Page 26 of Hell of a Mess
“You remember who you are?” he asked.
I was reluctant to admit that, but he deserved the truth. I had to tell him who I was and that he had to let me leave in order to protect him and everyone in this house. I had…
Wait. I turned to look at him, stepping back out of his hold on me. He released me, watching me, as if he was trying to read all the memories I had on my face.
He’d called me Dalia. The name my father called me.
I placed a hand on my stomach, willing it to settle. There was no time to be ill.
“You said my…” I paused because I hated that name. I hated being called by that name.
“Your name,” he finished.
I nodded, although everything in my body screamed against it.
“It’s you then. You’re Dalia Halsten, the Texas oil heiress.” He didn’t sound disgusted, but it did seem almost mocking.
A hard, sharp laugh left my lips at that description.Heiress—such a funny word. One that didn’t fit me at all. Just as the name Dalia didn’t. Yet it was who I had been forced to become. The name my father had chosen, the one he loved.
“Yes,” I whispered, hating the lie the word stood for. But the truth was one I could never tell. Especially to him.
He didn’t deserve my father’s wrath. He was innocent.
“I have to leave. I can’t stay here.”
His brows drew together. “You want to go back to the bastard? He did this to you, didn’t he? Is his money that important to you? Is that it?”
I stared at him as he snarled the words. Was he talking about my father? Or did he know about Arun too? If he did, surely, he knew about the power the two of them wielded together. I was sure this place had an excellent security system, but that wouldn’t stop either of them from collecting me when they found me. And they would.
“It isn’t safe for you; Jayda; the little girl, Stevie; her mom.” I left out Linc because even with my memory returned, I still didn’t care for him. But the feeling was mutual.
His eyes narrowed. “And it’s safe for you to go back to him?”
No. But I wasn’t planning on it. I was going to run until the day they caught me. No longer would I go down without a fight.
“That isn’t your concern,” I replied.
He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head slightly to the side as he studied me. “You see, I’m gonna call bullshit on that, sugar. I found you, brought you into my home, got you medical attention. I think it is my concern. I didn’t save you to just give you back to the monster who had done that to you. So, tell me, was it him?”
I wanted to tell him everything. Every truth I wasn’t allowed to share. Every lie I had lived. But Luther had a savior complex, and I would not let him get hurt or killed for it. The world needed more men like him. The ones who did good, expecting nothing in return. The ones who saw the hurt and broken and helped them without thinking twice. He was good. His soul was beautiful. Just as his outward appearance was, but my life was a dark place he’d never understand. Or even imagine existed.
The only way to get away from him, to leave here, was to tell another lie. One that would make him let me go.
“My father will protect me. He’ll take care of things.”
Luther said nothing as he continued to stand there, staring at me. Waiting for me to burst out with the truth.
“I don’t like it when people lie to me,” he finally drawled. “But I can’t make you tell me the truth.”
I quietly sucked in a breath and held it, forcing my face not to show any reaction to his response.
“There is a man coming to take you back to your father, and I can’t help you if you aren’t straight with me, Ocean Eyes.”
In a perfect world, the ones I read about in books, I’d throwmyself in his arms and tell him all of it. He would wrap me up and save me from my reality. But this wasn’t that world. It wasn’t fictional. Trusting him would get him killed. I’d never be able to live with myself if that happened.
“What man is coming to get me?” I asked him, resigning myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to get to escape my father now. He already knew where I was.
Luther said nothing.
