31. Interrogation
INTERROGATION
BEAR
I lay back on the bed. I’ve been upgraded from an interrogation room to a bedroom.
Of course, the bedroom has locks on the door and no windows.
I can’t complain, though. They’re at least assuring me that Olivia is safe and they’re also trying to prove that I am Bear.
Honest to God, I’m starting to worry that I am insane.
My face looks nothing like me. The truth of that was a hard shot to my soul and shook my foundations.
Apparently, I’m this fucking Lake that everyone is talking about.
He was heavily wounded and washed up on the shores of Lake Norris.
The Carson brothers’ foundation paid for his extensive medical procedures.
Unfortunately, the person they found was so severely beaten and tortured that photos don’t really scream it was me.
I have to know. In my heart, I feel I’m Bear.
My memories are all intact. Yet I’ve been living two years as this Lake person.
Worse than that is the fact that I don’t even remember life as Lake.
Truthfully, I assumed I’ve been around for two years, but the only memories I have started six months ago—when I first caught a glimpse of Olivia.
Christ it’s a mess.
There’s a knock on the door and Blade comes in. Honestly, I was hoping it was Cross or Sasa—hell even Carson or Colt. They at least talk to me without acting like they want to gut me like a fish.
“I already let them draw the blood, brother dear. You come back to call me a liar to my face again?”
“Livy is demanding to see you.”
My heart slams against my chest over and over. God, the need to see her is so huge that if I were standing it would bring me to my knees. “Have you already poisoned her against me? Told her I was lying and some psycho stalker?”
“You could be,” Blade says, the bastard.
We’re brothers, but I told him shit that no one but the two of us shared, and he still wouldn’t even try to believe in me.
If the roles were reversed, I’d be different.
I know I don’t look like Bear, but I can’t make up the past shared by only two people.
I shake my head and bite my tongue. I don’t want to piss him off more. He may keep Olivia away from me.
“He just told me the truth,” Livy says, walking into the room. I turn to the door and drink her in like a starving man and she’s the only sustenance.
“Luke … Bear … Honestly, I’m not sure what to call you,” she stutters, as she continues to walk into the room.
I want to go to her immediately, but I don’t.
I watch as she sits down in a chair across from me.
Her eyes are swollen. You can tell she’s been crying.
She looks pale and she’s definitely lost weight.
My heart hurts in my chest, because I feel responsible for the pain she’s wearing like it has been woven into her skin.
“I’ve missed you, Livy,” I say my voice gruff.
“I’ve missed you, too,” she admits. “Both of you really, which sounds super weird. “I’m not really sure what to think right now.”
“Trust me, I understand that. Believe it or not, I’m sorry. I know that sounds lame, Livy, but it’s true. I don’t want to cause you more pain. I just can’t handle being without you anymore either.”
“If you’re truly Bear, why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why hide, while watching my house? Why just why?” she asks.
“I wish I had an easy answer to that,” I admit, exhaling in frustration.
“In my brain, which I’m starting to worry about, I was only waiting until I could find your brother.
If I could take him out, it would keep you out of danger.
That was my main goal. I knew if he was watching you, and I came back into your life, he would go after you again.
I couldn’t let that happen again. I just couldn’t. ”
“Douglas is dead,” she says, her voice flat.
“Well, I know that now. They told me that all of the Feral MC is gone now. I didn’t know that before though. Apparently, I didn’t know much of anything.”
“I’d like to ask you some questions. I really need you to answer them honestly,” she whispers, and I hate the way her hands are trembling.
“You can ask me anything. You always could. Can I ask you stuff?”
“Of course,” she answers.
“So, you’re saying we can play twenty questions, just like we used to when we first started talking.”
Her eyes dilate for a moment, surprise on her face. Olivia tries to temper it, but I see the spark of hope flare on her face. She can’t hide it.
“I get first question,” she announces.
“You always demanded I ask the first question in the past,” I respond with a frown. Olivia smiles a little and that small flame of hope flickers again.
“Today’s different,” she counters.
“Okay, hit me,” I reply.
“First question,” she says like she’s an attorney in court instead of the woman who owns my soul. It doesn’t sit right with me, but I don’t argue. “When we were locked up, what did we do every night when we were finally alone in that cage?”
“Well, I would hold you if I was physically able. You would you lay your head on my chest, listening to my heart beating. You said it helped you keep the panic away.”
She nods.
“My turn,” I reply.
“Okay.”
“Why didn’t you touch all the money I left for you?”
“I did some of it,” she says and again that spark gets stronger. Her hands tighten into fists, and I fight a smile. I’m going to get through to you Olivia. “I didn’t need a lot. It felt wrong to spend any of it without you. Now tell me, what did we talk about at night?” she asks.
“We’d lay in the dark and talked about our dreams. She frowns. I was vague on purpose to watch her response. The disappointment in her eyes is too much, so I continue. A ranch is a long way from an island and enjoying the sea breeze, Liv.”
“Oh, God,” she whispers tears gathering in her eyes.
“I have a question now, and I know this one may hurt you, but I really need to know.”
She swallows, her lips trembling so bad that she doesn’t answer. Instead, Olivia nods her head.
“Livy, where’s our baby?”
I don’t take my eyes from her. I hear the intakes of breath and cursing around us, but my eyes don’t leave Olivia’s.
I know I’m a dick for asking in front of everyone, but that’s truly the one question I need the answer to the most. I see the exact moment when she loses control.
Tears pour from her eyes like small streams, running down her face unchecked.
I weigh on if I should go to her, but she solves that problem by running to me.
I open my arms before she gets there and hold her so close that I’m worried I’m making it hard for her to breathe.
“It’s you,” she says so softly I have to strain to hear it.
Her voice is thick and muffled from her crying, but she’s never sounded sweeter. “It’s you”
I hold her hair in my hand, moving her head, so that I can claim her lips.
I kiss the salty wetness, my tongue sliding into her mouth and kissing her with all the love that I’ve had bottled up inside of me.
“Livy,” I mumble against her lips, kissing her face, trying to kiss away her tears. “What happened to our baby?”
“He took our baby, just like he tried to take you from me,” she admits, sobbing in my arms. I couldn’t protect our baby. I let you both down.”
I pull her head back so she can look at me. “Bull shit. You’re the only reason I held on. You’re why I survived. I’m here now. I came back. I’m not going anywhere. I love you one day when you’re ready you’ll tell me exactly how you lost the baby.”
“I don’t need to do that. I don’t want to give Douglas the power to ruin our future. Let the memories rot in hell with him,” she cries, burying her face into me, holding me tightly.