Free Burned by Kaylea Cross Page A

headscarf as all good and modest Muslim girls should. I was raised with the expectation that once I graduated from high school I should allow my father to find me a suitable husband and stay home to raise all the babies we had together. Over time the restrictions became much worse. I watched my beautiful religion become twisted right before my eyes and start to destroy my life.”
    “Your father did that?” Zahra was cautious and somewhat conservative, but she was a proud and modern westernized woman in every way. Given what she’d just told him, that must not have gone over well at home. Had her father beaten her whenever she’d done something to defy his authority and establish her independence? All Sean’s protective instincts flared to sudden, violent life. He remembered the remark she’d made to him at the safe house last week when she and Claire had served them lunch. Don’t get used to it. Just because I’m a brown girl doesn’t mean I like running around serving you guys food .
    That comment suddenly held a wealth of new meaning. 
    Zahra nodded, her expression resigned, tired. “He hated that I refused to follow the traditional role he insisted God wanted for me,” she explained with a shrug. “It was my mother who secretly encouraged me to follow my dreams and study hard while I was growing up. When I won an entrance scholarship to MIT in my senior year of high school, you bet your ass I took it and got the hell out of there as soon as I could. I left everything behind to start fresh, including my mother, who sacrificed everything to give me my freedom. And I left her there in that suffocating prison of a home, Sean. I. Left. Her.” Her voice hitched and he felt like someone had punched him in the gut when he saw the sheen of tears glistening in her beautiful eyes. “When I tried to make it right the year I graduated, I…” She trailed off, shaking her head as she stared at the floor.
    Her mother, Sean realized with a sudden jolt. She’d told him last night that her mother had died. Had she killed herself? Waited until her daughter was safely out of the house before she found the only way out she could?
    He reached for her, opened his mouth to comfort her but she held up a hand to ward him off and gave a sharp shake of her head. “I hate everything about radical Islam, and that’s why Alex recruited me. He knows how motivated I am. Working here gives me the chance to make up for what I did wrong in the past. I’m going to help snuff out Islamic terrorism every chance I get.”
    For a moment Sean was too stunned by her speech to reply. Alex had recruited her? Holy shit, even knowing that little bit of her past he had even more respect for her and what she’d made of herself.
    Holding her defiant gaze, he found his voice. “I believe you, and I’m proud as hell that you’ve fought for what you wanted, what you believe in.” He chose his next words with care. How could he say what he was feeling without making her feel weak, which was the last thing he saw her as? She was a fighter and he loved that about her. “I just want to be here for you, make sure you’re safe.”
    He caught the flare of shock that flickered in her eyes and wasn’t sure if she was surprised by what he’d said or if it was the idea that anyone would want to do that for her. Either way, it twisted his heart until a fierce ache filled his chest.
    “Thank you,” she acknowledged with a nod, her voice just above a whisper. “That means more to me than I can say.”
    Then let me in. Trust me to take care of you. He wanted that so much it shook him. And while he wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her close, physically express how much he cared about her, he forced himself to remain still and swallow the hundred additional questions crowding his throat. If he pushed her now he knew she’d shut down, maybe for good. He wasn’t willing to risk breaking the tenuous bond of trust they’d established. “You can