Page 37 of Twin Deception

“If he actuallywaslooking for me.” I wouldn’t change my mind. That creep was just a common street criminal. An opportunist. “Who gave you orders to find me?”

“I’m not answering that.” He cracked the kinks out of his neck as he paced.

“Oh, but I’m supposed to answer your questions?” I shook my head, so mad, so annoyed with myself that I was here and even having this discussion with him.

“Yes. Tell me what Louis?—”

“I don’t know!” I would scream it over and over if I had to. “I know nothing about Louis Flores. I have no intel to give you. I am clueless, Miguel. Clueless. I’ve gotnothing.”

“Then how come you didn’t go to the cops when you realized I was following you? How come you’re so determined to hide and make me chase you instead?”

“Because the cops can’t do anything. I know that.”

He glared at me. “If you have nothing to hide, you wouldn’t have run from me. If you have no secrets to protect, you wouldn’t have tried to evade me.”

I bit my lip to physically rein in the need to scream. I didn’t have anything to hide. And Ihadconsidered leaving, but that wouldn’t have solved anything in the short term. He wouldn’t have given up.

And…

I hated that I hadn’t wanted to run too far away because I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Couldn’t stop wanting him.

Being needy for Miguel’s attention and company had to be a sign of a sick, twisted part of my brain, but I couldn’t deny it. Being near him and seeing that electrifying stare had made me feel the opposite of alone and dismissed and I hesitated to give it up.

Running from him was a way to keep up this game of chase. A game I had no business wanting to play, especially with someone like him.

“I have nothing to hide.”

He looked away, as if he couldn’t bear to meet my gaze when he spoke again. “I don’t believe you.”

I huffed. “Obviously.”

“It doesn’t matter if you cut ties with Louis. You have to have some value or know something.”

There it was. That was how Miguel saw me. As a valuable asset. A pawn.

“Fuck this.” I shook my head, despising how easily I’d been duped by a hot, sexy man who actually knew how to kiss. “Fuck you,” I added.

The second the words left my lips, I rolled my eyes and looked at the ceiling. “Actually, no. Never mind that.Thank you,” I said instead, emphasizing the end of it. “Thank you for saving me from that man who wanted to rape and kill me.” One day, I’d look back at this and marvel at how I could speak those words so clearly. Anger fueled me. Perhaps that was how.

“Thanks for taking a break from your ‘orders’ to make sure I wasn’t raped or killed.”

He lowered his gaze as he gripped the back of a chair, his knuckles turning white from the ferocity of his grip.

“But I have nothing to offer you. No secrets, no answers. Nothing, Miguel. When I say that I cut ties with him years ago, that means I went no-contact. No updates. Nothing at all. If you’re looking for a pawn in whatever he’s been doing, I’m not it.”

All day, I’d been plagued with that nagging solitude. At lunch, when I tried to doodle and work, then at dinner. All fucking day and night, I’d been missing this man, this mysterious savior who could kill a street thug to protect me from a horrible fate.

It all seemed like such a waste of time now. Every thought I’d had of him. Each moment I’d wished for him to be seated with me and prevent all those people from giving me sad, pitying looks when I dined alone. Those seconds of longing for his company…

Stupid. HowstupidI’ve been.

He was a stalker, not a friend. Opposite of yearning for him and wanting his company, I now wanted to get away. I wanted to run, not for any purpose of prolonging this game of cat and mouse between us, not for any means of playing hard to get and making him work to find me. I wanted out of this bullshit.

Yes, I was grateful for him for saving me from that other man. But I wasdonewith this crap about my father. I had nothing to give, no secrets to reveal.

I kept my head held high during this intense stare down. I couldn’t read him. I didn’tknowhim, didn’t know anything about him other than the fact that he had orders to track me down because of who my father was.

His silence was telling. His reluctance to deny what I said made his stance crystal clear. When I said I had nothing to offer him, his only reply was to insist I was lying, that I had to have a secret or whatever his boss wanted.

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