Page 35 of Unspoken Promises

“Well, then I need to shake this…” I search for the nice way of putting it.

“Suspicion?” she answers for me.

My gaze confirms it all.

“I promise you, Enzo…”

“Never promise anything…”

She tilts her head to the side, considering my words as if they’re more than flippant. They are. I mean them. Nobody can ever guarantee anything. I can’t. Neither should she.

She searches my face for something and seems to find it because she softens, almost as if knowing why I don’t make promises anymore. It’s impossible she could understand, but that’s the thing about Ava’s face. It contains so much empathy. So much… humanity.

“Enzo. You obviously have your reasons for why GhostEye is important to you. And all I can say is that I have mine, too. And in both cases, the reasons are noble. I don’t have a bad bone in my body.” She drops her gaze to her laptop bag on the floor and mutters, “I wish I did.”

What’s that supposed to mean? There’s only one translation in my mind. It means someone has done her wrong and she’s too good to seek revenge.

She places her laptop on the table and opens it. “Can we make a deal?”

“Depends on the terms.”

“I have a three-month contract here and I’m smart enough to know you want me to see that out, given how I earned it.”

I tap a pen on my lip, listening. Yet again admiring her confidence.

“You get Debbie off my back, pay me cash, and… give me the benefit of the doubt.”

She doesn’t even know I’ve already done that.

I cross my arms and lean back. “What’s the exchange?”

“I’ll make myself indispensable here. I know you held the contest in order to have someone who can protect this company. I’ll show you that person is me.”

12

I hatethat Enzo is suspicious, but what option do I have? Just go and tell him I’m running from a danger I don’t even understand? It’s hard to explain my past, I’ve not even come to terms with it myself. I don’t even know why I was held against my will. I don’t know why Father had people killed or what kind of evil he was up to, hell, I’ve never even seen the man. All I have is my speculation, and even though that has morphed into belief over the years, I don’t know anything for certain.

And then there’s explaining Anton. The thought of my confidant being painted as a villain, which I can’t see any other way to explain to Enzo he isn’t, hurts.Because in my heart, he really is the uncle I never had. He treated me kindly. Respectfully. He treated me like a daughter even though my own mom abandoned me.

The whole story is fucked up.

God, I hope Anton is okay.

Maybe I can trust Enzo, but the moment I tell him the truth, my cover will be completely blown, and I spent weeks orchestrating this escape. Still, I could use a partner like him… I don’t have the first clue how I’ll change my name on my birth certificate and keep the record sealed without someone’s help.

I thought about easier options like faking a birth certificate or getting one of a child who’s died but I don’t want to do anything illegal. It’s against everything I stand for.

What to do about my identity is a conundrum. Sealing the records of a changed birth certificate could leave me open to my past. But faking my identity could risk my future. Enzo would never hire a criminal. And now that I’m here, I want to be part of this organization more than ever.

And part of Echo Valley, too.

A few weeks ago, I would have never chosen new people over permanently escaping Father. But now? My heart tells me I found some family here. I need to do this right despite the risk.

But that means I need law enforcement. Or… Enzo. He really does seem like the kind of man who would help me. He’s devoted his life to fight against the worse kind of criminals. Against the kind of person who would keep a girl locked up for fourteen years against her will.

Last night I saw another side to Enzo. A side that made me want to seeeveryside of him if I’m honest with myself. I’ve had a bit of a professional crush on Enzo Mendez since I first read about him as an up-and-coming in a techentrepreneur’s magazine several years ago. The man before me is complicated and impossibly serious for sure, but I would never crush on a simple man.

Enzo does seem like a control freak, though.

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