The Deal

"Start talking," I said.

Adrian stood in the doorway with his hands open at his sides. He did not look like a man who stalked women. He looked like a man who had not slept in a week.

"Six months ago," he said, "I began looking into Blake Group. The company was winning too many bids it should have lost."

"So you followed his wife?"

"I followed the paper trail. Your name kept appearing in it." He walked to the desk and slid a sheet from the folder. "This is a share transfer. Your fifteen percent of Blake Group, moved to Julian. Signed three weeks ago."

I looked at the page. At the signature at the bottom.

Lena Hart-Blake. The loops were close to mine. The slant was wrong.

"I didn't sign this."

"I know."

"Three weeks ago I was at home making dinner for people who were already lying to me." My voice rose. "And you let it happen?"

"I didn't know about the forgery until two days before your accident." His jaw clenched. "The photographs were to see if you were in danger. I never contacted you. I never took one step into your life. I only needed to know you were safe."

"And when I crashed?"

He looked at the floor. "I was one hour too late."

The room went quiet.

I should have been angry. Part of me still was. But the man in front of me had spent half a year protecting a woman who did not know his name, and he had not once asked for anything.

That was the difference between him and Julian.

I set the paper down.

"Everything Julian did to me," I said slowly, "he did with a smile. Everyone in that house knew. Nobody said a word."

"Yes."

"They sat at my table. They used my name. They taught my son to call another woman Mom." My hands began to shake. "And tomorrow they'll all go on with their lives, because I'm the stupid woman who forgot."

"You're not stupid."

"Then what am I?"

I looked up, and something cold and clear settled in my chest.

"Adrian. Don't you want to see the look on Julian's face when he realizes he's been betrayed?"

His eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

"They think I'm empty. They think I'll believe anything." I took a slow breath. "So let them. I'll keep the amnesia. I'll smile and nod and say thank you for every lie. And while they relax, I take apart everything they built."

"It's dangerous."

"So was taking my life."

He was silent for a long time. Then he came closer, until I could see the grey in his dark eyes.

"One rule," he said. "No lies between us. Whatever we do out there, in here we tell each other the truth. Always."

"Agreed."

"Then tell me one truth now." His voice dropped. "Are you doing this because you want revenge? Or because you don't want to be alone tonight?"

I could have lied. I did not.

"Both," I whispered.

He lifted his hand and stopped an inch from my face. He waited.

I closed the space myself.

The kiss was careful at first, like we were both afraid it would break. Then it was not careful at all. All the fear, the grief and the rage from that terrible day poured out between us, and for once I was not a wife, or a mother, or a woman who had been erased.

I was just Lena.

"Are you sure?" he asked against my mouth.

"If I regret it tomorrow," I said, "then I'll regret it as myself."

He made a low sound and swept me up, and the door closed behind us.

Later, I lay in the dark with my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat slow. For the first time in what felt like years, the world was quiet.

Then my phone lit up on the nightstand.

Adrian had brought my hospital bag. The screen glowed in the dark with one word.

Julian.

My whole body went stiff. Adrian's arm tightened around me.

"Answer it," he whispered. "Remember. You know nothing."

I breathed in. Out. I tried to sound sleepy and lost.

"Hello?"

"Lena." Julian's voice was sharp, with a thread of fear in it. "The hospital called. They said you signed yourself out. Where are you?"

"I... needed air." I let my voice wobble. "I couldn't sleep."

"It's two in the morning. Are you hurt? Are you alone?"

Adrian's lips brushed my shoulder. It was a quiet, slow touch, and it took my breath without asking.

I could not stop the soft sound that slipped out.

The line went dead silent.

"Lena." Julian's voice had changed. It was low and dangerous. "Who is with you?"

"No one. I'm just..."

"Don't lie to me." A breath, ragged and furious. "I'm standing in the hospital security room. I've watched the footage three times."

My blood turned to ice.

"A black car," he said. "A tall man pushing your wheelchair out the back door."

I stopped breathing.

"I know exactly who you're with, Lena."