and holding me accountable.

“I have a little chip. I could place it under your skin and then, if I have to leave, I can track you, always know where you are.”

“Like a dog. You…you want to chip me like a dog.” She blinks at me, slow and steady. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I’m not. Dead serious.” I reach toward the nightstand and pull my phone from the charger. When the app opens, I turn the screen to show her. “The app would allow me to see where you are at all times.”

“Like a fucking dog,” she shouts. Not even a hint of a stutter there.

This has gone so far off the rails, I’m not sure how to get us back on track or if the train is even going in the right direction. It feels like the engine has run away and is crashing off the side of a bridge, plummeting into the river of fire below.

I jackknife up to sitting, the move far too sudden, and Truie startles. “No. If I’d done this before, had this in place when Alain’s men took you, they never would’ve had the chance to lay a finger on you. I’d have cut them off, killed every single one of them. I failed you then, I will not fail you again.”

“You…? If… Failed me? H-how could you fail me if you didn’t even know me? That happened before… I don’t understand.”

Moving slower now, cautiously, I cup her face between my palms. Her brows are pinched together over wide glistening eyes that shred my heart to pieces. There’s so much she doesn’t know because while she was there physically, she wasn’t really there.

“You feel safe with me because you recognize me, your heart recognizes mine, Truie.

“I’ve worked for Christophe for a long time.” I soften my features, praying she can find it in her to forgive me. At least accept what I have to tell her. “Winnie was my mark, my job. I watched her, helped her for years when Christophe couldn’t be seen in town. It was a job I wanted to hate, that I should’ve resented, but I couldn’t because it brought me to you. Your strength, the way you watched out for your friend, and stood up to anyone who tried to take advantage of her… Do you remember when she started taking on drops for her father? I was there, watching you watch out for her. God, you were such a little badass, leaning against your piece of shit car, arms folded across your chest as you stared down some of the shittiest people in this town.