Someone… probably Alex… put an immeasurable amount of work into this. Or someone had Alex and wanted us to think he was dead.
Why?
I looked at Gabe. He was not the same as the man I’d married. There was no doubt in my mind. For the last six months Alex hadn’t been able to hide the evil lurking beneath the surface. He got off on scaring and fighting with me. While Gabe pretended to be Tack, and even now, his only concern had been me.
Why put all the effort into letting us think it was Alex when we already had a body that matched Gabe’s dental records? Were the partials used because that was the only part of Alex that matched Gabe? Alex had to pull his teeth from his mouth and put them in this man’s. Or someone pulled them. I shuddered at the thought.
The elevator ride to our floor was quiet. The tension between Gabe and Trent was palpable and had been since the hospital. While Bennett had said good-night to me, they’d stepped away for a brief conversation.
Gabe unlocked the hotel room door and it clicked open. Mercifully, we were back to my home away from home.
“Night, Trent.”
“Night, Willow.”
Before Trent closed the door, he said, “I think it should be Willow’s choice.”
My eyes darted between the two men as fury rolled over Gabe. “Trent, I’m warning you. Don’t.”
The darkness in Gabe’s voice wasn’t something to mess with, but Trent stood his ground. “I’m here to protect Willow. Finding out the truth protects her.”
Without another word, Trent turned and left. Both men radiated irritation. “What was that about?”
Gabe clenched and unclenched his fists several times as he in his reaction. He was giving nothing away. “Willow, I don’t want to go there. I need to think some things through.”
Now, I was getting irritated. This morning we had bridged the chasm between us. “Gabe… you’re the one constant I have right now. Don’t make me second-guess you. This morning you said our relationship was not about hiding things from each other. Let’s not lose the ground we’ve fought so hard to gain.”
He was silent as he stared into my eyes. The fact that he was debating on telling me something Trent believed I had a right to now had me boiling.
Enough!
If he wanted distance, I’d give it to him. Abruptly, I took my phone out to dial Trent.
“Willow?”
“Is there another room I can stay in?”
If Gabe was able to get more agitated, he managed to do it. He plucked the phone from my hand. “Willow won’t need another room.”
He clicked off the phone.
“You cannot—”
He took a step forward and I stood my ground. “No, you cannot, Willow. There is a fucking lunatic on the loose and you are not changing rooms because of some temper tantrum. I was going to tell you what Trent referenced, but I just needed to think it through.”
There was a knock at the door.
I went to the door as Gabe called my name. I opened it to Trent.
“Everything okay?”
The last thing I wanted was to leave during our argument since Gabe and I were in the process of working through it. Looking over my shoulder, Gabe appeared furious but remained silent.
“Yes. Everything’s fine. I’ll call if I still need the room.”
I shut the door and stormed passed Gabe to my bedroom.
“You’re not staying somewhere else.”
I got in his face. “I don’t need you censoring what I hear. It’s not your place. I’m not your wife, Gabe.”
Wife. I said wife. Oh shit. I hadn’t meant to throw that out there like that. We weren’t ready. The heat of the moment had me word vomiting again.
He turned and combed his fingers through his hair. “For fuck’s sake.” Pacing five agitated steps, he turned and faced me. His eyes were blazing. “You and I both know I would marry you in a heartbeat if I thought you were ready for that next step.”
My fingers knotted nervously with each other. “I know. I don’t know why I said that.”
“What do you want from me, Willow?”
“Honesty,” I said.
He took a step.
“Loyalty.”
He took another step.
“Love.”
He closed the gap with his last step bringing him within inches touching me. The heat from his body penetrated mine.
I finished with one thing I wanted most. “To be yours.”
“I have been honest except for misleading you with Tack.” He cradled my face. “There is no one I am more loyal to, Willow. No one. You’re it for me.” His head dipped down. “I love you so much it hurts.” He pressed his lips against mine and I leaned into him. “You are mine. No one else’s. Ever. Only mine.”
He kissed me again and I deepened it, wanting—no, needing— more. He lifted me off the floor, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. I was in Gabe’s arms. We were each other’s forever. His tongue commanded my mouth as I gave myself to him. My back found the bed and I tightened my grip on him. His desire pressed against my core and I moaned at the slightest bit of friction.
And then he was gone. “Six more fucking days.”
I threw my hand over my eyes. “I want a second opinion. For real. I hate this.”
Gabe’s jaw was clinched tight when I reopened my eyes. “I don’t care if the world is coming to an end, six days from now nothing is keeping me from you. Nothing.”
A tremble resonated through me. “It’d better not.”
Gabe stood across the room and I patted the bed. “I won’t bite. Promise.”
Having him near me and enduring the sweet torture was better than being kept from his touch. Gabe was still tense as he lay beside me. I molded to his side, and he wrapped his arm around me.
“Hell, you make me lose my mind, Willow.”
“We could do something for you?” His head reared back like I was crazy. “There’s no reason for you to suffer, too.”
In a fluid movement I was flipped on my back and his face came within inches of mine. He tasted me, then nipped my lip. “When we come, we come together.”
