Page 70 of Cruel Love
James watched me intently, a look in his eye I’d never seen on himbefore.
Pity.
A heavy silence filled the void between us. Despite James warningme not to ask questions, I couldn’t stop one from falling from my lips.“What about my mom? Is she dead?”
The words broke as they came out. Broken, just like my soul.
“I don’t know,”James replied stoically.“Without a last name to workwith, it’s impossible to find anything. I’ve spent the last few days trying to identify the crash that could have involved your dad, but there are just too many in North Carolina to narrow it down. That’s if he even died there.”
I closed my eyes, my back beginning to burn as the same black holeloomed in my mind, my past lost somewhere in the abyss. A small sob of frustration wanted to escape as I tried to reach into the black hole and grab onto the memories I was so desperate to remember.
But it was no use. The memories were gone.
I opened my eyes again to find James watching me, his brows pulledtogether in worry. For a few minutes, neither of us spoke. His words repeated over and over in my mind until it stopped on something he’d said.
“North Carolina?”I said, a pang of familiarity washing through me.
“Yeah. Cleo thought you might have lived in Charlotte.”
As if the black hole in my mind had just sucked me in, everythingaround me blurred. An invisible vice wrapped around my chest, squeezing my lungs, and making it impossible to breathe. Searing pain flared along the scarred skin on my back as if I was on fire, all the while, one word continued to spin around and around in my head.
Charlotte.
Charlotte.
Charlotte.
“Willow. Breathe,”James’ stern voice penetrated through the thick,black bubble that had surrounded me, his concerned eyes pulling me back into the light.
As the darkness cleared, I realized James was now kneeling in frontof me, both my hands were gripped in his as he squeezed them reassuringly to let me know he was there.
“Are you okay?”he asked, reaching out to swipe a tear away.
I tried to speak, but the words stuck in my throat from the myriad offeelings dominating me. I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath, telling myself that I could do this.
“I…I don’t,”I started, every part of me screaming, telling me to keepmy mouth shut.“I don’t think I lived in Charlotte,”I stammered, and as I said the words, something in my gut told me that what I was about to say was one hundred percent correct.“I think…my nameisCharlotte.”
Chapter 25
James
At least a hundred people loitered at the front of the church, waitingfor my mom’s coffin to arrive. The sad part was, aside from me, and a small handful of the household staff who’d cared for my mom, no one else gave a fuck. They were there for show, sucking up to my father who played his part of the grieving widow.
Of course, the only other person who’d given a fuck about my momwasn’t present. No matter what I’d said to convince my father to let Kiera attend, he wouldn’t permit his daughter to come to the funeral to say her last goodbye.
If I heldeventhe slightest shred of respect for my father, he lost it atthatpoint.
Willow waited by my side, her hand clutched in mine, and herpresence giving me strength I didn’t know I needed, especially when I watched Elijah follow my father around like a little lost puppy, greeting guests with sad eyes.
The man had the audacity to act likehewas the one who’d lost hismom. When he came to live with us, he made my mom’s life impossible, and after she lost her ability to speak, he pretended like she didn’t exist. If I’d had it my way, Elijah wouldn’t have been permitted within a hundred miles of the church, let alone walking by my father’s side.
But my attention was drawn from glowering at Elijah when a barelyaudible gasp came from Willow. I glanced down at her to find her staring through the crowd of people slowly beginning to file into the church, to a figure loitering at the back.
Kevin Welch stared at Willow, his eyes lighting up salaciously, and asmall, devious grin on his lips, despite the environment. I dropped her hand and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her against me as possession streaked through me.
Willow burrowed her head into my side, her small hand restingagainst my chest. I glared at Welch, meeting his eyes and silently conveying a message.
He wouldneverget his hands on my wife.
