Page 88 of Sin With Me

“Us?”

“Yes, I work for an agency specializing in personal security: Cross Enterprises. That’s one crazy stunt you pulled off with the heart for your mom. Do you know how many people are looking foryou?”

My head was spinning. What was happening here? Had my cover been blown this entire time, and I didn’t even knowit?

Nice work, Hope.

Yes, of course I could imagine I was a target. That’s why I hid my mother and fled, but I never realized that I’d been located.

“Can I really trust you, Lola?” Because if I couldn’t, then I had no one left. “If you know about the heart, then you know how much trouble I’m in. Lola, you cannot tell anyone. They’ll come after youtoo.”

“Your secret is safe with me, but time has come to make some tough choices, Hope. I don’t like working with new people and not being in control, but Cameron here is not giving me much choice.”

Father Cameron? Lola knew my real name, and if she was telling me the truth, then I was sure she knew much more than that. As much as I wanted to get up and leave, I didn’t know where I’d go. Heck, I didn’t even know where I was, so for now, it was better to stick with Lola — at least that’s what my gut told me. As far as I knew, she hadn’t betrayed me. She knew my father; at least that’s what she’d said. I lowered my head down to my knees and grumbled. Having gone by my second name the past half year, it was odd to hear my real name. I felt like I’d changed so much that I was no longer Hope. I wasKate.

The sound of a wailing siren drew my attention to the charcoal curtains covering the window. I lifted myhead.

“Is your name evenLola?”

“My full name is Lolita Lowes.”

Was she serious?

“My mother wasn’t the nicest kind of a mother. She thought the name would make her new husband happy. Except I almost chopped his dick off when he lowered his pants to the ground and asked me to lickhim.”

Oh, myGod!

“Don’t worry, I got out of that house when I was eight.”

“What do you mean, gotout?”

“I packed a backpack andleft.”

“Just likethat?”

“Yeah, just like that. That’s part of the reason why I go by Lola. It doesn’t sting asmuch.”

I let out a breath of relief as I realized that she was still the same Lola I knew. Hopefully I could still trusther.

“I’ll stick to Lola, then,” I whispered. “So, I’m guessing you’re not a hairdresser either.”

“Now we’re on the same page, detective.”

What?

She waved her hand. “Don’t worry. I know everything there is to know about you, your mother, your brother, and Xavier.”

“Is my father alive?”

“I don’t know. My company received his instruction to look out for you ten years ago, and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

“For ten years?”

She nodded. I’d spent the first five years after he left looking for my father as well, but he’d disappeared without a trace.

“We screwed up when your house burned down. You hid well, and by the time we found you, you pulled that stunt at the warehouse. There wasn’t much I could do at the time, but I had a feeling you’d end up inPace.”

“Where am Inow?”

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