Goddamn it, she was intriguing. She knew how to read a room.
I liked that in a woman.
“Maverick,” Axton said hotly.
“Hey,” he said, pointing to the back of the man’s head and looking over at me, “that’s not a no, Dante.”
I chuckled before taking another sip of my drink. “No, it is not.”
“So…” the woman asked, holding out her arms. “Care to answer?”
Axe clicked his tongue. “They’re searching for her because she’s gone rogue. She killed one of their prospects.”
The woman tilted her head. “She killed your president, too. Right?”
Axton simply nodded.
“You know,” the woman said as she took a step closer to Axe, “I read a lot of information in that file Dante gave me.”
“Good,” he said flatly.
She tilted her head back to keep his stone-cold gaze in view. My God, it was almost comical how much he dwarfed her.
“Apparently, she had a great deal of health issues when she was first born,” she said. “Bilirubin struggles. Heart struggles. Breathing struggles. All sorts of struggles because of her umbilical cord getting wrapped around her throat.”
“I know what’s in the document,” he grumbled.
“Apparently,” the woman continued, “she also bounced from foster home to foster home because of it. No one wanted such a sick child. No one wanted all of those medical—”
“I know what’s in the fucking file, Rebecca.”
The woman giggled. “You think that’s supposed to be my name? The one in the file?”
I peeked over at Mav, and even he looked shocked.
“So, that’s not your name,” Axton said before he drew in a deep breath through his nose, “good to know.”
“My point is,” our nameless woman said as she stalked around him, clasping her hands behind her back, “it could have been either one of us. Either one of us could have ended up in her situation. And I have to admit, that tickles a part of my heart you probably wouldn’t understand.”
Her statement sucked the air out of the room as Axton’s back straightened. He cracked his neck, most likely digesting the fact that she had essentially just called him a heartless psychopath.
And if anyone knew Axton like we did, they’d know that wasn’t the least bit true.
“Axe,” I murmured.
He slowly turned to face her. “What’s your point?”
“My point is,” the woman said as she stood in between Mav and Axe, “is that I want to help.”
“Help,” I said.
She turned her attention toward me. “Yes, I want to help because you were right. If this stuff is happening outside, there’s no telling who else might end up thinking that I’m her.”
“It’s more than possible,” Axe murmured.
The woman drew in a deep breath. “No doubt my parents have already gone to the police, though. And the only way you’ll get them to back off is if I call them and tell them that I’m fine.”
“No,” Axe said hotly.
