Page 40 of Saving Saul

She wasn’t just some woman playing mystic for a paycheck. She was something else entirely.

Tessa stiffened beside me, her body coiled with tension, and I instinctively tightened my grip on her waist. I could feel the way her pulse hammered against her skin, her breath shallow and uneven.

But I didn’t take my eyes off the woman.

She wasn’t looking at Tessa anymore—just me.

And then, she spoke.

Not in English. Not even in Twi. But in Gã.

"You cannot keep her with lies, Saul Mensah."

The words lashed across my chest like a whip. My entire body tensed, my jaw locking so tight it ached. The sound of my namein my grandmother’s language, the weight of the words—it was too much, too sudden.

I heard Tessa inhale sharply, but I couldn’t look at her.

"If you love her, tell her the whole truth. No more secrets."

A slow pulse of anger unfurled in my gut. Who the fuck was this woman? How did she know my name? How did she know my past?

I shook my head, my voice rough as I forced the words out. "I can’t."

The woman tilted her head, studying me with an expression that made my stomach turn. It wasn’t pity. It was disappointment. Like she already knew I had made the wrong choice.

She lifted Tessa’s pearls between us, letting the dim light catch on their smooth surface. The sight of them in her hands made something primal twist inside me. Those pearls didn’t belong to her. They belonged to Tessa.

"You killed for love once," she murmured. "Would you lie for it now?"

The words slammed into me, sharp and unrelenting, knocking the breath from my lungs.

Patrick.

His name, his face—his death—came rushing back full force.

I saw it like it was happening all over again. The rage. The clarity. The way his body went still beneath my hands. The way I knew, in that moment, that I would never be free of him.

I did it for justice.

I did it for revenge.

I did it because he would’ve destroyed everything if I hadn’t.

And I would do it again.

But Patrick’s brothers were still out there. Maybe watching and maybe waiting.

If I told Tessa everything, I didn’t just risk losing her—I risked making her a target.

"It’s dangerous," I murmured, my voice barely above a whisper. "For her. For me."

The woman sighed, shaking her head as if I was a foolish child. "You could lose the love you are desperate to keep."

The truth landed in my chest like a stone, heavy and unmoving.

And then, she turned to Tessa.

Her expression shifted and softened. Without another word, she pressed the pearls back into Tessa’s trembling hands.

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