“Then I’d deserve it.”
“They brainwashed you and the other girls.”
“I should’ve been stronger,” she said softly. “I just hate that others were dragged into their killing scheme. Some of those girls came to Onyx as young as ten years old. They didn’t know any better. They just wanted to be a part of a family. The Onyx family. To belong, you had to train and do what you were told. For the ‘good’,” she made air quotes with her fingers, “of the country. In our minds, we were heroes.” She snorted softly. “How could we have been so blind?”
“They used you. Made you believe that anything they said was true. Fed you a one-sided narrative, propaganda that would poison you to the truth.”
“I want it all to come out. If my testimony has any chance of making a difference for the other girls of Onyx and helps find the person who killed the senator, so be it.”
“It has to make a difference. And if we can get Jade’s statement, it’ll be even more ammunition in the fight to free the girls of Onyx.”
“If we can get her out.”
“We will.”
“I hope so. I can’t believe she reached out to me.”
“You opened the gate to other possibilities. Perhaps the others will flood through, ready to change the course of their lives and live outside of Onyx.
Keira closed her eyes for a moment. “They can’t continue to abuse the lost girls.”
Rogue glanced at his watch. It was noon. Keira hadn’t eaten breakfast. She needed sustenance to keep going. “I think I can make a mean bean chili with the ingredients you have in the pantry. Wanna help?” He pushed to his feet and held out his hand.
She opened her eyes and stared up at him. “Aren’t you afraid of being with me? Even if I don’t wield my assassin skills and kill you, I could kill your career just by you associating with me.”
He bent to take her hand and pulled her off the sofa and into his arms. “I don’t give a damn about my reputation. What they did to you and with the others is criminal. I promise I’ll do everything in my power to bring Onyx down and everyone who had a hand in misusing the girls.” He touched his lips to her forehead. “You’re a strong, smart and amazing woman. You deserve to have something go right in your life.”
She pushed her hands against his chest, her brow forming a V over her nose. “I don’t need your pity. And I don’t deserve clemency. I let my sister die. I refuse to let the other girls involved with Onyx die because I did nothing to stop them.” When her lips trembled, she clamped them together tightly. “For Kit.”
“For Kit,” Rogue said and briefly kissed her lips. Then he stepped away before he did more than kiss her. He couldn’t let himself become so involved with her that he forgot what truly mattered. Stop the human trafficking, free the girls and bring down an organization that thought it could use girls to eliminate rivals while it engaged in illegal arms sales and other crimes. “Come on. You can stir.” He winked, took her hand and led her into the kitchen.
They made chili, ate and cleaned up afterward. For the rest of the day, they cleaned and oiled their handguns, then went over the data Keira had collected on Kaufman, Strickland and Onyx, searching for anything else they could use as evidence in a court case.
The sun set on a day that felt like a waste of time. Rogue didn’t like sitting still, waiting to make a move.
Later that night, they sat on the sofa, drinking beer.
Rogue made it a point to keep his distance from Keira. He was afraid that if he got too close, he’d be tempted to pull her into his arms and kiss her again.
“It’s funny,” Keira said. “When I usually come here, I feel like I’ve escaped something. Coming here gives me the peace and feeling of safety missing in my life.” Her lips tipped upward. “This time, the only thing making me feel any sense of safety is having you here. Otherwise, I think I’d hit the road again. I’ll be glad to be out of here tomorrow. I need to move. I need?—”
“Action,” Rogue finished for her. “I feel the same. I was never good at sitting still unless I was waiting for my target to emerge.”
“You were a sniper?” she asked, her eyes widening.
He nodded. “If I knew I’d have a target, I could stay in one place all day and through the night. This not knowing who and where my target might appear...” Rogue shook his head. “It makes me want to climb the walls.” He pushed to his feet. “Silence is nice after the chaos of living amongst others, but too much is maddening. How about we play some music?” He opened his computer and brought up his playlist of country music, turning up the first song loud enough to fill the emptiness, but not so loud he couldn’t think or hear noises from outside.
He tapped his toe in rhythm and then turned to Keira. “Come on. Let’s dance.”
She held up her hands, shaking her head back and forth. “No way.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know how.” Her eyes narrowed. “Let me guess. Your parents made sure their children knew how to dance.”
Rogue laughed. “Are you kidding? My father had two left feet. My mother gave up on ever doing more than swaying to music with him.” He grinned. “I had a girlfriend in high school who only agreed to be my girlfriend if I’d let her teach me how to dance.”
“You couldn’t get a girlfriend without making an agreement like that?” Her brows knit. “I don’t believe it.”
