Page 108 of Reign of a Billionaire
“It sounds like she’s dissociating, Mr. Ashford.” Somehow, it didn’t surprise me. After all the shit I’d seen and survived, I knew our minds dealt with trauma differently than our bodies. “From what you’re telling me, she endured trauma and abuse. It’s possible she’s blaming herself for her twin’s death.”
“How do I get her back? How do I stop her from believing she’s her sister?”
“You can’t.” She stressed the words, narrowing her gaze on me. “She needs to do that work on her own.”
“That could take years.” My hands curled into fists, and her eyes dropped to them before meeting my gaze in disapproval. I didn’t give a shit what she thought. “We don’t have years. You’ll talk to her and fix this,” I gritted. “The house is that way, just follow the path.”
“Good thing I didn’t wear my heels,” she said with a hint of annoyance.
It wasn’t until she was out of earshot that Alexei said, “Are you okay?”
I nodded, more worried about Louisa than my own state of mind right now. “When you came for me,” I said, meeting his gaze, “I was the only one in the room. Right?”
“You were,” he confirmed. “You kept pointing to a spot, asking me to save her, but there was nobody there.” Fucking Sofia and her sick games. I would have never thought she’d be capable of torturing her daughter to the point of madness. “I have some news you probably won’t like,” Alexei added pensively.
“Oh how I love starting my day with bad news,” I retorted wryly, facing him.
“Well, it seems you haven’t slept much as it is, so consider it yesterday’s news.” Alexei hesitated before he continued in a low voice. “The girl we saved… Louisa. It turns out her name wasn’t Louisa at all. She was beaten until it was the only name she responded to.”
Interesting… Initially, I thought it a strange coincidence, but with everything that’d happened, with how fucked up the past few months had turned, it didn’t feel crazy to believe it played a part in all of this.
“Do we have her real name?”
He shook his head. “No, she refuses to talk to anyone.”
A long sigh left me. I suspected as much. She hadn’t uttered a word on the drive from the warehouse, but she’d clung to Liana—correction,Louisathe whole time. Alexei watched me intently. Waiting, it seemed.
“She’ll talk to Louisa.”
He nodded. “I thought it’d be our best bet.” His gaze darted in the direction of my home. “But how will you handle everything else?”
“I’ll help her remember.”
Because we’d been in love almost as long as we’d been alive.
Chapter 52
Liana
“I’m here to talk to you about your twin.”
I stared suspiciously at Dr. Freud, who stood on the terrace outside Kingston’s home.
“What about her?”
“What do you remember about her?”
I narrowed my eyes. Who in the hell was this chick, thinking she could poke and prod about my sister?
“Let’s sit down,” she offered, and frustration flickered inside me. This wasn’t her office nor her home. She didn’t wait for me to take a seat, but she must have read my expression because she added, “Please. I’ve had a rough day, what with being forced out of my bed and dragged here.”
“Oh, you should’ve led with that…” I lowered myself opposite of her. “Who forced you out of bed?”
“This scary dude with blue eyes, covered in tattoos,” she muttered.
The corners of my lips twitched. “Alexei.”
“Yes, him. I want nothing to do with him.”
