Page 110 of Ashes of Saints

I don’t know who I am.

“I came here to tell you,” Parker says, and I frown, confused.

How does he know?

“I’ve had people investigating the people in those tapes. Some we’ve identified. We can go through that when you come out of shock. But I knew you needed to know what we learned about Mary-Anne. About Marianne.”

Not mom.

He didn’t call her mom.

“You knew she took me.”

“We got confirmation this morning. Maddox theorized it, and he was right.” Parker replies, brushing the hair from my face. “Your documents look authentic enough, but when we had an expert look closely, he said they were fake.”

I might be in shock, but I’m clear minded enough to know that what I’m about to say next is going to hurt Parker. We’ve both being processing our own grief and while I’m angry at him for lying and using me, I never want to hurt him.

He deserves to know.

I place a hand on his arm. “Parker, your dad helped her kidnap me.”

“Fuck,” he says, dark anger crossing her eyes as he shakes his head in shame. “Fuck!”

I fall into his chest and we hold one another for what feels like an hour. It might be. I don’t know. I can feel his grief, his pain as he squeezes me harder from moment to moment. His curses.

Maybe even his tears.

I don’t look, giving him the privacy he needs.

Finally, I sit up.

“Who am I Parker?” More tears slide down my cheeks. “Who the hell am I then?”

“You are the woman I love.” His voice is rough as he cups my face. “You are mine.”

I let him hold me as those strong words envelop me, making me feel like I belong somewhere real for the first time in my life.

Parker loves me.

But I’m too scared to trust. Nothing in my life has been real. I was stolen, lied to all my life, and used like a fucking toy.

“You lied to me.” I barely whisper.

His hand slides around the back of my neck and tightens. “I did. I’m sorry. Aurora, I’m going to spend forever making it up to you. If you can forgive me. If you will trust me. If you can love me back.”

I have no idea if I can.

So, I just cry.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

PARKER

I slide the eggs onto the plate and push them across the kitchen counter. “Eat.”

Aurora has lost so much weight.

She picks up the fork and then the knife, pushing the toasted ciabatta and poached eggs around the plate. I top off her coffee and then join her with my breakfast.

---