Beautifully Broken (The Broken Series Book 2) by K.S. Ruff Read Free Book Online Page B

tranquil
environment, but I still had a number of questions for Michael that I was
anxious to have answered. I shored up my courage as I watched the Koi drift
closer to the surface. My gaze eventually shifted to Michael. “Have you ever
killed anyone?”
    Michael’s
face blanched. “No.”
    “But
you work with terrorists?” I prompted, closely studying his face.
    Michael
turned to watch the Koi. “ One man’s terrorist …” he responded softly.
    “… is
another man’s freedom fighter? Michael, surely you don’t believe that?”
    He
shrugged. “I may not always agree with their methods, but they often fight for
a greater good.”
    I
lowered my voice to a whisper. “What exactly do you do for them, Michael?”
    His
eyes searched mine. “Do you really want to know?”
    I
folded my arms across my chest as I leaned back in the chair. “Michael, you
have asked me to give up everything that I know and love to be here with you. I’m
in sufficient danger to require a bodyguard. I think I deserve to know.”
    “I
can protect you far better than that soldier ever could,” Michael responded moodily.
    I
shook my head. “I’m not so sure, Michael. You have pulled me into a very
dangerous life.”
    A
look of panic flashed in Michael’s eyes before his face hardened. “No one who
knows me would dare hurt you.”
    I
shrugged. “Perhaps, but I still deserve to know what I’m getting myself into.”
    Michael
huffed out a breath. “Fine. I wash their money and then invest it for them.”
    I
had suspected as much, given his investment background and the white collar
crimes he‘d been accused of. “And what if you invest poorly?”
    Michael
looked offended. “I do not invest poorly… ever . Besides, their funds are
sufficiently diversified. One wrong decision has very little impact when you’re
working with this kind of money.”
    My
gaze returned to the Koi as I processed Michael’s revelation. “How did you ever
get involved in all of this?”
    Michael
reached for my hand. “I didn’t know who they were in the beginning. They were
just one among many clients. They only had me investing small amounts of money,
then. I am quite good at what I do. The money they sent my way kept increasing.
Eventually, they insisted that I represent only them. Shortly after I agreed,
they asked me to wash the money that I was investing. Apparently, someone else
had been washing it before it was turned over to me. By the time I learned what
I was dealing with, there was no going back. You don’t walk away from people
like that.”
    My
breath caught. Michael was in precisely the same position that I was in. He was
completely unable to walk away from a life he didn’t necessarily want. No
wonder he had taken the same approach with me. He knew first hand just how
effective it could be.
    Michael
squeezed my hand as he steered the conversation into an unexpected direction. “ Mon
coeur, the man who took you to Washington… did he hurt you?”
    My
mind begged me not to go there, to that place where I had nearly died seven
months ago, but memories from Justin’s abduction assaulted me in such vivid
detail that it felt as if it had only been a matter of days. My eyes slammed
shut as I tried to force the images away. I opened my eyes on a sigh and slowly
met Michael’s gaze. “Yes. Justin hurt me. I still struggle with nightmares, and...”
I shivered violently, “this kidnapping has brought back a lot of bad memories for
me.”
    Michael’s
jaw clenched as his hand tightened around mine. “Did he…”
    I
bowed my head, then shuttered my eyes behind the cascade of hair that had
fallen across my face… anything to avoid the fury and fear building in Michael’s
eyes. “No,” I replied in a very small voice. “Justin drugged me, hit me,
handcuffed me to the bathroom sink, then left me without food for days. He
tried to rape me, but he ended up suffocating me when he tried to muffle my
screams. I passed out, and for whatever