Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
“Meaning...” I lifted my head, peering at the guys through my lashes. “What... what exactly is our... relationship?”
Rhodes frowned. “Our relationship?”
“Yeah, I mean... What...?” My mouth was paper dry. “What are the four of us... to each other?”
Micah’s brows blew up his forehead. “That’s it.” He advanced on me. “We’re taking you to the hospital.”
“Wait, please,” I cried. I threw my arm around the little girl protectively—as if Micah was about to snatch her from the crazy lady. “Just answer me first.”
“Answer you fir— Sue, you know who we are? And if you don’t know who we are, something is very, very wrong.”
“Micah, Alex, and Rhodes,” I blurted, cutting off whatever he was going to say next. “I know who you are. Of course, I do. There are just some blank spots,” I said again. “Help me fill them in.”
“Some confusion and memory loss can happen following a concussion,” Doctor Martin put in. “It’s called a traumatic brain injury for a reason.”
Micah looked from her to me, then he glanced at Alex and Rhodes.
Alex shrugged, clearly not knowing what to do in this situation any more than he did.
That makes three of us.
Micah sighed. “We’re your husbands, Sue. We’ve been married for seven years.”
I bit my lip hard, penning in the tears that sprung to my eyes. I knew it had to be something like that, but still, hearing it crushed my heart to pulp.
“Uh, excuse me?” Davis came alive. “Did you say husbands? Plural?”
“Relax,” Alex shot back. “She’s only legally married to one of us. No bigamy here.”
“And I’m sure when I look into the matter, the truth will bear that out.”
Alex’s eyes flashed. “Are you kidding me? You’re standing by my wife’s bedside after she was nearly killed, and you’ve summoned so much pity in your heart it amounts to threatening her with an investigation?” Alex scoffed. “What happened to you, man? Is this the person you wanted to be when you signed up for this job?”
Davis looked truly offended. “The person I wanted to be when I accepted this badge is a person who lets no one escape the—!”
I tuned him out, taking a chance to take a proper look around the bedroom.
I already knew I was in Sue’s room. It was the same room she grew up in. But if that accident had conked the memory out of my head and I needed a reminder, I would’ve gotten the hint from the many... many... many photos of Sue plastered up literally everywhere.
Photos of Sue frolicking through the Tuscan fields. A photo of her posing in front of the Colosseum. A photo of her eating gelato on a gondola in Venice. Parasailing in Interlaken. Riding elephants in Chiang Mai. Hiking Uluru. Beaching it up in New Zealand. Dancing in Rio. And a few adult photos of her in Seoul and Daegu—replacing the childhood photos of her in Seoul and Daegu, standing next to me.
The photos taken in Korea I knew with a single glance. But the reason I knew where the other photos were taken was because Sue helpfully pinned them to the corresponding places on the massive painted world map taking up the entire east wall. An addition that definitely wasn’t there when we were kids.
Truthfully, the map was stunningly beautiful. So beautiful it dwarfed her expensive furniture, antique wardrobe, four-poster king-sized bed, plush cream carpets, and large vanity weighed down with makeup, perfumes, and accessories that cost more than my life.
The map artist made their work come alive with rolling ocean waves, undulating green fields in the rural parts of the world, and stretching skyscrapers in the cities. All of the countries with famous landmarks had them proudly displayed with the Eiffel Tower for France, and the penis building for England.
There to make the creation more beautiful were all the smiling, happy, gorgeous photos of a woman who crisscrossed the earth.
I could just imagine Sue’s face if she’d gotten the chance to give me a tour of her new room. She’d have smirked her ass off while forcing me to see that she’d gotten to travel the world, searching for adventure. While I traveled the backroads of the States, searching for a home.
Shoving that mental smirk away, I flicked down to the little girl smiling up at me. Lowering my voice, I whispered, “And what’s your name, beautiful?”
She giggled. “Mommy, you’re silly. You know my name.”
My chest tightened. Of course it was wrong to trick a child. Let her believe I was her mother, when her actual mother was trawling the ocean floor. But if Sue had been able to take a break from being an evil, manipulative bitch for five minutes, I wouldn’t have walked in here with the wrong name on my lips, and the wrong wallet in my purse.
What was I supposed to do when Alex, Rhodes, and Micah came at me, calling me their wife and showering me in relief and concern? Was I supposed to say, oh, sorry, I’m not actually your wife. I’m her twin sister who is currently impersonating her to get back the life she stole from me?