Page 116 of Kept

I sip at the harsh amber liquid, taking a smaller sip followed by a bigger gulp. The burning in my throat warms me more than the bath did, and I give him a small smile. “Thanks.”

Maverick kneels in front of me on the floor, so tall he still towers over me.

“Talk to me,” he pleads softly.

“I need to know who I am,” I say after a moment. “But I don’t feel like I’m Aria Cooper.”

There’s no lightning bolt of realization. No sudden overpowering awareness smashing into my heart, releasing memories I never knew I had. I just feel… empty.

“Maybe you don’t feel like Aria,” Maverick suggests gently, “because you’reZella. Finding out who you are does not erase who you have always been, sweetheart. This may change your circumstances, but it doesn’t change you.”

I hold on tight to his words. “I feel like I’m unraveling,” I confess, my voice raw and my heart aching as I look to him. “Like my whole existence has been a footnote in someone else’s story.”

I don’t fight him when he nudges me backwards, curling onto my side. The bed sinks as Maverick climbs on, fitting himself around me. His arm slides around my waist as he holds me to him, and the dam breaks.

The first tear falls, and then another. Another.

Until I feel like my body will break under the force of my sobbing. Maverick doesn’t say anything, steady and sure behind me as I choke on the knowledge that my entire life has been at the whim of someone else.

Finally, I quieten.

“He killed my mother,” I say groggily. Maverick tenses. “Didn’t he?”

It makes sense. If I was taken from my home the night my mother died in a fire, kept away from my family, presumed dead for twenty years… it’s the only thing that makes sense.

I’ve spent my life under the control of my mother’s murderer.

“I think that’s probably the case,” Maverick says carefully. “But we don’t know anything for certain, Zella. There’s a lot to unravel. The most important thing right now is making sure that we’re right about this.”

I close my eyes, breathing in the comforting scent of Maverick from his bedding. His breathing is slow and steady, and it lulls me into comfort I couldn’t find alone in my room.

A thought strikes, and I twist over to face him. His eye cracks open as he glances down at me.

“You said, earlier… about your dad. He set up what you do because of this?”

Maverick’s eyebrows draw down. “He did,” he says softly. “My father and Emerson, they were great friends. Closer than brothers. My mother was close to Maria, too, but died when I was young. Maria was always very good to me.”

My heart constricts at the sorrow in his voice. “How old were you, when the fire happened?”

“Eight.” His eyes find mine. “Ask.”

“Did… did you know her well? Aria, I mean.” I watch as he twists, pulling open a drawer and lifting something out. He hands the frame to me, and I stare at it. Emotion pools in my chest, something tight and uncertain. The little boy, dressed in a crisp white shirt and brown shorts, has a frown on his face, but his body curves protectively over the laughing little girl clinging to him. Her head is thrown back, her face wreathed in delight as she looks up at him.

“She used to drive me mad,” he says quietly with a half-laugh. “Always following me around, chattering and singing and dancing. I used to call her my shadow. And then she wasn’t there anymore, and I suddenly missed her more than I ever thought possible.”

“Maverick,” I whisper. My mouth feels dry, my eyes damp, as I picture a lost little boy without his shadow. “I’m sorry.”

“Whatever comes,” he says softly. “We will make new memories, Zella.”

Picking up my wrist, he presses a kiss to the soft underside. “It doesn’t matter. If you’re Zella, or Aria, or anyone at all. It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re you. And whatever happens… it brought us to you, Zella, and I will never not be grateful.”

He blows out a breath. “We should go down for dinner.”

“Not yet,” I whisper. Wrapping my arm around his waist, I curl myself against him. “Five more minutes.”

45 – Zella

Myeyesflickup,lips pursing in disapproval as Ryder squirms in front of me.

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