The Prince's Resistant Lover Page 0,25

made it harder for him,” she told the group softly. “But I was put into foster care. He was too, but he kept running away, trying to find me and take care of me.”

“What happened to him?” Jabril prompted.

Wyndi wiped the tear from her cheek, then hid her trembling hands underneath the linen covered tablecloth. “I don’t know.” She looked over at Tamar, daring him to call her a liar. “That’s what the code is for. I’m not stealing any information,” she told him without any inflection in her voice. “I’m searching through any database I can get into, trying to find his name so I can find him.”

She sat there in the silence, not sure what to say now that she’d demolished the mood for the night. She breathed deeply and looked up, forcing a smile on her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t sell any information to anyone, I don’t have any contacts with nefarious people who are trying to bring down your government,” she said to both Tamar and Jabril. “I just need to find my brother. If you let me use my computer, I can show you all of the data, all the places I’ve gone, all the companies I’ve searched through to prove that I haven’t done anything other than sift through the names of the employees.”

She stood up and walked away with as much dignity as she could under the circumstances. She braced herself, afraid Tamar might call out for her to stop, but she couldn’t stop. She had to get away, she had to find a place where she could hide, to get her emotions under control. She was almost running by the time she reached his bedroom and she burst into it, slamming the door closed behind her as she sobbed out her anguish over her lost family.

She sat down in the comfortable chair that she’d used almost every day while waiting for Tamar’s next interrogation or battle of wills, whatever he wanted to call it. She couldn’t believe she’d actually told him all of that. She’d fought so hard to keep it her own secret and she didn’t want anyone to know, not until she’d found her brother. But it was out now. And Tamar could believe her or not.

Tamar watched her leave, something inside of him aching painfully. He’d listened to her story and he had no doubt that she was telling him the truth. In fact, now that he knew what she was doing, a lot of what his tech team had found finally made sense. As well as the reason why they hadn’t found any stolen information on her computer, no contacts, not even her co-workers or friends in college.

He suddenly realized that her whole world was about finding her brother and he’d taken a week away from her, abusing her trust and her soul in the process.

He stood up, not even excusing himself to his cousin or his wife as he hurried to follow her. He had no concerns that she would run away from him. He knew her well enough now, knew exactly where he would find her.

Sure enough, as soon as he opened the doors to his bedroom, he spotted her sitting stiffly on her favorite chair. His favorite chair too. It was the chair he used late at night when he wanted to review information privately. And every night, he’d found her in that chair, her slender legs tucked up underneath her as she read through his library.

As he looked down at her, he knew that she was fighting an internal battle with every fiber of her being. He couldn’t allow that. It would tear her up, make her sick. So he bent down low, lifting her into his arms and sat down with her in his lap. “I’m sorry,” he said. The simple words, spoken with intense honesty, broke through her control and she shuddered, leaning her head against him. She cried out her frustration on not making any progress finding her brother, her anger over his distrust of her and life in general. And the whole time, he simply held her in his arms.

When the storm had finally died out, he looked down at her, his eyes searching hers but he wasn’t sure what for. “Will you let me help you?” he asked softly.

That question startled her. “Why would you help me?”

He leaned back, bringing her with him so she was almost laying against his chest. “Because I need to.”

She definitely