Beloved Stranger: Gaian Series, Book 5 (29 page)

“So you’re saying that you aren’t responsible for any of this?” Sonja said.

He shook his head. “That’s not what I’m saying. I didn’t commit these crimes, but I am responsible because I’m in charge of the division where this was happening. These crimes happened because I wasn’t paying enough attention to those who were committing them.” He turned to face them. “I came here to verify that what I was told in that mail was true. Each of you is a witness to some part of these abuses.”

“And now that you know?” Roan leaned forward. “What happens from here out?”

Roberts gestured to him. “I’ve already taken steps to remove from power anyone I’ve evidence against. The only one I’ve failed to find is Wilcan. Would you know where he is?”

Roan glanced over at Sonja. “We left him unconscious in one of the sealed tunnels along with a couple of other men. I expect you can find them using his tracking tag.”

Roberts gestured to one of his men, who left the room. Then he turned his attention back to Roan. “I believe you said you had a proposal for me.”

“I’d like to discuss a business arrangement with the retail department. I have merchandise they could use and some ideas my wife gave me about expansion. In exchange, I shut down my method of bringing in supplies.”

The other man nodded. “I’m aware of your activities Mr. Duman, and I’m sure my new head of retail will be happy to work with you now and in the future.”

“New head of retail?”

“It seems some of the abuses were traced back to the old one. The new man has been cleared of any wrongdoing and is eager to move forward. I’m sure you’ll find him easier to work with than his predecessor. What else do you want?”

Roan folded his hands. “The use of women taken by force has to stop.”

“Agreed. But do we shut down the marriage meets?”

“No. The men need women. Gaian men aren’t complete without their wives.”

He glanced over at Suna sitting next to Allan, and Sulla with Tron and their daughter.

Sonja noticed he didn’t look at her.

“Then where do you suggest we get them?”

“Recruitment from Earth or the Outer Colonies,” Roan said. “Just as we did when Gaia needed women after the war. It will be cheaper in the long run, since we won’t have to pay the high rates slavers were charging us.”

Roberts looked surprised. “You know how much that was?”

“I do,” Allan broke in, and Roberts turned to him and smiled.

“Ah. You were the one who found those records?”

“Yes. But I didn’t know Roan was going to send them to you,” Allan said with a dark look at Roan.

“Still, I appreciate your work. It’s a shame you are leaving us.” He looked benignly at all of them on the couch. “But I understand why you feel you must.”

Allan stared at him. “You aren’t going to stop us from leaving?”

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Roberts looked startled, then as they all turned to stare at the armed men lining the room, he began to laugh. “Oh, my bodyguards. What did you think, that we were here to drag you back into the prison?” He got to his feet, still chuckling. “Believe me, I’m not in the habit of retrieving escaping prisoners. I just wanted to talk to you before you left.”

Sonja got to her feet. “Is that all?”

“Of course. I’m sure your husband has told you that anyone who wants to leave here can, they just can’t return to Gaia if they do. Most men won’t leave before their time is finished, because they don’t have a good enough reason to.”

Roberts shook hands with a startled-looking Allan and then Tron. “I can see that you do. I hope you find in the Outer Colonies what you are looking for.”

“As for you, Mr. Duman.” He returned his attention to Roan. “I understand you intend to complete your sentence. You are welcome to come back with us…unless you’d rather take your boat through those underground tunnels again.”

“I’d rather take my boat back.”

“Then we’ll escort you down there.” Roberts grinned at him. “I have to admit to being curious about this underworld of yours.”

Roan nodded then looked at Sonja. “I’ll need a moment.”

Roberts looked between Sonja and Roan and gestured to his men. “We’ll wait outside,” he said, and led them from the room.

Fuller and Kwam exchanged glances and followed them to the door. “We’ll be on the bridge.”

As soon as they were gone, the rest of the group converged on Roan and Sonja.

“Why didn’t you tell me what you were up to?” Allan grabbed Roan in a bear hug. “Do you know what I went through thinking you’d betrayed us?”

Roan returned Allan’s hug. “I couldn’t be sure it would work,” he said. “I was sure Roberts wasn’t involved. He’s always had a reputation as a good man. But I didn’t know how high it did go. Pretty high, it sounds like.”

He glanced at Sonja. “I had to do something to stop the abuse. It’s possible to have marriage meets without using kidnapped women, and it’s possible to avoid a lot of the problems that were going on.”

He turned to Sulla and Tron. “I suspect you could come back if you wanted.”

Sulla and Tron exchanged glances. “I’ve got another two years on my sentence, and that’s too long to keep Alice here. I want to raise my daughter where there is real sky to live under,” Tron said. “Sulla’s often talked about her home, and I think I’d like to see it.”

Roan shook his hand. “I can understand that.”

He turned to Allan, who stood near Suna. The blond man raised his hand. “Don’t even ask, Roan. I’m ready to leave too.”

Sonja saw something like pain cross his face, but Roan took his friend’s hand and shook it. “I’ll wish you luck, then, not that you’ll need it. What other man could have the luck to attach during a rescue attempt?”

They both laughed, but as Roan turned to leave the room, she noticed their smiles slip and fall.

Sonja followed him out the door and into the corridor. “Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

He stopped and turned to her. “I was waiting for you to talk to me. You’ve been silent since we took out Wilcan.”

Because I love you and don’t know how to tell you.
But she needed to say something. “You’ve given up your smuggling.”

“I’m going legitimate. Won’t be quite as much fun, but it will be safer.” He hesitated. “I just wanted to make sure you and the others were all right.”

“And now that you have?”