The intensity was off the charts as Gabe held me in my place.
“But—”
“No but. Together.”
“Together.”
He reversed our positions. We still hadn’t discussed Trent’s comment. I wasn’t going to let it go, but for now I wanted to be in Gabe’s arms.
Without any prompting, Gabe shared. “I was going to talk to you tonight about what Trent was hinting at. I thought it would be best after you rested for a bit. It’s been a long damn day. And you’re still dealing with the DNA news. I get you’re strong, Willow, but I have to protect you at the same time.”
I sat up and looked at Gabe who put his arm behind his head. His muscles caused the shirt to fit snuggly across his biceps. I played with my fingers. “Do you think Alex is alive?”
“Yes.”
I froze and my blood went cold. Hearing someone else confirm my thoughts made what we were dealing with monumentally worse.
“I think Alex wanted me to think he was dead. To him, that will make everyone more vulnerable with him being able to imitate my movements. I’m already working with Trent on how his men can identify me. I’m sure he accessed my dental records and used only the matching teeth. Sometimes twins have identical teeth, too. Alex figured I would have the finger tested and he infused his blood. I don’t know if he or Jack De Luca sent you the note in Italy. Hell, they might be working together. Or Alex may be setting De Luca up. From what we can tell, none of De Luca’s men have followed you or showed any interest.”
“Then why send the finger? Why would Alex risk blowing his cover?”
Gabe dragged a hand down his face. “He’s so fucked in the head, I can’t even begin to imagine what’s going on. I think he was sending the note to draw me out. I was untraceable. Alex has no idea about the skills I’ve acquired since being on a black ops team
. I can blend anywhere. He needed me vulnerable. And through you he drew me out.”
It was true. With Gabe being Tack and the old man, he had blended better than I’d imagined, changing his accent.
My mouth was dry. “What if he slips back in? What if I think he’s you? I need something to identify you. Alex had Gabe’s tattoo. Somehow, he’d known. I can’t go back there. I don’t want our babies near him.” I stopped as my voice became thick.
Alex was a terrible man. I never wanted to be near him again. And now he was alive and playing with our lives like dolls. With all that we had against us, I was terrified someone would slip through the security team. Fear seeped in as all the ramifications hit me. No wonder he had refused to let me go anywhere. Gabe was not letting me out of his sight.
In a fluid motion, Gabe knelt in front of me, grabbed my hips, and pulled me closer to him. I wrapped my legs around him.
“He won’t get near you. Alex was only able to sell his deception because I hadn’t told you I was a twin. He’s a sick bastard.”
“He was sick.”
“Trent said the finger print was also from the crime scene of the Botticelli theft. If it’s not Alex’s, whose is it?”
Gabe closed his eyes before opening them. “Either Alex wasn’t there during the theft and orchestrated it or this person was a third accomplice. Smudges are hard to isolate if you don’t have an example. If Alex killed this guy, he might have placed the papers in your house on purpose. I don’t know.”
I closed my eyes. Living with Alex had been a nightmare from beginning to end. Every day had been misery. When Alex died, I had truly mourned Gabe.
I nuzzled into the crook of his neck. “What do we do now?”
“We have two options. Wait for him to make his move or force him to make his move.”
I wanted it over. This was probably what Trent was referencing. Gabe had needed his time to work out how to tell me. “How do we force him to make his move?”
“Go after the only two things Alex holds dear.”
My hand went to my stomach as I leaned back, only putting a little space between us. “His child.”
“Yes… and our mother.”
I remembered the picture Mildred gave me in a stack of papers she found. I had found it while Carson and I had been at Martha’s Vineyard, which led to my night of drinking. I hadn’t known for sure I was pregnant then but would forever regret getting so drunk. In the picture, Alex looked like he genuinely loved his son as he held him. But still… this was a child we were discussing.
“Gabe, I can’t bring an innocent child into this. We can’t lower ourselves because of Alex.”
“Sweetheart, I would never hurt a child. I want to emotionally hit Alex. It will throw him off guard. Once, I stood up to Mom. I had her pinned against the wall the last time she beat me. Alex lost it. Completely lost it and crumbled. All rational thought left him. Alex is watching us. I know it. And he will know we visited his kid.”
Gabe put his hand over my stomach. “I would never put you in danger.”
But we were already in danger. I knew this. Gabe knew this. Trent, too. It was why Trent had pushed Gabe to tell me sooner rather than later. “I know you wouldn’t. I’m sure that’s why you want to think through Trent’s suggestion. But, Gabe, I want out of this nightmare. If we did see Alex Junior, what would your brother do?”
“I think he’ll go to my mom. We haven’t put any men on Mom’s house yet. If we do and Alex sees we’ve caught on, he might go deeper. It’s going to piss them off when I turn this game around on them.” If Gabe’s mother was as attached to Alex as it sounded, she was not going to like us messing with her favorite son.
“What can I do?”
The wrinkles came back full force. “I’m trying to think of an alternative. That’s why I wanted to wait so that you’re not involved.”
“What does Trent want me to do?” My mind was trying to think of what I would be able to do.
