“I have to get out of here.” Her words are barely audible against my chest.
“I’m taking you to the hospital.” I say, sliding her bag off of her shoulder and onto mine.
“No, you can’t. He will find me there.” She mumbles, her consciousness slipping.
“Who will find you Allie? Who did this?” I ask again, desperate to know the answer.
She whispers something but I can’t make out her words. Lowering my head down, I ask her again.
“Allie who did this to you?”
Her whispered word is one the instantly paralyzes me.
“Ryan.” She barely gets the name out before she goes slack in my arms.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Luke
Carrying Allie inside of my Santa Monica beach house, I turn to lock the door and arm the alarm the moment I step into the foyer. I am still not convinced that Ryan is the one responsible for this but I am not willing to take any chances where her safety is concerned. I need to make sure he can’t just walk in without me at least being alerted the moment he does.
She stirs slightly in my arms as I cross the space, her eyes flickering open and closed as I carry her up the stairs to the bathroom. Pushing my way inside the large space, I gently set her on top of the counter before guiding her into a sitting position.
Even with her eyes open she doesn’t seem alert and appears to be unable to support her own body as she sways slightly when I release her. Setting her duffel bag next to her, I tilt her head up so that she is forced to look at me.
“I know you’re tired.” I speak softly, trying to be as soothing as possible. “But I need to look at you.” I say, getting a glossy eyed nod from her in return.
Grabbing the hem of her tattered dress, I work it up over her hips before sliding it over her head. She groans softly in pain but does her best to hold herself upright. Sitting in front of me in nothing more than a pair of black panties, I breathe a sigh of relief when I realize that the majority of her injuries I’ve already seen.
She has dark bruises up and down both of her arms but otherwise seems in pretty good shape considering. She has dark markings around her ankles and her wrists are lined with severe rope burn, her flesh torn away, a clear sign that whoever did this to her had her tied up.
“Can you sit here by yourself?” I ask, tipping her face back up when her head droops down slightly.
She nods, dryly licking her cracked swollen lip.
“I’m going to run you a bath and then I will get you something to drink.” I say, turning away from her to cross the room to the bathtub.
Turning on the facet, I find a comfortable temperature before adding a lavender bubble cream.
When I turn back towards her, she seems so disoriented and weak; the sight of her fragile bruised body makes it difficult for me to keep my anger contained. And while I desperately want to get to the bottom of this, I know right now I need to give her time.
At this point I have only two things to go on; one, Allie Reynolds is not the girl sitting in front of me and two, according to her my brother is the one who did this to her, I just haven’t figured out why. It’s hard to piece together a puzzle when you have so many missing pieces.
Crossing back towards the counter, I lift Allie up and set her gently to her feet. When my hands drop to the waistband of her panties she immediately jumps.
“I’m just helping you get into the tub. I won’t even look, I promise.” I say, giving her a reassuring smile.
I hold eye contact with her as she steps out of her panties one leg at a time, her hands gripping my biceps for support. Once she is completely naked I guide her towards the large garden tub, offering her my hand for balance as she steps in, her legs clearly very weak.
She cringes when the warm water and suds engulf her body, the contact clearly painful on her still fresh wounds.
“I am going to give you some privacy.” I say, slowly starting to back out of the room.
“Luke.” Her weak voice finally breaks the surface. “Will you stay with me?” She turns her head to the side, her glossy tear filled eyes enough to gut me right here on the fucking spot.
“I’m not going anywhere, I promise. Let me just run downstairs and get you water and a little something to eat.” I say, waiting until she gives me a weak nod before exiting the room.
In the time it takes me to make Allie a sandwich and cut her a couple pieces of fresh fruit, she is already out of the tub when I get back upstairs. Tied in the bath towel I set out for her, she is curled up in the fetal position in the middle of my bed clutching a pillow.
“Allie?” I approach slowly, not wanting to startle her.
I get no response and when I finally reach the bed it’s clear to see why. She is passed out cold, her breathing even, her wet hair spread out on the bed behind her. I can’t help the warm feeling that floods through me at the sight of her here, in my home, in my bed.
Setting the food and bottle of water down on the nightstand, I quietly back out of the room, flipping off the light before pulling the door closed behind me.
****
“You’re up.” I look up from my laptop just in time to see Allie enter the room, now dressed in a white tank top and black yoga pants.
Glancing to the clock, I see that it is just after three in the morning. I hadn’t realized it was so late.
“Thank you for the food.” She says, nervously tugging at the hem of her tank top as she stands in the doorway.
“I was worried it wouldn’t be any good.” I say, considering it’s been sitting up there for over a couple of hours.
“It was perfect. Thank you.”
“Do you feel any better?” I ask, closing my laptop before sliding it onto the coffee table in front of me.
“I do, thank you.” She says, crossing the space towards me.
Opting to sit in the oversized chair across from me rather than joining me on the couch, she pulls her knees up to her chest and hugs them tightly against herself.
“What were you doing at my apartment?” She speaks again before I have a chance to, for the first time since entering the room looking at me head on.
