Page 125 of Fallen

“Yeah.” I grimaced. “And I wouldn’t have known what happened. The compulsion included instructions to forget all about the bottle.”

“Gods. So Clarisse may be part of this? I thought she was neutral.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Sometimes I get so damn tired of not knowing who I can trust.”

I touched his leg. “You can trust me. And Talon and Cain. And Jasper thinks you’re the next thing to God.”

That elicited a small smile. “He’ll learn. But thank you.”

I took his face between my hands and stared into his eyes, willing him tohearme. “I’ve never told another man I love them, Brien—and when I was a slayer, I had to say a lot of things I didn’t mean. But I’m not a slayer anymore. When I say you can trust me, I’m saying that not just as Twilight but as Nikki Kim.”

He jolted almost imperceptibly as I spoke my real name—or at least, the one I’d been born with. I felt a comparable jolt as the final layer of secrecy peeled away.

Not even that detective of his could’ve discovered I’d been born Nikki Kim; my family had lived under an alias to protect all of us. Even my birth certificate was registered under a different name.

“That’s your real name?” he asked slowly.

I nodded, adding, “I’m on your side. You may not believe it, but I am.”

I released him and sat back. Brien knew everything now. I’d laid myself bare. It was up to him, now.

Way back in his eyes, something warmed. His hands came to my shoulders, squeezed. “You know something? I think I do believe you—Nikki.”

* * *

While Brien showered and shaved, I went back to the living room to eat dinner. When he reappeared, he was dressed for the challenge in a T-shirt and gray stretch tactical pants, his hair in a short blond ponytail. He got himself a glass of blood-wine and sat on the couch with me.

I took out the phone. “Thanks for this. And the passport and money, too—which is way too much, by the way.”

He lifted a shoulder in a negligent shrug. “The money’s nothing. And you don’t have to thank me. It was an asshole move, keeping you here without a phone or passport.”

My mouth tugged into a grin. I slid the phone back into my pocket with the passport and debit card.

“Yeah, it was. But I wanted to thank you anyway. It means a lot, that you trusted me enough to give them to me.”

I leaned forward to brush my lips over his. When I started to pull away, he curved a hand around my nape, keeping me there so he could kiss me back. A slow, thorough melding of mouths and tongues that almost made me forget the danger we both were in.

“So.” Sitting back with a very Brien smirk, he draped an arm along the couch. “Why don’t you walk me through what happened, starting from when this woman brought your food?”

I nodded and, in between bites of grilled salmon, walked him through what had happened from the time fake-Kerry had entered the apartment.

“And you’re sure it was a woman?” he asked. “You said yourself you didn’t get a good look at whoever it was.”

“It wasn’t just her body—it was her voice. You know how a glamour doesn’t change your voice, just your appearance. She disguised her voice, but it was a woman’s.”

He sipped his wine. “Only a few people are cleared to enter my apartment—Cain. Talon. Kerry and William. Not even Avril can enter without my permission. So if it was Clarisse, how the fuck did she get in the door?”

I cut into my baked potato, thinking. “She couldn’t have overridden the security system?”

“Unlikely. My apartment isn’t connected to the main system, and I’m the only one who can make changes to this one. I’ll run a check, but my guess is that whoever it was compelled Kerry to open the door for them.”

I drank some of the mineral water. “So this person waited in the shadows until they came inside? Because the hall cam should’ve picked up another person, right?”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense, but whoever it was must be powerful. It takes a lot of energy to compel two people and hold a glamour at the same time.”

“Someone high in your hierarchy, then.”

“Yes.” His mouth thinned. “Which Clarisse is. She’s the highest female, actually.”

I frowned. “Maybe Kuro doesn’t even exist. Maybe it’s been someone from your syndicate all along. Someone who doesn’t want you to succeed your father—Lieutenant Prosper, for example.”

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