Page 73 of Unspoken Promises

Maybe he won’t want to be with me when he hears my story. Maybe his point of view will transform in an instant when I tell him. Maybe he’ll no longer see me as a skillful, talented employee but a helpless, vulnerable girl, damaged by her past. I don’t want him to see me that way. I don’tfeellike that person. Least of all in his presence.

Enzo makes me feel invincible.

Finding out Anton is safe has been a catalyst. I never have to go back and find him. I just have to make sure, one hundred percent, that Father can’t find me. I can’t risk this chance for a new life any longer.

I want my new birth certificate. I want to get a bank account. I want to get a passport. I want to see where thepowerful connection I’m feeling between me and this gorgeous man lands.

It’s time to tell Enzo, but I can’t tell him about the text from Anton. Not yet.

Not before I tell him who I am.

After textinghis dad and Santi to head back with Callum, we got into Enzo’s car.

Enzo has an ability to sit in silence that no one else has. Since being in the outside world, I see how uncomfortable and impatient people become when they have to wait to know what you’re thinking.

Enzo didn’t demand anything of me in that car ride home. He didn’t force me to speak. Still, he was quiet in an unsettled way, an aura of worry around him so tangible I had to turn up the aircon.

When he parks in his garage, without a word we get out of the car, and I follow him inside.

He tells me to sit in his living room where he wraps that same beautifully knitted blanket around my shoulders I had over my legs the night he took care of me. I’m not cold, but I leave it there anyway because I know he wants to have something hugged around me while he goes to make tea, and strangely, it does offer a security, like there’s safety woven into the intricate yarn.

Enzo disappears into the kitchen, and panic pounds through my insides.

I pull the blanket tighter, a reminder of how caring Enzo is. I need these reminders now. I repeat to myself that Enzohas been nothing but supportive since he let me through those gates. I tell myself I can trust him, and my mantra is strong and forceful inside me as a prayer.

He comes back from the kitchen with a steaming mug and hands it to me.

“Chamomile.”

A couple of days ago I said I was trying to cut down on caffeine.

He bought tea.

For me.

My hands cling to the warmth of the mug, and I blow white wisps from the top, counting my breaths like a steadying meditation. What I’m about to share will change everything.

I just wish I could have held off telling him all of this until after we kissed. I’ve never touched a man before, and this one? Everything wants not only his mouth on mine but his body between my legs. If I get that chance, I’m not going to be shy about it.

I sip, but it does nothing to ease the tightness in my throat. “I think it’s time to tell you,” I swallow thickly, “… my story.”

Enzo is a largely expressionless man. He has one look, and it’s something between being pensive and scowling. But his eyebrow lifts, almost imperceptibly. The elephant in the room is about to incite a stampede.

“Even though I really want it to be, my name isn’t Ava.”

I steal a sharp glance, scared of what I might discover, but in Enzo’s deep-brown eyes is compassion. And not the least bit of shock.

“You’re not surprised?” I ask, feeling every bit of the jolt I expected Enzo to have.

“You’ve given me a hell of a lot of time to consider theoptions,” he says calmly. “An alias was one of them. Are you going to tell me your real name?”

I don’t want to. I don’t ever want to be that woman again. Nothing about her life nor the little girl before her was worth taking into the next. But I need to tell him.

There’s a grip of fear around my neck. “It was Lucy Murphy.”

His body stills. Mine does, too.

I don’t know if I feel better or worse that he knew I was lying to him. I crumble, and at the same time, feel more cared for than ever. He has done all these loving things for a liar. Not even knowing who I really was he took me into his home, gave me a job, money, food, kindness, care…

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