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The elevator dings, and it’s not long until I’m inside Smith’s loft-style apartment with brick walls, steel beams, and dark hardwoods beneath my feet. It’s a beautiful masculine home, but it’s not my home. I’ll never be able to go to my home again.
“Let me show you where the spare bedroom is,” Smith says, and I follow him down a narrow hallway.
“Bathroom to the right. That’s all yours.” He walks into an open door, and I enter a room that has no windows but manages to be cozy with a large bed, a black headboard, and two cozy chairs in a little reading nook. It’s the no windows that gets me. That’s why I’m here. No one can get to me without going through Smith. He sets my bag he’s holding on the bed. My bag with the few things I own right now inside.
“We’ll be here for at least a week,” Smith says. “We’ll go shopping tomorrow.”
“Shopping? Who pays for that? I’m not employed.”
“Cole is handling this, and the government has a budget for witness protection.”
“I’m not in witness protection officially. I don’t want to be in witness protection. Noah isn’t who they say he is. He’s not. I refuse to believe I’m that wrong about him.”
“I know it’s difficult,” Smith says. “I’ve seen some things, the kind of deception that guts you. It’s like you suffered a death. You have to deal with the loss.”
“I don’t want to deal with the loss. I want him back.”
“The man you knew didn’t exist,” Smith says. “He can’t come back.”
I hug myself and cut my stare, fighting back tears before I look at him. “If he’s innocent, would you help him?”
“Of course. If I had proof that he was innocent. And you should want proof, too.”
“Of course. Right. I just—I love him.”
He closes the space between us and brushes his fingers across my cheek. “And he was a lucky man.” His hand falls away. “If he didn’t know that, he didn’t deserve you.”
I hold up my hand with the giant diamond on it. “No one gives a woman this kind of ring as a cover story.”
“You want me to have it assessed?”
I bristle. “Are you suggesting it’s not real? It’s real.”
“I’m suggesting it’s worth a lot of money—money you might need.”
“Oh. Right.” Sell my ring? No. No. No. I can’t. “I—I’ll think about it.”
“How about pizza? I can order, and we can watch a movie.”
“I think—I need to think.”
He nods. “If you change your mind, I’m in the living room. And the fridge is stocked. Make yourself at home.”
Home.
I’ll never be home again.
Present day…
“Ashley?”
I blink Aaron back into view and me back to the present. “Yes?”
“Do you trust Smith enough to risk his life? Because that’s what you’re risking by involving him.”
“Because you’ll kill him or anyone else?” I challenge.
He narrows his eyes on me. “Are you trying to make me the bad guy, Ashley?” He pulls me to him. “Because that won’t be hard. I’m not a traitor, but I am a killer. I’ve killed. I’ll kill again. That’s who I am.”
