Page 135 of Stolen Omega

“Fuck. You told her about Zelena?”

“It wasn’t a smart move. Maybe if she’d heard her sing … I don’t know. It was rough, and maybe I shouldn’t have tried to tell her, but I figured it was good news. Anyway, I walked past the house every week, and one morning maybe three months later, all of Zoey’s things were on the kerb in boxes, waiting to be hauled away as trash, and there was a For Sale sign up in the yard. I took all of Zoey’s stuff. I didn’t want it to be destroyed.”

“I think it’s been helping her to remember.”

“Which is way better than telling her the truth and expecting her to believe it.”

“Yeah, I get why now.”

Zoey’s mom was always so nice to us. It probably hurt her to have to tell Zane to leave her alone.

She must have thought she was doing him a favor, helping him to let go.

I can’t even imagine how she’ll react once Zoey’s memories are back, and she wants to meet her real parents. So many years have passed, and they’ve worked so hard to accept that their daughter’s gone.

I look back at her sleeping form on the bed, and it feels like she’s a miracle made flesh.

I know it isn’t the same for her, and that’s kind of hard to deal with.

She had a life before Zane brought her here. She was doing well.

He kidnapped her, and no matter what his intentions were, he’s unraveling the life she knew.

That’s not going to be easy to get past.

I hope she can find it in her heart to forgive him.

Chapter Fifty-One

Zelena

My name is not Zelena Ortega. It’s Zoey Rodriguez. I’m not the daughter of a rich businessman and his cold-hearted wife. I’m the daughter of a beat cop and a clerical worker.

My childhood wasn’t spent being home-tutored by the best of the best in a strange, huge house in the middle of the woods. It was spent in a small town, with other kids my own age at school and two best friends in my neighborhood who I knew would be by my side forever.

Then, I was kidnapped in the middle of the night by strangers, and I don’t really know what happened after that, but I forgot about my past as if it never happened.

Zoey was gone. Zelena was born.

I don’t know why. It doesn’t make sense.

If those people who claim to be my parents wanted a kid, why wouldn’t they kidnap a baby?

Why take an older kid? Why risk them remembering things that could unravel their lie?

These questions are haunting me when I wake from dreams that are full of flashes of memory.

I know who I am now. That’s what’s important.

Sitting up on the bed, I jerk back when I see I’m not alone in the room. My hand goes to my chest, and my heart starts to race.

“It’s okay,” Dale tells me, his voice soft.

I stare at him. It takes a second to really see him, he’s changed so much as he’s grown up.

“You’re really here,” I murmur.

His eyes are a striking amber color that look gold in the right light, and he has the sweetest, uncertain little smile that’s never changed, even if his face is more angular now.

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