I take offense immediately to this man -a stranger- calling me a liar, "I would never!"
"What was the name of the man who sold the house to you?" Sterling asks in a stern voice that breaks my heart.
"Emory, Emory Barrett."
He shares a look with the man that called me a liar. "Emory, that bastard!"
"How can we be certain you aren't working with Emory?"
I'm really not a fan of this new man, "I put the deed in the secret safe behind the painting of the man with striking blue eyes and dark brown hair." I turn my full attention on Sterling. "Behind the picture of you. It has all the signatures on it."
Before Sterling or his...friend can say anything else a doctor comes bustling in. "Ah, Mr. Barrett. I have the results from some of the tests we took from your fiancée."
Fiancée? He has a fiancée? I didn't think the hurt could get any worse but I was wrong. I don't think I will ever be alright again after finding out this man -the man I thought was all mine- has a woman he wants to make his wife. I flinch at the word and look down so no one else can see the tears that are demanding to find a way out.
When I look down everything that was swirling through my head screeches to a halt as my eyes take in a big princess-cut diamond sitting on my finger.
"Oh, you're awake." The doctor realizes I'm sitting up in the bed finally. Sterling comes to stand by the side of the bed and even goes so far as to take one of my hands in his. The electric pulse that used to happen when we touched is missing. Well, maybe not missing but isn't as strong as before. "Well, that's good. None of the tests showed anything to be concerned about. I think it was just some exhaustion probably brought on by her worry for you."
"So there should be no reason that I couldn't take her home with me."
The doctor purses his lips together before shaking his head no. "It will probably be better for her to go home so she can rest there as long as she has someone to watch over her."
"Excellent." The word makes the doctor happy but it just sounds like a threat to me. This isn't a man that you would want to mess with and he's not sure if he can trust me so that puts us on opposite sides naturally. He waits until the doctor goes out the door before turning to me and shifting his grip from my hand to my wrist.
"They would have made me leave if I hadn't come up with the story of you being my fiancée." It's like he doesn't want me to even think the wrong thing. "And I have too many questions to let you go just yet."
"Like how the hell you came to be in the room with Sterling for one? Why did you come here?"
His friend asked the one question I can't answer. Sterling pulls me from the bed but doesn't let my wrist go. "Show me! Show me the deed and where you put it."
I open my mouth to say something but close it again. I could argue all day trying to convince them I'm not working with his brother but what would be the use? Nothing I say will change their minds. I just need to hand the deed over and get the hell away from this...double of the man I lost my heart to. Because it breaks me that he looks so much like that man but is acting nothing like him.
He all but drags us out to a waiting car and pulls me inside with him. I have a second to look around and spot Talia and Celeste standing outside with shocked expressions on their faces. Before I can say a word to either of them I'm in the car with Sterling sitting so close our legs are touching.
I don't regret bringing him out of the coma. I would never regret saving him. But I'm heartsick and mourning what could have been, of what I had and lost, what was so close to being mine but simply wasn't meant to be. The entire way all I can think about is what I've just given up to save a man who doesn't even remember who I am. And fight back tears that struggle to break free.
Once we're at the house, Sterling still won't let me go. It's like he thinks I'm going to run away because I'm guilty of something. He waits until I let him in and we go straight for the office. He doesn't comment on the fact some of my things are in his house or that the lock was changed. When we get to the room his friend goes over to the picture and pulls it back showing a hidden safe about half the size of the painting behind it.
They wait for me to open it since I changed the code once I moved in and ran upon it. Once I have it open I step back and let the two men go through the folder with the paperwork in it. There is a commotion at the front of the house and when I step out of the room I see that Sterling must have brought a couple of guards with him in another car.
Talia steps on the instep of one of the bigger men and when he lets her go she comes running to me. "We saw them take you, are you okay? You look so upset."
I open my mouth to tell her but am cut off by Sterling. "You! What are you doing here?!"
I follow his line of sight and see that he is looking over at Celeste. It's not Celeste that answers though. It's Talia. "We're here for our friend. You basically kidnapped her and brought her here to your house. It's perfectly natural that we would worry about her."
She looks at him like she might come after him next. Sterling breaks my heart again when he waves his hand dismissing all of us. I lean over and whisper to Talia, "He doesn't remember. Anything."
Her face scrunches up into a sad frown at my words and she puts her arms around me. "Why don't you have your lawyers contact Mac if there's something you need?"
"Mac?" Sterling says my name like it's new to him.
"You're friend signed fraudulent documents, of course we need her here."
"Who the hell are you?" Leave it to Talia to cut right to the chase.
"I'm Kane, Sterling's best friend and head of his security team. Who the hell are you?" In another life, these two would have some off-the-charts chemistry going on between them. Anyone can see it with the way the two of them are going toe to toe with one another -literally.