The Strange Woman

Nora's POV 

"I'm not Sasha." I cried, my voice breaking at the intensity with which I yelled.

He snorted, narrowing his eyes at me. "I knew you were despicable, Sasha, but didn't know you would try to take me for a fool."

"I'm not Sasha." I let out another strangled cry, jumping off the chair.

His face morphed into an ugly mask, his hands tightening into fists as he threw me another look. My throat went dry and I took an instinctive step backward. He moved closer to me, crowding me till my back hit the wall. I squeaked at the contact and my eyes widened in alarm as his hand climbed from his side to my neck. 

I choked on saliva and the remaining pleas in my mouth as his hand tightened around my neck, forcing my eyes to roll back in my head.

"Please. Let. Me. Go." I begged amidst intense coughs.

"Not until you stop being a liar." He hissed, baring his teeth at me as his face got closer.

His face was close enough for a kiss but I knew passion was the last thing on his mind. Mine too.

He let go of my neck and I sucked in a breath, greedily taking in all the oxygen he had deprived me of in the last few seconds.

"What do you want from me?" I sighed.

"The truth."

"And that is?"

"Where did you keep the documents you stole from me?" 

Documents? My head reeled. This wasn't Mark's mistake? I had no idea if I should be grateful that I wasn't cleaning Mark's mess or worried I was about to clean a stranger's.

I guessed I could talk my way out of this.

"I didn't steal any document."

"Don't lie to me, woman." He growled, his hand rising in the air.

I flinched, worried I was about to go blind if that hand made contact with my skin.

He sucked in a ragged breath and his hand lowered. I kept an eye on him though, wondering if he was going to be a gentleman the next time.

"I'm not lying." I sighed, lowering my tone as defeat and fatigue washed over me.

I wanted to go home. I would rather deal with my toxic boyfriend than this furious stranger. How interesting my life was.

"Sasha, those documents are worth a billion dollars. I'm sure you knew that or you wouldn't have stolen them." He said, sounding as resigned as I felt.

Wow! My eyes widened as I struggled to keep the whistle in my mouth from getting out. A billion dollars? It would take me working overtime even in the afterlife to make that amount of money. Who was this man that he had that much in his possession? 

Rage splattered through me and I wanted to kill Sasha myself. Why did she get me in trouble? Did she even know what she had done to me?

"I know nothing about the documents. Please let me go."

"Don't tempt me, Sasha. I don't want to hurt you. Let go of the documents and I will pretend tonight never happened."

I lost it. "Listen, young man. I don't know who you are and neither do I know what you are talking about."

He scoffed. "If you think you are going to get out of this by pretending to have lost your memory, you have another thing coming for you."

"I didn't lose my memory." I snorted.

I would have preferred to. I wanted to lose all the bad memories I had. That would be losing all my memories but I believed it was going to be worth it.

"Good. Then you should know that I'm your husband."

"Husband?" The word slipped out of my mouth, accompanied by the shock I felt.

"I thought you didn't lose your memory." He smirked, his eyes dancing with disgust.

"I was never married." 

"This says otherwise." He said, pushing a huge frame into my hands.

I stared at the photograph, my hands trembling as I studied the features of the woman in the frame. She wore a dazzling wedding gown—one I would have killed to wear—and had a bright smile on her face as she stared at the man beside her. His face was blank and I found the expression strange for a groom but couldn't deny his marriage claim with the rings they both had on their hands.

She seemed to be in love with the man, and looked exactly like me.

I held the frame to him, grateful when he took the weight off my hands.

"Are you ready to tell me where my documents are and what you've done with them?" He bit his lip, his eyes darkening with vengeance. "I swear on your parents that I'm going to feed you to my dogs if you don't tell me the truth."

I inhaled, my chest rising with fear and the courage I needed to get through this. "I'm not your wife, man."

"Don't act like you don't know me." He hissed. "I'm Damon."

"I don't know you."

"You still insist." He sighed and turned to the door. "I will be back when you are ready to stop being a liar." He said and walked out of the room.

I sagged with exasperation the moment I was left alone in the room, my thoughts zagging like electricity. I didn't think I was going to get out of this. 

He had proof that I was his wife but I had nothing to prove that I wasn't. Except he allowed me to go home for my certificates with my name on them but I doubted that would happen.

My phone beeped and I smiled at the reminder that it was on me. I had totally forgotten about it and quickly retrieved it to check the messages I got. I decided to reach out to any of my colleagues. They could get a picture of my employee ID card and send it to me. My name would be written boldly on it and I could show Damon the next time I saw him and prove that I wasn't his wife.

While scrolling through my contact list, a message popped in and I swallowed in fear as I read it.

WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, NORA? WHERE ARE YOU SLEEPING THIS NIGHT? ARE YOU CHEATING ON ME? I PROMISE I WILL TEAR YOU APART AND MAKE YOU REGRET YOUR EXISTENCE THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, BITCH.

My mouth went dry as the words from Mark screamed at me from my screen. I regretted my life since the moment I met Mark and didn't want to imagine what he was going to do to me to make me regret more. I knew it wasn't going to be nice.

"Are you ready to tell me the truth?" Damon asked as he walked back into the room.

"I'm sorry, Damon, for stealing from you and pretending not to know you." I lied to save myself from Mark.

I hoped I wasn't making a mistake by deciding to be who I wasn't.