“Because she has the tattoo I gave her.” I held on to my cool. I couldn’t afford to lose the only shred of hope Lou had. “Nobody knew about it. Not even her sister.”
I stopped and took in the shoreline, the crystal blue water shimmering with rays, and fuck if it didn’t give me hope.
“I’m confused why you didn’t recognize her right away, then,” she pointed out.
“I saw her die… I thought I saw her die in front of me.” The memories of her torture shredded through me, tearing my fucking chest to pieces all over again. “She was beaten and tortured.”
My voice cracked. I’d never gotten over it. Louisa was my soulmate. As children, we started as friends. I was her rock and she was mine. Our friendship grew right along with us.
“It sounds like she’s dissociating, Mr. Ashford.” Somehow, it didn’t surprise me. After all the shit I’d seen and survived, I knew our minds dealt with trauma differently than our bodies. “From what you’re telling me, she endured trauma and abuse. It’s possible she’s blaming herself for her twin’s death.”
“How do I get her back? How do I stop her from believing she’s her sister?”
“You can’t.” She stressed the words, narrowing her gaze on me. “She needs to do that work on her own.”
“That could take years.” My hands curled into fists, and her eyes dropped to them before meeting my gaze in disapproval. I didn’t give a shit what she thought. “We don’t have years. You’ll talk to her and fix this,” I gritted. “The house is that way, just follow the path.”
“Good thing I didn’t wear my heels,” she said with a hint of annoyance.
It wasn’t until she was out of earshot that Alexei said, “Are you okay?”
I nodded, more worried about Louisa than my own state of mind right now. “When you came for me,” I said, meeting his gaze, “I was the only one in the room. Right?”
“You were,” he confirmed. “You kept pointing to a spot, asking me to save her, but there was nobody there.” Fucking Sofia and her sick games. I would have never thought she’d be capable of torturing her daughter to the point of madness. “I have some news you probably won’t like,” Alexei added pensively.
“Oh how I love starting my day with bad news,” I retorted wryly, facing him.
“Well, it seems you haven’t slept much as it is, so consider it yesterday’s news.” Alexei hesitated before he continued in a low voice. “The girl we saved… Louisa. It turns out her name wasn’t Louisa at all. She was beaten until it was the only name she responded to.”
Interesting… Initially, I thought it a strange coincidence, but with everything that’d happened, with how fucked up the past few months had turned, it didn’t feel crazy to believe it played a part in all of this.
“Do we have her real name?”
He shook his head. “No, she refuses to talk to anyone.”
A long sigh left me. I suspected as much. She hadn’t uttered a word on the drive from the warehouse, but she’d clung to Liana—correction, Louisa the whole time. Alexei watched me intently. Waiting, it seemed.
“She’ll talk to Louisa.”
He nodded. “I thought it’d be our best bet.” His gaze darted in the direction of my home. “But how will you handle everything else?”
“I’ll help her remember.”
Because we’d been in love almost as long as we’d been alive.
Chapter 52Liana
“I’m here to talk to you about your twin.”
I stared suspiciously at Dr. Freud, who stood on the terrace outside Kingston’s home.
“What about her?”
“What do you remember about her?”
I narrowed my eyes. Who in the hell was this chick, thinking she could poke and prod about my sister?
“Let’s sit down,” she offered, and frustration flickered inside me. This wasn’t her office nor her home. She didn’t wait for me to take a seat, but she must have read my expression because she added, “Please. I’ve had a rough day, what with being forced out of my bed and dragged here.”
“Oh, you should’ve led with that…” I lowered myself opposite of her. “Who forced you out of bed?”
“This scary dude with blue eyes, covered in tattoos,” she muttered.
The corners of my lips twitched. “Alexei.”
“Yes, him. I want nothing to do with him.”
“Well, here’s to hoping.”
The note of sarcasm in my voice didn’t escape her, and she brought her pen to her lips, watching me closely.
“Are there hopes that were ruined for you?” she inquired. My mind rebelled as I thought back, the mental blocks making my temples throb. The harder I tried, the worse the pain got. “Do you remember?”
I narrowed my eyes on her.
“I remember everything.” She held a pad in her hands, her pen moving over the page furiously. “What are you writing down?”
“Just notes.” As we sat on the terrace, the sun made its way up the clear blue sky. “I’m trying to ascertain the differences in your personalities, in your behaviors and interests.”
I scoffed, but still gave her as much as I could, and then it was one question after another, making my head spin and my ears buzz.
Until she lifted her head and shifted subjects as she said, “And you and Kingston—”
“That’s Mr. Ashford to you,” I hissed. It was too early in the morning for this shit or for any woman to be anywhere near my… my Kingston. Yes, that sounded right. He was mine, and this lady better get lost. He was none of her concern. My turn for questions. “What are you doing here?” I snapped. “And how do you know about my twin?”
“Kingston—” I glowered and she cleared her throat, a small smile twitching on her lips. “Pardon, Mr. Ashford gave me some insight earlier.”
Why was he talking to this woman? She was too pretty for him not to notice. Then realization sunk in. I was jealous. The green-eyed monster bubbled in my chest, ready to eliminate any woman who could be a potential threat. But why? I wasn’t territorial.
“He had no right,” I grumbled, my jaw tensing. Why would he be telling a perfect stranger anything? We’d have to set some ground rules about that. “And you’ll forget everything he said.”
“Or what?” Jesus, was the woman actually challenging me? She had a death wish, I was certain of it.
I eyed the space around me, surveying any possible objects to use as weapons. There was nothing aside from silverware, a plate, and a porcelain cup. I sighed. The butter knife wouldn’t do; I’d tried to kill a man with it once. It didn’t work for me. A fork would have to do. Messy but necessary.
Just as I leaned forward, Kingston appeared, his attention locked on my hand.
“Sunshine, put that down,” Kingston ordered, and I narrowed my eyes on him. He better not be defending the beautiful doctor.
A muscle in my jaw twitched. We might’ve had an incredible night, but he sure was pissing me off this morning.
“Why is she here?” I growled, waving the fork in the air. “And why are you telling her my history? Our history.” The one I didn’t even remember. I couldn’t remember him as my and Louisa’s bodyguard, and it left me feeling like I was missing a limb. “I don’t like it, Kingston.”
“What hand did you use to grab the fork?”
My brows furrowed at the jarring change of subject. I wasn’t easily frazzled, but he managed it every single time.
My gaze lowered to find my left hand clutching the fork. “What does that—”
“You used your left hand,” he said. “Which twin is left-handed?” My mind blanked. I could almost see my invisible, mental walls slamming into place. “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”
I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. I brought my free hand to my temple and cleared my throat.