horror. âI could never do that! What it would boil down to is blackmail . Hey, Iâll find your kid, wife, mother, loved one but, oh, by the way, my abilities donât come cheap. Do you realize howâ
. . .â
â mercenary â
. . .â
âthat would make me? I couldnât live with myself having money stained with violence and death. The mere idea is repulsive!â
âAnd so you suffer in silence. Alone. No one to comfort you while the victims are surrounded by family and loved ones. But who do you have, Ramie? Who picks up the pieces for you when you shatter and fall apart? I realize money isnât a cure-all but it can damn well make living a little easier, and anything is better than you having to scrape by, going without, and being constantly on the run from some deranged lunatic who wants to break you down, piece by piece until thereâs nothing left. No escape.â
She stared bleakly at him, telling him without words that heâd struck a chord within her, and he was kicking himself for being so blunt. His words had to hurt her. It brought back with startling clarity just how dire her situation was. And he saw something in her eyes that made him want to put his fist through the wall.
Defeat .
Her giving up and accepting the hopelessness of her situation. Damn it, but that had not been his intention. He simply wanted to let her know that she was no longer alone. No longer without someone to turn to. Defeat was simply the absence of hope and she needed that more now than ever before. He wanted to provide her a safe harbor.
What was it she had said? She needed sanctuary. Heâd make damn sure he provided her with anything she needed. And as far as her not accepting âcharityâ? She was just going to have to deal with it, because there was no way in hell he was leaving to chance any aspect of her protection, well-being and the financial support she needed so badly. Whether she liked it or not she was now fully under his care and protection and that meant in all areas. Not just her physical well-being.
And he wanted her to trust him. To believe that he would follow through with his promise, because once he made a commitment he always followed through. It would take her time to fully trust in his motives, to believe that he wouldnât betray her. He knew it wouldnât happen today. Or even the next day. But he was determined to slowly but surely win something so precious as her faith and trust in him.
He wanted to be someone she could depend on, perhaps the one person who hadnât failed her in her young life. Heâd be damned if he became just another statistic in the list of people whoâd let her down, draining her capability to put her faith in another living soul.
That was all going to change. Starting now.
He had his pilot on standby because he had no intention of keeping Ramie here and vulnerable to attack even a second after they decided on a course of action. But just because he was determined to take over didnât mean that he wouldnât keep her fully apprised of his plans. True, he had no intention of taking no for an answer, but heâd at least offer her the respect he owed her and not keep her in the dark.
Because she feared the unknown, and he knew she was still grappling with whether or not she could believe in his ability to protect her. She had no way of knowing that he intended to utilize every resource at his disposalâno matter the costâin his effort to ensure her absolute safety.
âDo you have anything at all?â he asked carefully, mindful of her pride and her potential embarrassment over her circumstances.
And yet color still stained her cheeks and once more shame darkened her gray eyes to the color of a storm.
âNo,â she whispered. âEverything I own was in that hotel room and I dropped my purse when I fled because I didnât want anything to interfere in my getting
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