Page 116 of Powerful Deception

And darkness.

33

I’m jolted awake and right away I see that I’m no longer in the back of the SUV with Dante next to me.

No, instead of being surrounded by darkness, I’m in a brightly lit room that looks like a staged living room at a furniture store.

What the hell happened?

How did I even get here?

Sitting up, I try to rack my brain for something that will tell me how I got here.

I remember being back at the manor and getting ready for the gala. I remember Dante zipping me up and then helping me with my shoes. I remember the call with Gallo, that made me sick that I had to throw up. I remember being in the car and walking into the Gala and trying my hardest to just be with Dante.

Then I remember the Gala itself.

For the first twenty or so minutes, it was fun and exciting. Dante and I were flirting and acting like any other couple.

Then I was introduced to Bennett Lane, and the second I said my name, I knew that he knew who I was. He hid it well, but he knew.

And when Ella came by, I knew that was when everything that I worked so hard to keep a secret was going to come out.

Elle told me herself when she pulled me away.

“I told you to stay away from him.” she hissed, her grip on my hand growing tighter.

“You did, but I had questions that I needed answers to. I needed to know if he was the one that went after my father.” I told her, my voice shaking in the process.

“And did you? Did you find out if he was your father’s killer?” Ella’s voice is no longer sweet. There’s a bite to it that I would have never thought her capable of.

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t.”

“Does he know why you’re in his life in the first place?” She hisses this time.

“No.”

“Then why are you still with him, then? If you didn’t find the answers you wanted, why are you still here?”

“Because I love him.”

She was the first person, besides myself, that I admitted it to.

I remember she gave me a stern look after that and when I went to go sit at the table, I knew Bennett said something to Dante.

There was a coldness flowing between us, and I knew the time was coming for me to come clean.

Then we got in the car. We got in the car and he said those four little words that broke every single inch of me.

“You lied to me.”

I started to cry instantly. He knew. He knew why I really took the position as his nanny and that I had been lying to him the whole time.

He knew.

So it was time for me to come clean and tell him everything.

That’s when everything goes dark.

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