Page 79 of Crazy In Love (Secrets of Suburbi 3)

“I was supposed to keep you…preoccupied until he came back from Canada. But whenever I came around, you just peered at me through the dining room window like you were seeing a ghost. You wouldn’t let me inside.” He shook his head. “You finally answered one of my calls, agreeing to meet me at that bar on Friday night. I figured you knew I wasn’t your husband. But you didn’t even flinch when I said my name was Noah.”

I touched the side of my head. I remembered him coming around the house the past week. I’d thought I was staring through the glass at my husband’s ghost. And then I’d gone to the bar that night, wanting to believe he was real. I wanted to believe I hadn’t done something terrible. Because I never got my answers. I needed the fucking answers. “And what about my money?”

“He had this whole plan to use Sophia to steal all your money. That’s why he changed her face. To get access to your accounts through her. And I guess they covered their tracks afterwards by hurting her. To make her look less like you again in case they were contacted by the police.”

I shook my head. “He’d need my license. They wouldn’t just trust that she was just me without identification.”

“He took your license.”

I walked past him into the family room where I’d left my coat and purse. I rummaged through my purse and grabbed my wallet. The clear sleeve that always held my license was empty. I frantically pulled all my credit cards out. But my license wasn’t there. Son of a bitch. “Is the money with her?”

“Or him.” He shrugged. “I know you probably still have a million questions, but we need to get out of here. Before Dr. Collins comes back. If he finds out I told you the truth, he’ll kill both of us.”

I just stared at him. “Why did you agree to it?” I touched my own face to show him what I meant. I couldn’t say the words.

“I wanted an out. When he first started this, he was doing good. He was helping people without insurance. But it turned into something ugly. I owed a debt to your husband. But I never agreed to this crazy shit. I didn’t know he was drugging you. I didn’t know he hurt you. He said if I did this, he’d let me leave. Alive. Which was something that had become rare in the past year. All I had to do was run some errands pretending to be him. That was the deal. His face for freedom in a few months. You were supposed to be my last assignment.”

He changed his face for freedom? I didn’t blame him for that. I’d get plastic surgery on my whole body if it meant I could leave my husband.

“Like I said, we can talk about this in the car. But we really have to get going.”

“You still want to come with me?” I asked. “Even though you have your memories back?” For some reason, the face alterations made sense. But him wanting to escape with me? That was impossible.

“I meant every word I said the past few days.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“That’s not exactly true. Part of this assignment was to know everything about you. Yeah, I forgot when I fell down the stairs.” He said it like it was a question, probably still suspicious that I’d pushed him. “But I remember now. Your favorite color is green. Like the nursery color upstairs.”

Something in my throat constricted. My husband didn’t understand why I chose green. But Aiden had put the pieces together pretty easily.

“You fell in love with this neighborhood and the white picket fences. You inherited a hell of a lot of money when your grandparents passed away.” He shook his head. “You’re smart. And stubborn as hell. And so beautiful it hurts.”

I felt my cheeks heating.

“And you taste like cinnamon. The curve of your body fits perfectly against mine. You have a birthmark on the inside of you right thigh that looks like a heart. And I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you before we ever even met.”

I didn’t know whether he meant a word of it. Or if Snuggle Muffins was right and he had Stockholm syndrome. But it felt like my Grinch heart grew a few sizes. I barely knew a thing about this man. But God, how many years had I been hoping for a knight in shining armor to come save me from this hell.

I stepped forward and leaned my head against his chest.

He wrapped his strong arms around me.

I breathed in his familiar, yet different scent. He wasn’t scary like my husband. He wasn’t threatening my life. He was trying to save it. I’d been slowly slipping the past few days. Wanting to believe in a second chance. That I could still have a life that wasn’t in shambles. I love you too. I didn’t know if it was true, but I was pretty sure I loved him more than I had ever loved my husband.

“Now let’s get the hell out of here before your crazy ass husband comes home. I checked in with some of our colleagues and he hasn’t gotten back from Canada yet. But he could arrive any minute. And I’d feel a hell of a lot better if we could get a few states between us and him. Maybe we can clear up what happened to him too.

” He gestured to the hall behind him where Detective Torres was still passed out. “Figure out a way to make Detective Torres understand that none of this was your fault. But the distance will make me feel better, just in case he doesn’t understand.”

I took a deep breath. Aiden wasn’t my husband. And I wasn’t insane. It should have been a relief. But with a clear head came the most terrible realization of all. After what I’d done, I didn’t have a choice.

As Aiden grabbed the keys off Detective Torres’ belt and uncuffed me, all I wanted to do was run away from this mess. I ran my thumb along my wrist. For some reason, it still felt like the cuffs were on me. Shackling me to this house. Keeping me locked up in this nightmare.

“Come on, we have to go,” he said.

I didn’t move. “He already came back.”

“What?”

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