“The work I do at the center is not the only work I do. Weeks ago, I helped a woman and her three-year-old son escape from her abusive husband.”
Her long pause kept me in suspense.
“I broke into their house that the husband had turned into a prison and sneaked her and her son out. The husband is powerful enough to send people after me like the ones at the mall, and he’s a member of your syndicate.”
“Rhi,” I called.
“I already checked him out the night it happened,” he replied.
The statement caused Patrena to snap her head around in my direction. “Wait. What? What do you mean you’ve already checked him out?”
I was going to kill Rhi. He’d done that shit on purpose. From the moment he found out I was interested in Patrena, he’d been telling me that I needed to tell her everything. Now, she was waiting on an explanation.
“You’re clear, no tails. I’ll keep watch a bit longer. Talk to you later,” he stated, chuckling.
“Later, asshole,” I replied and didn’t miss his loud laugh before his end went silent.
My hand tightened around Patrena’s warm and soft one, and I was grateful she hadn’t let go of mine. Her hands were steady for all that she’d just gone through, and a bit of that vibrant spark she emitted was returning to her cheeks and skin.
“You okay?” I asked, avoiding her questioning gaze.
“I am,” she answered, breathing deeply. She held the air in before releasing it.
“I think I’m still in shock. I’ve received threats before, phone calls, a few showing up at my job yelling, but that was the first time anyone has come after me in a public place and attempted to take me at gun point.
“They want you alive. If not, they would have killed you the moment they identified you.”
Her shoulders slumped at the update, and I rubbed them with a soft stroke.
“I’m sorry you’re going through this and that I snooped around and drew attention to you. You could have been killed because of my actions.”
She squeezed my hand. “None of this is your fault. I’ve always wanted to know what was hidden behind this tattoo, but I got so good at hiding it and staying clear of my past that I think I accepted that I didn’t need to know the truth to live a decent life.”
It was time to address the elephant in the room.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on you for over a month now, not anything creepy, though. I check in every once in a while like I did today.”
Silence.
Fuck!
If I was going to tell her the truth, it needed to be the full truth.
“When I saw you about to climb off that semi-truck with Khane and Desiree, it wasn’t the first time I’d seen you.”
She snapped her head in my direction, and I was unable to read her expressionless stare.
“I know it must be jarring to find out that you were being watched all this time, but our goal was to keep you protected just in case. There was no spying on you in your bedroom or bathroom or anything like that, but our guards and I learned your patterns and routines enough to know what cameras we needed to tap into to check in on you.”
“Is that how you found me at work and knew my boss was being a dick?”
I nodded. “Yes, and I apologize for not being upfront with you.”
She turned her attention to the view outside, allowing what I had just revealed to soak in while her eyes roamed the landscape.
“If you think I’m freaked out about you watching me, I’m not,” she stated without giving me her attention. “I’m grateful. If you hadn’t shown up today, I’d be tied up in the back of an SUV with no idea of the kind of horror waiting on me. And you’re right. If those people wanted me dead, they would have done it the moment they spotted me.”
I ran my thumb across the back of her hand, grateful for her strength. Another unusual sense of relief washed over me, easing the tension in my neck and shoulders I hadn’t noticed was there. I genuinely cared about what Patrena thought of me. The feelings were foreign to me because it was a first. When have I ever cared what a woman thought of me?