She is still swollen and bruised but looks a hundred times better than she did a few hours ago.
“When you didn’t show up for work Monday I went to the Regency to look for you. Needless to say I found out you didn’t actually live there. I had my security team track down your actual address.”
“I’m sorry.” She immediately apologizes. “I never meant to involve you in any of this.”
“In any of what Allie, or is that even your name?” I ask, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees.
“No.” She sighs, breaking eye contact to look down.
“I think I deserve the truth.” I say, my comment bringing her gaze back up to mine. “Don’t you?”
“You won’t understand.” She says, tears immediately pooling in her eyes.
“Try me.” I challenge. “Tell me who you really are.”
“My name...” She fidgets nervously, crossing and uncrossing her feet as she sits curled in the chair.
“My name.” She takes a deep breath. “Is Samantha Cole.”
“Samantha Cole...” I let the name linger on my lips, knowing I have heard it somewhere before.
Before I can comment, she continues.
“My older brother was Sean Cole.” She says, the familiarity of her name now ringing loudly through my ears.
That’s where I’ve heard it before.
“Wait, so you’re brother...” I start, but she cuts me off.
“Was the one who died in the car accident caused by Ryan.” She confirms, her voice weak and shaky. “Allie Reynolds was a twenty-two year graduate of Stanford that died a couple of years ago. When I moved to L.A. I needed a new identity so I chose one that I knew would allow me to secure employment with ScoTech. She had the right qualifications and was close enough to the same age that no one would question
it. Her family all lives in Wyoming so I knew I could get away with it.” She takes a long pause.
“As I said, my name is Samantha; my family always called me Sam. I grew up outside of Boise Idaho. I am nineteen years old. I have never attended college. I have never worked anywhere outside of ScoTech. I basically lied about every aspect of who I am.” She stops, hitting me with a worried expression.
“So none of it was true?” I ask, struggling through the fog that seems to be forming around me.
“It was with you.” She says weakly. “I may have lied about my name, where I live, my education, but I never lied to you about who I really am. You saw me, really saw me. For the first time in my entire life I didn’t feel like I needed to hide me. I know this makes no sense but I need you to understand that above anything. You gave me peace Luke, even if it was for just a short piece of time, and for that I will be eternally grateful.” She swipes at a stray tear that manages to escape her eye.
I stay rooted to the spot, forcing myself not to run to her aid. I feel betrayed and honestly, really fucking daft, but at the same time I can’t deny how deeply my feelings run for this girl, no matter what she’s lied about.
“I don’t understand though. Why did you come here in the first place? Why lie about who you are? What’s your end game?” I ask, knowing she is only giving me a very small portion of the whole story.
“To understand the present, you have to first know the past. The night Sean died, my entire world fell apart. My parents didn’t know how to cope, nothing made sense anymore. Two years passed in a fog of grief. When I was thirteen I found my mother dead of a drug overdose.” She pauses, trying to calm the flow of tears now streaming down her face.
When I make a move to stand she holds her hand up, gesturing for me not to. The pain suddenly surging through me is enough to bring me to my knees. Having lost a mother, having watched her take her last breath as I held her hand, I know there is no greater pain.
“She hadn’t been the same since Sean died.” She fights through her emotion. “When I found her, I remember holding her against me, screaming at God to give her back, but she was gone. And while I was blinded by shock and pain, a small part of me felt relief; relief that she was at peace, relief that she would no longer have to mourn the loss of her son, relief that I would no longer have to see her in pain.”
“I’m so sorry.” The words barely make it past my lips.
“Things only got worse after Mom. My dad didn’t know how to function without her. He tried for my sake but I knew he was giving up a little more every day. He stopped taking care of himself, he just stopped caring. He died less than four years later of a heart attack. I was seventeen.” She wipes her cheeks with the back of her hand, trying to clear the fallen tears.
“At seventeen, you can’t imagine the amount of pain and rage that had brewed inside of me over the years. Every time I would close my eyes I would see my mother’s limp lifeless body, I would see my father lying on the hospital table, his lips tinted blue. And you know who I blamed for all of it?” She asks, finally meeting my gaze straight on.
“Ryan.” I say his name aloud.
“Ryan.” She confirms. “It ate at me that my entire family crumbled and he walked away from the entire incident with a slap on the wrist. For years I watched his happy carefree life take flight while I was forced to endure the deepest depths of hell every day. After I lost my dad, something snapped. I knew the only way I would ever feel peace would be to make him pay the way he should have all those years ago.” She pauses, letting out a slow controlled exhale.
“I never planned to physically hurt him; I could never hurt someone like that. But I knew a man like Ryan was bound to have some dirt lying around and I set out to find it. I wanted to ruin him. I wanted to drag his name through the mud and show the world what a spineless selfish man he is. I wanted to make him feel even an ounce of the pain he had caused me. That’s why I applied for ScoTech. That’s why I changed my identity. Because I knew I would never get anywhere close to him the moment he realized who I was.”
