Page 116 of Rescuing You

“You know something, Jasmine. Tell me.”

Her eyes were wide, and for an instant, he saw something there. Not just terror but resolve.

He willed her to speak.

But Leila was crossing the room.

His raised finger didn’t stop her this time. “Don’t!” he barked.

Jasmine blinked and turned to her sister.

“Stop it!” Leila grabbed Jasmine and pulled her to her feet.

Jasmine took the opportunity and fled to the bathroom, then slammed the door between them.

“What is wrong with you?” Leila demanded.

His frustration nearly boiled over.

He’d been so close. So close. Didn’t she see that? Didn’t she understand⁠—?

“You will not talk to my sister again.”

“I’m trying to protect her.”

Which was true. Just not the whole truth.

Because he needed to know what she knew.

“You are making her out to be a terrorist.” Leila’s words, no longer loud, were low and seething. “You are acting like she is your enemy.”

“For all we know,” he said, matching her tone, “she is.”

He expected Leila to snap at him, but she didn’t. She stepped back. The look she gave him left a chill.

Jasmine came out of the bathroom, and Leila faced her. “Are you all right?”

She nodded, her gaze lowered to the floor.

“Go rest. I’ll be in in a minute.”

Jasmine hurried through the door and closed it behind her.

Michael glared at his girlfriend. “You should have stayed in your room. I was almost there.”

“Yasamin is not your enemy.”

“She knows things I don’t know. She has information that I need to know.”

Beneath the makeup, he saw the woman he loved. He saw the way her expression closed. The way her eyes hardened.

She barely moved, but there was a shift, a monumental shift.

A wall rising between them. No, not a wall. A wall, he could climb over or break down.

This was a chasm, dark and empty. And suddenly, he realized something he should have understood much, much sooner.

Something Brock and the rest of the team had likely guessed all along.