“I have to go.”

Now was the time to tell him she loved him and make him choose her over the promise he made his family to serve his time and restore his honor.

Sonja opened her mouth. And closed it.

She couldn’t do it. Roan
needed
to restore his honor, and to do that he’d made a promise to his parents, a promise that any Gaian man would be honor-bound to fulfill, and she wanted to take that away from him.

And there was more. She was making him choose her over his home and over what he intended to accomplish here. Roan had made this sterile prison into his own private world, a place he cared about. He’d set out to right the wrongs of the company that controlled this place, and he was building a business as well.

Roberts would probably honor the bargain he’d made with Roan, but she knew her husband would want to be there to see it through.

In six months he’d return to his home on Gaia, having changed this place for the better.

How could she possibly deny him this accomplishment? She couldn’t make him choose her over all that.

Roan was still watching her. He fiddled with his wristband and removed it. “I guess this is goodbye.” He held it out to her. “I’d ask for mine but it’s clear you lost it earlier.”

“I did?” Sonja looked at her empty wrist and then remembered. She’d taken the band off when impersonating Suna and put it in her pocket. When she’d changed clothes it had been wrapped around the sheath of her knife.

Unthinking, Sonja reached out her hand, and Roan dropped the falcon-engraved band into it. She held it close to her chest. “Later on. Will you come find me?”

Something changed in Roan’s eyes. “Would you really want me to?”

She couldn’t ask him to leave with her but she could do this.

“You asked me if I would stay your wife and I couldn’t answer then. I can now. I care for you, Roan, and I want to be your wife, if not now, then six months from now.”

His eyes lit up but his face stayed wary. “I can’t leave with you.”

“I know that,” she said. “You made a promise, and I know how important that is.” She fingered the band in her hand. “You see, I finally figured it out. I love you, Roan.”

He gave her a real smile. “And I love you. I will seek you out once I’m free.” Before she could do anything, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. When they broke apart Sonja was breathing hard, although not nearly as hard as Roan.

Instead he touched her lips. “See you in six months.” He turned and began walking down the corridor.

Sonja stood there, dazed. She felt perched on a precipice, teetering back and forth. She wanted to walk into the lounge and find a seat next to her sisters.

She wanted to hug them and celebrate them being free.

She also wanted to run after Roan.

Sonja looked at the narrow band she’d given Roan with its engraving of an ever-faithful falcon. Then she stepped into the lounge and found her sisters who were sitting near the men who cared about them. Sulla had her daughter and her husband, and even though Suna said it was too soon for her to love Allan, there was intent interest in the way she looked at him.

But now both Sulla and Suna were staring at her. “And?” Sulla prompted. “What are you going to do?”

It was a day for revelations because a new one hit her, this one harder than the last.
Her sisters didn’t need her.
They had their men, and Fuller would get them back to their home planet even if she wasn’t there to threaten him.

They loved her, her family loved her, but the truth was,
they didn’t need her
.

But she knew who loved her and did need her, and suddenly she knew what side of the precipice she wanted to be on. She rushed forward to hug each of them. “I just wanted to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye, then,” Suna laughed.

“And go after him,” Sulla added. “Come to the farm when you get a chance.”

“I will,” she called over her shoulder as she sped from the room. Sonja’s feet pounded down the corridor. She managed to catch him before he got to the freighter door.

“We left Wilcan alive.”

Roan turned, surprise in his face. “I know that, but Roberts will take care of him.”

“But he might not find him.” Sonja raised her chin. “And he’s not the only one you’ve crossed. There may be others.”

Roan’s surprise turned to a tentative smile. “Most likely. Don’t worry, though, I can handle whoever comes.”

She shook her head. “Not if they have help, and these people always have help. Also there is Roberts. I think he’s serious now, but you’ll need to watch him to make sure he does what he’s agreed to do.”

“What are you saying, Sonja?”

“I’m saying you need someone at your back. Allan’s leaving with Suna, so you need someone else.”

“I do?” Roan crossed his arms. A look of pure joy crossed his face that he quickly concealed. “Did you have someone in mind?”

“As it happens I do. I figure I still owe you sixteen thousand credits at least for the marriage meet costs. That’s half a year’s salary for a ship’s first mate.”

“First mate?”

Sonja nodded. “My last job. Last I heard my old boss was running a space station instead of a ship, so I’m unemployed now.”

Roan grinned at her. “So you think I need a bodyguard, and you’re applying for the job.”

She shrugged and stepped closer. “I think you need a partner, and as it happens, I’m available. Do I need to list my qualifications?”

He shook his head. “Not necessary. I know what you’re capable of. But I don’t want to hire anyone temporarily.”

“I can live with that.”

Roan stepped forward to caress her face. His hand was smooth and gentle against her skin. “Can you, Sonja?”

She pulled her sheathed knife from her pocket and unwound the marriage band he’d given her from it. Roan’s face lit up as she fastened it around her wrist, and he smiled as she gave the falcon-engraved band back to him. “If you insist, we can make this a lifetime job.”

Roan put on the wristband and then took her into his arms. “Sonja, that’s all I’ve ever wanted.” He kissed her, and for a moment that was all that was necessary. When she could think again, she leaned into him.

“There is only one catch, though.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

Sonja smiled up into the face of the beloved stranger she’d call husband for the rest of her life. “If we’re going to spend any more time on a boat, I think you’d better teach me how to swim.”

Roan lifted her into his arms and kissed her again until they both were giddy. “That will be the first thing we do…tomorrow. Today I’m going to take my beautiful wife back to bed in
our
apartment.”