CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
PARKER
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“S ir?” Durran asks from the driver’s seat.
I nod but don’t answer. I’ve been sitting outside Aurora’s building for almost thirty minutes.
What Maddox helped me unearth, using her DNA and information about her mother, has shocked me.
It is going to completely destroy Aurora.
I don’t know if she’ll be able to come back from this, but I’m going to do all I can to help her.
What a fucking mess.
While trying to deal with my own emotional reaction to discovering these tapes, I’ve felt a gaping big hole in my life. One that was only filled for a short time by the little girl with stunning green eyes.
I’m so fucking in love with her.
I miss her.
She’s not a little girl anymore. Aurora is a talented artist, a sexual woman, a smart and sassy friend. A snuggler, lover of scrambled eggs, and not a fan of sex clubs.
Even if she tried.
Being apart from her has been painful. The need to hold her in my arms and comfort her has been extremely difficult while knowing she’s hurting.
She’s ignored my messages, but the time has come for me to speak to her in person. Until I had the information, I stayed away, but I can’t keep this from her any longer.
I know she’s angry at me for not telling her who I was—that little boy—and that I betrayed her.
She’s right. I used her.
My plan was to gain her trust, get into her mother’s home, get the information, then leave her in pieces.
Instead, we went on dates and walks in the park. I introduced her to the guys and took her to the club. I stayed over and woke with her in my arms night after night.
I punched my best friend.
I’ve lied to myself as much as Aurora. I’ve fallen in love with the emerald-eyed, sexy little thing and there’s not much I can do about that.
Whether she can love me back is the question.
The responsibility for all this pain lays with Mary-Anne Whitlock, but our three lives have always been intertwined.
The nightmares, the pain, the deceit.
Aurora doesn’t know the entire story yet.
She will when I can force myself out of the car and upstairs to her penthouse. Then all I can hope is that she lets me help her through it, and together we can find a way to accept one another.
If she feels the same way about me.
And can forgive me.
“Okay,” I say. Durran and Eric turn, waiting for instruction. “Give me thirty minutes. If I don’t come down, you can head off.”
“Got it,” Eric says.
I climb out of the car and dart inside the building out of the rain. I straighten my jacket and stride toward her private elevator. Then press the button and hope she’s home.
The door opens immediately, surprising me. A woman walks out looking pale and emotional. She startles when she sees me.
Wait a minute. Do I know her?
“Parker Stone.” The woman shakes her head.
My protectiveness goes into overdrive. I step in front of her and glower down at her. “Who are you?”
She doesn’t answer.
“I said, who are you?” I demand.
“Please step back,” she says, flustered but not scared.
She should be.
I do as she says, otherwise I’ll be arrested, but I take in the details of this woman so I can remember should I need. She looks reasonably wealthy—nowhere near my wealth—and...
A light bulb in my head goes off. “You were at the funeral.”
“Yes, I was a friend of Aurora’s mother.”
“Why are you here?”
“I will let her tell you. If she wants. You should go to her.” Her smile is sad. “Now, if you will excuse me.”
I stand on the spot while she steps around me and walks through the lobby.
You should go to her.
I’ll find her again if necessary. The cameras in the building have captured her image.
I’ve kept my hand in the elevator the entire time, so I step in and punch the close door button, eager to get to Aurora.
The time for secrets and lies is over.
When the doors open, the entrance is empty, as I expected. I never buzzed, so she doesn’t know I’m here.
“Aurora,” I say as softly as I can in my deep voice.
When there’s no reply, I take a few more steps and, turning the corner, I find her sitting on the sofa with her back to me, staring out the tall windows.
Fuck.
“Sweetheart.” I walk with more purpose around the sofa.
Still, she doesn’t acknowledge me.
Fuck, is she in shock?
Crouching before her, I place a hand on her knee. Slowly, her gaze slides to me. I’m almost knocked backward when those green globes full of fear and heartache lock with mine.
I reach and cup her face.
“Aurora, I think you’re in shock.” My thumb rubs over her soft skin. “Can you talk?”
A tear spills over the other cheekbone.
Shit.
“I’m here,” I say, moving to sit on the sofa and pulling her into my arms. Like a rag doll, she lets me and her hand flops onto my chest. “I’m here.”
Running a hand over her hair, I wonder what the fuck that woman said to her. I contain as much fury as I can while trying to soothe her.
Then, she takes me by surprise.
“I was taken.” Aurora finally says.
My eyes press closed as the pain flares again.
She knows.
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AURORA
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“I know, sweetheart . That’s why I’m here,” Parker says.
Of course it is.
Not because he wants me. I never thought he did. He either returns for more information or to tell me some more shocking news. Diane beat him to it.
The world around me comes back into focus, so I lift my face and start moving out of his arms. I can’t give any more of myself to anyone who doesn’t love me.
My mother stole me.
I was trafficked, and she fucking stole me from my real mother. My real father. My family.
Everything about my life is a fucking lie. My name. My birthday. My...everything.
She stole me and kept me as her little doll inside her house. That’s why I was homeschooled. That’s why I was never allowed to play with other kids.
I suppose by the time I was old enough to go to college Marianne—her real name—figured it was safe and that my false identity wasn’t a threat to her.
Or didn’t care.
She’d had her baby, and now I was an adult that she apparently was irritated by.
Diane’s words float back to me. She couldn’t have children and told me that one day she was in a grocery store then spotted you. She wanted you and phoned a man who helped her to kidnap you.
David Stone.
Parker’s father.
Diane had kept talking while I sat stunned, just staring at her.
I don’t know much more than that. I suppose your mother felt she needed to confess to someone as she got older. I nearly went to the police, but I watched you one day and knew that it would destroy your life.
She loved you. You were happy.
Then Diane had left.
“Stay.” Parker tightens his arms around me. “You’re in shock.”
“I’m fine, you can go.” I push his arm.
I need to go. Get away from him. Run from everyone and everything. This house. My mother’s memories.
I start shaking violently, but feel numb.
“I’m not going anywhere, Aurora.” His voice is thick with emotion. I can’t look away from his beautiful face.
God, I’ve missed him so much.
I want to throw myself into his arms. I want to scream at the unfairness of what has happened to me.
I hate him and...I can’t. I can’t let myself feel the rest.
My life isn’t even mine.
I’m no one.
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.