Page 27 of Sweet Lies

I turn to face them and start to apologize but Peter twists my arm and pushes me out the back door.

“You stupid bitch!” he hisses through clenched teeth and shoves me to the ground. Expecting a kick, I curl into a ball.

“I’m sorry,” I whimper, hating the sound of my voice.

I didn’t notice the man against the wall till he appeared behind Peter, as if from nowhere. I want to warn him not to get involved. It will only end badly for him. There are no superheroes in my life anymore. They’re long dead.

Peter is shocked as well, and I know this poor man is going to be dead by morning, if not by Peter, then Levi.

“Walk away,” the man orders in a tone that tells me he’s used to having his commands followed. Maybe ex-military. His voice sends shivers down my back, yet it brings me comfort. Taking a second, I study him. He looks like Andre, but it can’t be. Here? Now? It’s not possible.

But it is.

Peter goes to hit him, but Andre twists his arm, and I hear the crack of bone. Andre isn’t finished yet though—he hits Peter in the face till he goes down.

His eyes meet mine, and I see recognition fill his gaze.

“Rebecca,” he gets out, looking as dazed as I feel.

I have no words for him, my brain still trying to catch up with what my eyes are seeing.

Even during the car ride I couldn’t come up with words. What was he doing here? Surely he hadn’t stayed here after their deaths. That would have been suicide, and I can’t picture him changing teams. How is it that we ended up in the same city and the same bar on this exact night? It seems fate hasn’t tired of us yet.

I should never have given him that name, but the whole night—hell, the last few years—have just exhausted me, and I knew he would never let up till he had what he wanted. I’ve craved that they all pay, but I’m not so sure now it’s happening. I feel like it’s all going to come back to me. As if their pain will bring back my own full force.

Seeing him again was like a punch to the gut. He was my very own dark angel. He was as beautiful as I remembered, with his tan skin and dark hair cut short. His piercing dark eyes that seemed to see into my soul hasn’t changed. I still seem to find myself drowning in them and wishing they would never look away.

I noticed the Rossi mark was still on his arm. I caught the edge of the tattoo when his sleeve rose up. It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen that marking. All of my father’s men had some variation of it once they were initiated—a progression of marks, each one representing a different rank in the organization.

He seemed to have come out of nowhere, his black clothes helping him blend into the evening. I still can’t believe I’m in his room.

Now he’s gone, I study the room in more detail. It’s a basic, spacious hotel room with white walls. Nature pictures hang on the walls—one of a waterfall near the TV and another of mountains closer to the door.

Shoving open the maroon blinds, I test the windows—they don’t open. Not that it would matter much anyway, as we’re on the tenth floor.

Huffing in frustration, I turn to look once more at the bed. The flawlessly white comforter seems to mock me, as if reminding me I’m unclean.

Stepping over to the double closet, I slide one door to the side and peer in. My fingers run over the built-in safe but don’t even attempt to break in to see what he has hidden.

Next, I examine the large silver-and-white marble bathroom. The large soaker tub calls to me, but I ignore the urge. If Andre survives his meeting with Levi, the last thing I need is to be in the tub when he returns. I could hop into the immense shower with two shower heads again, but I don’t dare, knowing once I get back in there, I’ll never want to leave.

This night has taken an unexpected turn. Levi is going to kill me when he finds out what’s happened. There’s no way Peter will have kept his mouth shut—he’ll have been on the phone with Levi as soon as his mouth could move again, and Levi will have his men out looking for me. It’s only a matter of time till they find me.

After Tony had his fun, he sold me to Levi, and I’ve been his property ever since. We’ve been primarily in Maine, since he was concerned about people finding out I was still alive and taking his plaything away. We’d only returned to New York for the week because he had business here. He didn’t want to leave me alone, since I’d tried to escape the last time. I almost had too. He didn’t have to worry about me leaving though, because I didn’t want another beating. I thought he might kill me—in a way, I hoped he would.

My mind flashes back to Andre. Henever lets things go. I’ve known him my whole life; he was always there with my brother, and Claire was never far behind. I was always the one behind the tree, hiding and wishing.

It took me a moment to realize it was Andre, thoughhe’s changed little, looks wise. It’s been so long since I’ve seen anyone from my past I thought I was hallucinating. I’d tried to bury my past life to make things simpler, and during the day, I could pretend I’d never had a family; that I’d never felt love. But at night those feelings crept in, keeping me awake.

I breathe deeply, my mind racing with what to do next. If Andrekills Levi, then I can move on—to what I don’t know, but something. I could disappear. Rebecca died years ago; whatever’s left over is broken. I don’t know if I can ever put the pieces back together to make a whole person.

Do I even want to? I can feel them inside me and beside me. Crawling and taking what wasn’t theirs to take, removing a little more of me each time.

What would Claire and Elijah do?

They’re always with me, as much as I wish I could shove them aside. On the worst days, I would picture them with me, talking me through the pain, promising me release from my prison. But they never came, and the pain kept on coming.

I miss them in ways I never thought possible. I miss the comfort of being in their presence. Elijah’s laugh and Claire’s smile. The feeling of being home. It feels like they’re haunting me, but I don’t want them to leave because then I’d be well and truly alone.

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