Page 99 of Castle

I stared at the floor, so he held my chin and tilted my face upward to meet his gaze.

“Is this another one of your ploys? Am I just a pawn to you in this game, like the rest of your family? Because all you had to do was tell me the truth, and I would have supported you, anyway.” I said, letting the tears fall freely. “I asked you if you remembered me and you lied to my face!”

“I had to do what I thought was right at the time! Please understand.” His hands reached up to hold my shoulders, his gaze burning into me intensely. “I woke up confused in the hospital—I wasn’t lying about that. I remembered you, but not the way you think. I recalled faces, names, flashes of certain incidents, yet I was clueless.”

He appeared to be worried. It looked like he wanted me to trust him again.

I refused to say anything. I hadn’t gotten the answer I was looking for, and he knew it.

“Imagine this. I almost drowned, and then I wake up in my car sitting next to this beautiful woman who looked troubled and ready to flee. She held my hand throughout the car ride like she was trying to draw energy from me. I didn’t know who you were, but I had visions of you. It was like looking at these pictures in my head.”

“What visions?”

“Visions of you under the sun smiling at me, you trapped in the woods, crying for help.” He continued, “I saw you dressed as my bride standing next to me. I saw you helping me regain my memories and protecting me from my brother. I saw you asking me to jump from the car. I was confused as hell because I didn’t remember marrying you. I assumed it was part of Devin’s plan, and I didn’t know if I could trust you. Then I saw the ring on your finger.”

“How did you know my name if you remembered nothing before the car ride?” I was playing twenty questions with himand I didn’t care. I needed to see him pause or get stuck on his words, and I’d know he was lying.

He seemed genuine.

“I had a ring on my finger too. I checked the engraving inside. Your name is on it. I thought of testing it when I followed you into our room and called your name. You responded, and I knew you were my wife.”

“So if you knew all this, then why did you lie to me? You could have just told me the truth from the very beginning.”

“Because I knew it would break your heart. I could see it, clear as day that you expected me to remember you, and I don’t know...I just didn’t want to disappoint you, I guess.”

I stepped away from him, folding my hands across my chest. “How do I know you’re not lying to me right now?”

“You’ll just have to take my word for it.” He said.

I looked away from him. “I don’t want you to play these games with me.”

“I swear to you, Millicent, I’m not using you for any ulterior motive, believe me.”

I could play one more card.

“I need more than that. I have to know fully that I can trust you. What happened to your mother? I read the second journal she wrote and in there it mentions that she left, but I don’t believe what’s written. How could she leave two of her kids to a woman she didn’t trust? And if she did, why hasn’t she gotten in touch with you yet?”

Castle’s eyes cut through mine. His expressions were lethal. “You know about that journal?”

“Yes.”

“I want to see it.”

“It’s in our bedroom.”

Castle followed me to the bedroom and watched as I removed it from its hiding space. After reading it, I had forgotten to give it back to Theo, and he hadn’t asked.

Castle took the journal from me and flipped the pages. “Do you have the first one?”

I shook my head. “Theo has it.”

“Wait here,” Castle told me as he disappeared from the room and then appeared a few minutes later with a file.

He put the file in front of me and opened the journal. “Look at it carefully.” He pointed at it.

I looked at what was in front of me. “I don’t understand.”

“This journal is fake.” He declared.

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