Chapter 33

Trevor drove farther downthe road, away from what had just happened. Then he veered off onto a gravel pullover and threw his truck in Park.

He licked his lips before he turned toward Sadie. “Why did you run?”

“I overheard the conversation you were having with that man.” Sadie narrowed her eyes. She didn’t look scared.

She looked mad. Furious, actually.

“I heard him say, ‘Getting to know her may not work. We may have to use more extreme measures.’”

His eyebrows flung up. He could only imagine the conclusions she’d drawn. “It’s not what you think.”

Her gaze cut to his. “It’s not? Because I’m not sure you have any clue what I’m thinking right now.”

Her tone made it clear she was not happy.

Trevor needed to do some major damage control before she walked out of his life, never to return. “What are you thinking?”

With an exasperated sigh, she opened the passenger side door and hurried out.

Trevor scrambled out after her. Thankfully, she paused in front of the truck, probably just needing some fresh air.

A flash of irritation ripped through her gaze as she turned to him. “You want to know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking you’ve been lying to me this whole time. I think you knew me before all this happened. I even have to wonder if you’re behind all this.” She shook her head. “But it doesn’t make sense. If you’re behind this, then why did those other guys grab me?”

“I’m not behind what happened to you.” Trevor knew he couldn’t keep this to himself anymore. If he tried, Sadie would only run again. Instead, he swallowed hard before asking, “You want the truth?”

“I would love the truth.”

He hauled in a deep breath, hoping he didn’t regret this. “The truth is, you and I went on a few dates before you lost your memory. I was heading to the beach to meet you when I saw the car ram into you.”

Her eyes widened. “If that’s true, why didn’t you tell me?”

His jaw twitched. “I was advised not to.”

She shook her head. “Please, explain more. Because I’m very confused.”

“I do work for a private security agency, and much of what we do is classified. That means there are a lot of protocols we go through in our personal lives as well, including who we date.”

“Keep going.”

“I skipped over those protocols when I met you,” Trevor continued. “I guess I felt like being a rebel and not sticking to the rules. After the accident, my boss heard what happened and did a background check on you. He discovered you don’t really exist.”

Sadie blinked and rapidly shook her head. “What does that even mean? Of course I exist. Here I am.”

“Yes, in reality you exist. But your background . . . it’s been fabricated.”

Her eyes widened as shockwaves seemed to wash over her. “If that’s true, then who am I?”

* * *

Sadie didn’t want to believe Trevor. She wanted to think he wasn’t telling the truth. That, despite his soft tones, he was making all this up just to confuse her more.

But he sounded so sincere.

However, she still had more questions before she drew any conclusions.

“The man you were talking to outside the bathroom?” she continued. “He’s the one who was in those photos on my computer.”

“That’s what I was afraid of. I had my suspicions . . .”

“Is he your boss?”

“He is,” Trevor said. “His name is Larchmont, and he’s a bit of an apparition. He pops up when you least expect it. Then he’s gone just as fast.”

“Is there any reason I should have known him?”

“None that I can think of.”

Sadie nodded slowly as she listened, taking everything with a grain of salt. “When you say I don’t have a past, how do you explain that?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Larchmont thought I should stay close to you. Thought maybe you had ulterior motives for going on those dates with me, motives that might involve the organization I work for. He wanted me to find out if that was accurate, and he thought the best way to do that was by not admitting we had a past relationship.”

“And if I regained my memories?”

“Then I would have to deal with that when the time came.”

Sadie studied Trevor another moment. A haunted look floated in his eyes almost as if he didn’t approve of his boss’s instructions. Like he’d had a crisis of conscience.

But that still didn’t explain Sadie’s lack of a background. How was that even possible?

Nothing made sense.

“I’m sorry, Sadie.” Trevor’s voice dipped low with remorse. “I never meant for any of this to happen. I just thought I’d met a great girl I wanted to see again and again and again. Then everything unfolded, and I was swept up in this crazy, confusing whirlwind. I’m not trying to make excuses, but I am trying to explain myself and how I came to be put in this position.”

He sounded sincere, and Sadie wanted to believe him. But she also wanted to be angry with him. She wanted to pick apart everything he’d said to find any morsel of deceit.

Instead, she said, “I get it. Maybe. I mean, I don’t really know what to think anymore. Why wouldn’t I have a documented history? Medical records. School transcripts. Something tangible. Anything.”

“Usually, people have blank spaces in their past because they’re hiding something,” he said. “Witness protection maybe?”

She let that thought settle for a moment, wondering if there was any merit to it. At this point, anything was a possibility, she supposed.

“Did your boss talk to the US Marshals?” Again, a random fact she recalled while she remembered no aspects of her actual life. “Don’t they handle cases like that?”

“They do.” Trevor’s gaze remained serious, almost burdened. “Kai has a contact in that agency, but he couldn’t find any record you were a part of their program. However, that information is highly classified, so they might not have been forthcoming.”

“So what are the other possibilities?”

Trevor rubbed his neck as if he didn’t want to say what he had to say next. “The other possibility is maybe you work for one of my enemies, and you came to find out information to destroy me . . . and maybe you made some of your own enemies in the process.”