Page 25 of Hell of a Mess
“She drowned in a boating accident when Dalia was six,” Linc said.
“Lace. Her name is Lace,” I corrected, not willing to accept she was this Dalia person.
“Lace,” he said tightly, “was there when her mother drowned.”
Some of my steam left me then. The woman in bed last night, calling for her mommy and tossing and turning as if she were fighting, had panicked. That all made sense.
Fuck.
The small shred of hope that I had of Lace not being the woman they were talking about snapped.
The phone in the office rang, and I stood there, waiting to hear Thaddeus’s voice over the intercom while they made preparations for Lace’s departure and return to her father. The man who hadn’t been protecting her.
Before he could speak, I turned and stalked from the room. I couldn’t stay here for this. I didn’t want to hear it. She wasn’t mine to protect. I had no power to protect her with. My hands were tied. And there was a possibility that when her memory returned, she’d want to go back to the bastard who had beaten her. If it was him. And all signs said that it was.
“Luther!” Linc barked my name, but I didn’t stop. I kept going.
Ten
Lace
I heard the voices before I reached the great room. They were all masculine. My body tensed as my heart rate picked up, and I stopped in the hallway. The instinct to turn and run back to the room I’d slept in last night was immediate. But why? What was it about those voices that frightened me?
Since I’d woken up without any knowledge of my life or who I was, every man I had met was civil. Linc hadn’t exactly been nice, but the others had been. This was Luther’s home, and he wouldn’t let someone inside that would hurt me. At least, I didn’t think he would.
What did I really know about him anyway? Or me?
Wringing my hands together tightly, I wanted the safety of the room I had just left. I wasn’t going to be able to go any further. No matter what I told myself, there was a flight reaction to the masculine voices that was stronger than my reasoning.
“Dalia,” Luther called out, and I turned to look at him.
“Yes,” I replied as our eyes met, and then I froze.
A rush came over me, and I reached out to place a hand on the wall closest to me as the world felt like it was off-balance. My stomach began to turn violently, and I feared I was about to vomit on the spot.
God, please don’t let me do that.
But when had God ever heard me? Not the day my momma had drowned and…
My momma.
The memory felt like a boulder slamming hard against my chest, and I let out a pained wail. She was gone. She’d been gone. I…I’d dreamed of her last night.
Strong hands clamped around my arms, but I couldn’t focus. Too much was opening up, racing through my head. My life, all that I’d forgotten.
Again, my stomach rolled painfully.
Arun would kill me. Especially now. And my father would allow it. If I wasn’t his pawn, I was nothing to him.
I had to find a way to escape here. Leave before I brought the danger that Linc feared close to his family. Oh God. I had to go. But how did I get away?
“Slow, deep breaths,” Luther said, reminding me that he was behind me.
He was possibly the only reason I was still standing. If left on my own, I was sure my knees would have buckled by now.
I shook my head. I had no time for slow breathing and calming down. He had no idea the danger he was in by my being here. He’d saved me. He…he was the only person in my life to ever care about my well-being. My chest ached at the loss of that. The brief taste of someone being there to stand up for me. To take care of me. It would end today. Now. I had to go.
“I-I ne-need to leave.” I stammered out the words.