“But then I learned the truth.” She tries to control the quiver of her lip as she speaks. “That Ryan Scott is so much more than the spoiled rich playboy I had him pegged as.”
“What do you mean?” I question when she abruptly stops.
“Ryan...” She stutters over the name. “Your brother.” Another long pause. “He’s a murderer.” She says, the accusation causing me to suck in a sharp breath.
“What?” I question, my knee jerk reaction is to not believe her.
“Why do you think he did this to me?” Her voice goes up an octave as she pushes her legs to the floor and gestures to herself. “Why do you think he beat me and tied me up on his yacht?”
“How long?” I ask the question, not sure that I want to know the answer. When she hits me with a confused look I clarify. “How long did he have you there?”
“What day is today?” She asks.
“It’s Tuesday.” I answer.
“Tuesday.” She seems surprised by my answer. “Saturday night.” She shakes her head like she can’t quite wrap her mind around it.
“He’s had you on the yacht since Saturday?” I ask in disbelief.
Nodding, she continues. “He beat me, he molested me, and he planned to kill me.” Her voice is almost hysterical at this point and it’s clear by the fear etched so perfectly across her face that she is telling the truth.
“It’s because I found out the truth. He killed Sarah Trammell.” She says. “He raped her and then when she threatened to expose him he killed her and made it look like an accidental overdose. My brother started piecing it together and when he got too close to the truth, Ryan tried to kill him too. Only Sean realized it and tried to fight Ryan. That’s what caused the car crash that killed my brother; he was fighting back.” Her tears are back but this time they are more of anger than of pain.
“He couldn’t...” I shake my head, pushing into a stand. “He wouldn’t.” I try to rationalize the situation.
“He did.” She says so calmly that an immediate silence falls over the room.
“Then why have you not called the police? Why is he not behind bars right now?” I ask, none of this making much sense.
“Because I have no proof. I learned the truth because he told me. Of course, this was only after he had me in his grasp. He told me everything and I know he did so because he wanted me to die knowing that he won.”
“But what he did to you, you have proof of that.” I gesture to her face.
“But do I?” She questions. “He’s cleared the yacht by now, there’s likely no sign that I was ever there. At this point it would be my word against his. Sure maybe they would arrest him, throw him in jail for the night, but then what happens tomorrow when they are forced to release him because they don’t have enough to hold him? No, I can’t involve the police, not yet, not until I have the proof I need.”
Several moments pass as I stand frozen staring back at Samantha, a girl I only just met and yet deep down feel like I truly know. She wouldn’t lie about this.
“New York.” I start, but she doesn’t let me get any further.
“Were the best two days of my life.” She says, slowly pushing into a stand, her tired body not able to move too abruptly.
“I never wanted Ryan, only to get close enough to find his weakness. Every moment I spent with him was torture, especially after New York. My mind knew I had to keep going, I had to see my plan through. But not a moment went by that I didn’t think of you, that I didn’t wish things were different. I never anticipated feeling this way about someone, especially the brother of the man I was trying to destroy.” She walks slowly towards me.
“You have to believe me Luke. I never meant to pull you into all of this. It just happened and I couldn’t stop it.”
“Did you sleep with him?” The words leave my lips just as she stops a couple of feet in front of me.
“No.” She answers, the resp
onse causing relief to flood through me. “I just needed him to believe I would.”
“Where is Ryan now?” I ask, finally coming back to the current situation at hand.
“Probably out looking for me.” She shudders at the thought.
“Don’t worry.” I say, immediately reaching for her and pulling her into my arms. “I promise you, I won’t let him hurt you.” I say, kissing the top of her head. “You’re safe here. When I’m done with my brother, he won’t be able to ever hurt you again.”
“Don’t go after Ryan.” She says, stepping back to look up at me, her bruised face a gut wrenching reminder of what my brother did to her.
“I can’t just let him get away with this.” I can feel the anger bubbling in my throat.
“And he won’t.” She gives me a weak smile. “I just need some time. If he tries to contact you, he needs to think everything is completely normal. You can’t lead on like anything is wrong, otherwise he will know something is up. Please.” She reaches up, trailing her hand lightly down the side of my face.
“For you.” I answer, not able to resist the urge to lean down and brush my lips lightly against hers, careful not to put too much pressure on her injured lip.
“Thank you.” She breathes when I rest my forehead gently against hers. “You know the thing I was the most afraid of through this whole ordeal was not failing or even dying for that matter; it was the thought of losing you that scared me the most.”
“You’re not going to lose me Samantha.” I reassure her, seeing the way her eyes immediately glaze over.
“Say it again.” She gives me a tear filled smile.
“You aren’t going to lose me.” I repeat, not able to fight my own smile.
“No, my name.” She sniffs.
“Samantha.” I say, pulling her back into my arms.
Chapter
Thirty
Samantha
“You okay?” Luke slips in behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, securing my back against his chest.
“Better.” I hum when he places a feather light kiss to the side of my neck. “It’s incredible here.” I gesture out towards the ocean, the view from the outdoor balcony simply breathtaking.
Beyond Love Lies Deceit Page 16