“Offer to teach art lessons at Apple Blossom. It’ll give you one-on-one time with his kid.”
To Trent’s credit, it was a brilliant idea. It would be easy to check my credentials. Technically, my marriage to Alex was a fraud and there wasn’t any record. I imagined that whoever married us in Vegas probably wasn’t a true officiant but part of this elaborate scheme. I pushed the trepidation aside and found the courage to move forward.
“Let’s set it up. The sooner the better.”
It felt good to head to my house around lunch. This morning I had visited Dr. Jamiston. He echoed everything Dr. Byrum had stated. No sex for five more days to be safe. The risk had been mitigated, but due to continued distress, they wanted to play it safe rather than sorry. It was going to be torture. Luckily, I had been able to keep all my thoughts to myself.
This morning we saw the heartbeats again. It was something I would never tire of. All of my blood work came back normal. In a week, I would be cleared as long as I kept my activities within reason, rested, and nothing concerning happened. I felt completely fine.
A few houses sporadically stood on the beach like small castles commanding their kingdom. My house was toward the end.
At least my body was healing nicely and the yellow bruises had faded a little more. Each day was a step forward even if it felt the opposite.
Carson was still stable. After the doctor visit, we had stopped by. No change was a good thing at this point. It been over twenty-four hours since life support had been removed. The doctors were optimistic that he would wake up any day now.
Gabe had asked if I wanted to come home while the doctors ran some additional tests on Carson. Seeing Carson was going have a busy day of tests, I said yes.
Plus, I needed to come home. Being there helped ground me.
I thought back to last night Trent came to the room after the discussion.
Trent opened the door and walked into the room. There was still some tension between the two men.
I took a seat at the table. “Gabe told me about your idea regarding Apple Blossom. I think it makes sense. What do we do next?”
Trent sat with me. “You should call to see if you can come as a guest teacher. Quite frequently they have guests as part of their curriculum. I’ve already had you and myself cleared with the standard school background checks. Under the premise of me being your assistant, I got the ball rolling. I’ve started the clearing process for Gabe, too. I expect to get the all clear any day.”
“Wait. When did you start this?”
Scrubbing a hand down his face, Trent looked exhausted. “I started this as a contingency plan the day of your art show in case we needed to explore that option with Harley being a suspect. Apple Blossom was one of the few leads we had. I planned to discuss it, but with the accident I hadn’t thought about it. I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner.”
“I’m glad you had the foresight to be prepared for this possibility.” Soon, I would be meeting Alex’s son.
Gabe sat stiffly beside me as we turned right onto a road only five minutes from home. I placed my hand on his knee. “It’s going to be okay.”
“I haven’t seen Mildred or Chris since before I was deployed. They spent the last six months thinking I was a terrible person.”
I squeezed his knee and waited for him to look at me. Sometimes I forgot what Gabe was going through. To have someone usurp your life and turn it upside down had to be… I wasn’t sure there were words to describe it. The one thing I loved about my adopted family is they loved without limits.
“They’ll understand. All they want is for me to be happy.”
“That’s all I want.” His gaze moved back to the road as we approached the turn to my house.
I leaned over and gave him a light kiss while placing my hand against his scruff. “I like it when you don’t shave every day.”
He smiled against my lips. “Thanks, sweetheart.”
Since yesterday, I wanted to be near Gabe more than ever. Last night, he’d slept on the
couch again. I had tossed and turned for hours on end, wanting him to be there with me.
“Did you sleep okay?”
I shrugged. “Off and on. Lots on my mind.”
He pressed his lips to the top of my head. “We’ll make it an early night if that sounds good.”
“It does.” We weren’t staying the night. There were still a few minor tweaks to security needed.
The familiar Tuscan-styled house in the Hamptons came into view with the expansive lawn. I still pictured Dad on the front porch waiting for me to come home. It was something I looked forward to—knowing how much he loved having me here. A small pang hit me, but it was lessened having Gabe with me. For the first time since Dad died, the loneliness wasn’t trying to consume me.
I took a deep breath as I saw the ocean crashing onto the shore behind the house. It was magnificent. I was ready to paint again. The hotel wasn’t a good place. I needed my space to create the images that loomed beneath the surface. The car parked at the front door.
Chris and Mildred came out, speaking over each other. “It’s so good to have you home, Willow. We missed you so much.”
My voice was bubbly. “It’s good to be home.”
Simultaneously, I was engulfed in a hug. It wasn’t until Chris stepped back that Mildred released me. His eyes darted to Gabe but then came back to me. His smile only slipped for a second while his gray hair rustled in the light breeze.
From Chris’s text earlier today, I knew Chris was technically off today, but came to see me. It was touching beyond measure.
Mildred took me by the shoulders. “You look good.” Her eyes glanced back to Gabe nervously. “Are you good?”
“I’m good. I have him back.”
Tears formed in her eyes. Bennett had told Mildred and Chris about Gabe prior to visiting Carson in the hospital. In all the pandemonium, I hadn’t thought about it. But now, I knew I should have been the one. They had been affected by Alex’s hatefulness.
Black Truth (A Twisted Fate Series Book 2) Page 9
