Free Mine To Protect (Mine #6) by Cynthia Eden Page B

should hear.
    “He does. You’re his family, Zoe. He wants to make sure that you’re protected. The FBI pulled you back in…because that’s part of the deal we have with him.”
    “I don’t think I want to hear anymore.” She didn’t. Not another word about her bastard of a father. She’d already figured this out, anyway. After all, she’d known there
must
have been a reason she had FBI guards. Why they were trying to keep her alive. Why—
    “As long as you stay alive. Luther has promised that he’ll cooperate with us. And he has been…giving up some bits and pieces about his empire. Telling us about his enemies. Their organizations. Helping us to make drug busts. To stop cartels. To find shipments of weapons.” He gave a grim shake of his head. “Luther may be behind bars, but he still knows
exactly
what is happening on the streets.”
    “Because he still has control.” Another jostle of the plane had her whole body tensing.
    Victor started to speak. She saw his lips part, but then he stopped.
    “What?” Zoe asked.
    No answer.
    “Victor…”
    He unhooked his seat belt and came to sit beside her. “You’re afraid.”
    The plane jerked again. “The plane won’t stop bouncing.” And to think, she’d been so impressed by the fancy jet.
Not anymore.
    He checked her seat belt, then twined her fingers with his. “You’re safe.”
    Sharp laughter escaped her. “You tell me that a lot, but…” She squeezed his hand. “I don’t always believe you,” she confessed.
    “I know.” He lifted their twined fingers and kissed her knuckles. “I’m working on that issue.”
    He was so confusing. “You want me to feel safe?” Zoe asked him. “Then distract me. Tell me something. Tell me about
you.
” Because she’d been the one doing all the talking. All the sharing.
    “Fine. You ask me anything—anything at all—and I’ll answer you honestly.”
    Okay. “Why did you join the FBI?”
    Silence.
    “Victor…”
    “Because I would have made too good of a criminal.”
    What?
    The plane bounced, she squeezed his hand harder, and her attention stayed on him.
    “I grew up hard,” Victor told her. His eyes seemed to turn darker with whatever memories he experienced. “I was on the street most days, and I spent plenty of nights literally fighting to survive.”
    At those words, her gaze dipped to their joined hands. She looked at his knuckles—really looked at them—and saw the faint scars that lined his hands.
    “The fights weren’t exactly sanctioned. You stayed in the ring until your opponent couldn’t move or until you were the one who got dragged out.”
    That couldn’t be Victor’s life. He was…
    That isn’t him.
    “I was barely skirting the law most days. Going down a path I
shouldn’t
take. A path that was too easy, but I fucking didn’t want to end up a criminal. I had a choice. I figured, maybe if I was so good at the criminal life…if I could think like them…maybe I could stop some of them.”
    Her breath left her in a quick rush. “So you risk your life every day—”
    “Because I’ve seen firsthand just how many lives are destroyed by monsters. By men like…”
    But he stopped.
    She didn’t. “Men like my father.”
    His head inclined toward her.
    “Thank you for telling me,” she whispered.
    Once more, he raised their joined hands to his mouth and pressed a quick kiss to her knuckles.
    It took her a few moments to realize… “No more turbulence.”
    “No. It’s stopped.”
    But he didn’t let her hand go.
    And she didn’t mind.
    ***
    When the plane touched down in Vegas, Victor escorted Zoe out of the airport, and he found a sleek limo waiting for them.
    His brows rose at the sight. Drake Archer was leaning against the back of that limo, dressed in a high-priced suit and wearing dark glasses. His blond hair was tousled, and a smirk rested on his face.
    Drake smirked well.
    He was a tough sonofabitch. Smart. Dangerous. Victor hadn’t much cared for him