The Truth Unveiled

Nora's POV 

"Sasha?" His eyes widened and he breathed as if he couldn't believe that I was finally telling him the truth—the truth he wanted to hear.

"Yes?" I replied, cringing at the taste of dishonesty on my tongue.

If a lie was going to save my life, I was ready to shun my hatred for lies.

His eyes narrowed into slits and his skin reddened with rage as he stared at me. Fear rushed through my veins and I swallowed nervously, wondering what was going to happen to me. 

Why couldn't I have an easy life?

"Why did you lie that you weren't Sasha?" He growled, his hand reaching forward.

I winced, wondering if he was about to wrap the hand around my throat and squeeze my life out of me. I reared back but didn't need to as he retracted his hand at the last minute. I sucked in a breath, gasping in relief that I had escaped death one more time. Maybe I shouldn't be grateful yet.

"Aren't you going to give me a response?" He growled and I jumped in my skin at the force of his fury.

I was doomed. Was I certain I could survive pretending to be Sasha?

I remembered his question and struggled to come up with a response. "I hoped you would let me go."

"You tried making a fool of me. That wasn't the smartest move you could have made. You didn't think I could have tortured the truth out of you?"

Torture? My heart went flat at the images the words conjured in my mind.

I chuckled nervously. "You couldn't have. I'm your loving wife." 

He barked out a laugh, rocking on his feet as he stared at me and I wondered what I had said that was funny. "Loving wife? Did you hit your head after stealing from me, Sasha? You were never a loving wife."

She was never? I was getting confused. The look in Sasha's eyes in the picture frame I saw said otherwise.

He spoke before I could say anything to defend my love—Sasha's love. "Where did you keep the documents?"

This would be the hardest part of my pretense but I wasn't about to go back to the outside world where I could fall into Mark's grasp. I racked my brain for an excuse and smiled when I found a convenient response.

"They are not with me at the moment." It wasn't a lie.

He hissed again, the drawn breath making hackles rise on my skin. "Don't tempt me."

"I'm telling you the truth, husband."

His nostrils flared with disgust. "Don't call me that. You know I hate it when you do."

He did? I started to wonder the kind of relationship Sasha had with Damon, and hoped I hadn't made a mistake by getting involved in their mess and playing along.

"Where did you keep the documents?"

"I will tell you if you let me go." I decided to push my luck. "How about you fly me out of the country? Once I'm safe and know you can't hurt me, I will tell you where I kept the documents."

I hoped he fell for that. I wouldn't ever step my foot back here if I could escape. It wasn't like I had anything dear to hold on to.

He narrowed his eyes at me, considering my response. Just when he was about to give me a response, a knock sounded on the door and we both turned as the door opened, and one of the hefty men who had kidnapped me stepped in.

"What is it?" Damon snapped, obviously hating the distraction.

"She isn't Sasha," the man replied.

I winced, hating that my cover had been blown more than I felt relieved I could finally go home, even though that was what I wanted when I got here.

Damon glanced at me before turning his gaze back to his man. "What do you mean by she isn't Sasha?"

"I got a call from Alfred that Sasha was sighted in Texas thirty minutes ago and knew that we made a mistake."

"Who is this?" Damon growled, pointing a finger at me and without sparing me a glance as if he couldn't bear to look at me.

"I guess she is who she has been saying she is." The man sighed. "I'm sorry, boss."

"You are sorry?" Damon thundered, landing a slap on the man's face. "I've been wasting my time with a fake and you dare to tell me that you are sorry?" 

The man didn't react to the slap but I winced on his behalf, knowing it must have been painful.

"We got an Intel that Sasha would be flying to New York, and that is why we were sure that we got the right person when we saw her. It turned out that Sasha never made the trip back home." He explained himself.

"Get out," Damon barked, pointing at the door.

The man bowed and left the room without another word. Damon turned to me once we were alone and my breath stuck in my throat as I realized that I was left with no one to save me from him.

Not that anyone ever saved me before.

"Who are you?" He breathed, his eyes shooting daggers at me.

I forced down the lump in my throat. "I already told you. I'm Nora."

"Why did you lie to me?"

"Because you didn't believe me."

"Or you had a hidden agenda."

I scoffed. "Hidden agenda? Do I need to remind you that I was on my own when your men kidnapped and brought me here?"

His phone rang before he could respond and I watched him with bated breath as he talked with whoever was on the line, his brows furrowing deeper as the call prolonged.

"I can't do dinner, mum." He groaned.

"No," he said again and cursed when the line went dead. His mum clearly hadn't listened to his protests.

"Hart!" He yelled and I jumped, afraid of the lion in the room with me.

A second later, the man who had kidnapped me stepped in as if he had been standing right by the door.

"Get me Sasha latest by tomorrow evening." Damon ordered. "Mum says she is coming to have dinner with us."

"You didn't tell your parents that your wife left you?" I gasped in astonishment, the words jumping out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"I might as well announce my divorce to the world and let the scandal affect my business." Damon snorted.

How hard it was to be a billionaire.

"Until I get my documents from Sasha, I'm not announcing my divorce to the world. I'm going to be vulnerable to my enemies if they find out."

"Get me Sasha tomorrow." Damon turned back to Hart. "I don't care how you do. My mum mustn't come and find out she isn't here."

"I don't mean to annoy you, boss, but I don't think it will be easy to find your wife tomorrow. She hardly stays in one place. It was because of that that we shoved her into the car when we saw her without confirming her identity." Hart said, pointing at me.

"She must have stolen a lot from me to afford hopping around. Find her, Hart, or I'm doomed."

I saw a door of opportunity staring right at me and decided to jump through it. "What if I have dinner with your mother instead?" I offered.

Damon and Hart turned to stare at me, understanding exactly what I meant by the offer. I counted silently under my breath as I waited for his response and hoped that he agreed to my terms.

Please don't throw me out. I prayed as I stared at him.