Page 72 of Radiant Exception
“What makes you think he won’t be suspicious of you?”
I turned in his arms to face him. “Because he’ll think he’s gotten what he wants.”
“You.” Vaughn scowled, tugging me closer, as if that would stop what was about to happen.
“You said you’d be okay with it.” I ran the pads of my fingertips along his full bottom lip. “I won’t let him get too far.”
Vaughn huffed indignantly.
“It’s the only way.” I leaned forward, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips.
“I don’t trust him. What if he tries to force you—”
“Vaughn,” I stopped him. “I need you to trust that I can handle myself. I’ve—” I paused. I hadn’t told Vaughn about Deimos, or thought about it in a long time. “I’ve had to do this before,” I admitted.
Vaughn surprised me when instead of demonstrating anger at my confession, his face crumpled. “Why? Who made you do that?”
I cocked my head. We both knew nothing was off the table for IA. He’d lost dozens of men at their whims.
“And it ended well?” he hedged, clearly wanting to ask more about what had happened, but not wanting to press too hard.
I felt my shoulders deflate. “It ended my career,” I told him the truth. “But only because I wasn’t prepared and I didn’t listen to Darren—he tried to warn me.”
Vaughn’s chocolate gaze enveloped me in the warmth of his affection. “Will you tell me?” A request, not a demand.
“There’s not much to tell,” I deflected, already seeing what happened, as if it had occurred to someone else, and not me. The therapist I’d been forced to see after had called it “disassociation.” “I’d been working on the mission for weeks. It should have been simple.Some rich asshole who lived on Deimos was suspected of various horrors, and I was supposed to go in during one of his big events, help IA get access to his comm, and get out.”
But just like this mission, it was never so simple.
Vaughn ran his hand up and down my arm, comforting me as I continued.
“Darren warned me he’d heard the guy had a reputation for getting rough with girls and that he’d had dozens of charges disappear, along with a few women, for good measure, due to his influence and connections.”
“Fuck,” Vaughn hissed through clenched teeth.
“I wasn’t even supposed to have to deal with the guy. There was another operative who was in charge of pickpocketing his comm, I just needed to hack into it and let IA in. But the moment I walked through the doors, he had his eyes set on me. I could feel him watching me the entire time, but what nobody knew, not even Darren, was that I’d gotten the call about Xavier the night before the mission.” Tears pricked my eyes.
“Oh, Lark…” Vaughn’s voice carried the weight of his empathy.
“I’d worked so hard. If I’d backed out, we’d have been set back for months until he’d hosted another event. I didn’t want to be the reason he was still on the streets. But I was distracted and distraught, so when he cornered me later, I didn’t even hear him before it was too late.” I allowed the tears to fall then, unable to stop them.
“He beat me to within an inch of my life and was moments away from raping me when the other operative found me, shot the guy, and dragged me out of the room. I woke up in the hospital thenext morning, humiliated and without a job, due to negligence, according to my termination paperwork.”
“Is he dead?”
“Who?”
“The man who hurt you?”
I nodded. “Might have been the only good thing that came out of it all.”
“Good.” Vaughn seemed to relax slightly upon hearing he wouldn’t have to hunt down another perpetrator to avenge my honor.
“Cassidy won’t hurt me,” I told him.
“Lark.” He brushed my hair from my face. “I love you, but you don’t know him at all. You don’t know what he’s capable of. Why do you think I’m so terrified of letting you walk into his arms?”
“Because you’re jealous.” I cracked a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
