“I work alone.”
“Look at me.”
Raketa shook her head, but just barely.
“If I have to, I’ll find out who’s blackmailing you on my own. Tell me, and you’ll save us both time.”
“No one is blackmailing me.”
“Do you think I can’t tell when you’re lying to me?”
Raketa spun around on him. “No less than I can tell when you’re lying to me.”
He’d finally hit on something that she reacted to. He wasn’t going to let her slip away from him again. He’d keep her talking as long as he could.
“I’ve never lied to you. I love you, Zary.”
“You think you can play me?” There was a nefarious tone to her laugh.
“I have no reason to play you.”
When she turned back toward the window, Gunner stood as close to her as he could without touching her.
“Is it Petrov?”
No reaction.
“You don’t know, do you?”
Barely a flinch, but enough that he knew he was right. Gunner put his hand on the small of her back and kneaded her tense flesh. “Let me in, Rocket Girl.”
She shook her head, slowly, and he saw her eyes fill with tears.
“You’ve been all on your own for too long. You don’t have to be anymore. I’m here, and I’ll do anything to help you.”
“Then let me go. That’s what I need you to do to help me. Let me go, and don’t come after me.”
“If I asked the same of you, would you do it?”
—:—
Would she? When she knew she couldn’t leave Petrov’s compound in Baku without her mother, who had she chosen? Gunner. She could’ve told him then that she didn’t want to go, but she hadn’t for the simple reason that she didn’t want him killed.
She’d already chosen in her heart, and the realization hit her hard.
“Don’t do this,” she whispered, wishing she had a way to get through to him, but knowing it was pointless to keep trying.
“I’ll never stop. You wanted me; you got me.”
She turned her head and caught his smile, but he was right. She had wanted him, more than anything.
She knew leaving UR was essentially committing suicide, but he had been worth it to her.
Her mother was different, though. Raketa could make the choice with her own life, but not her mother’s. Not now when she was so close to being with the only person who’d ever loved her unconditionally. She may not remember much about her early childhood, but seeing the photographs that Gunner had brought to her, reminded her that she had once felt loved.
He loved her too, though. As much as she struggled with trusting him, when he said the words to her, she knew he wasn’t lying.
The phone in her pocket vibrated, and there was no way for her to hide it from Gunner. She was faced with another choice. Did she ignore it or answer in front of him? Both would likely result in her mother’s death.