Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 258(@200wpm)___ 206(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 258(@200wpm)___ 206(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
“Honestly, I don’t think he wants you hurt, Livy. He thinks he’s Bear. He loves you.”
“Everything you’re telling me says he might be Bear. No one knows Bear more than I do. I’m the one who spent night after night chained in a cage with him. I know what we spoke about. I know the promises we made. I may not understand much about this, but I know in my heart that neither Bear nor Lake would hurt me. I’ll be safe.”
“And if he convinces you and you get your hopes up only to find out it’s a damn hoax?” Blade mutters.
“Do you honestly think my hopes aren’t already up? There’s a chance that Bear is alive. Nothing else matters except finding out if it’s true.”
Cross sighs. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“So noted,” I grin feeling incredibly nervous. I’m going to see Bear, or maybe Lake.
Or maybe both.
31
INTERROGATION
BEAR
I lay back on the bed. I’ve been upgraded from an interrogation room to a bedroom. Of course, the bedroom has locks on the door and no windows. I can’t complain, though. They’re at least assuring me that Olivia is safe and they’re also trying to prove that I am Bear. Honest to God, I’m starting to worry that I am insane. My face looks nothing like me. The truth of that was a hard shot to my soul and shook my foundations. Apparently, I’m this fucking Lake that everyone is talking about. He was heavily wounded and washed up on the shores of Lake Norris. The Carson brothers’ foundation paid for his extensive medical procedures. Unfortunately, the person they found was so severely beaten and tortured that photos don’t really scream it was me.
I have to know. In my heart, I feel I’m Bear. My memories are all intact. Yet I’ve been living two years as this Lake person. Worse than that is the fact that I don’t even remember life as Lake. Truthfully, I assumed I’ve been around for two years, but the only memories I have started six months ago—when I first caught a glimpse of Olivia.
Christ it’s a mess.
There’s a knock on the door and Blade comes in. Honestly, I was hoping it was Cross or Sasa—hell even Carson or Colt. They at least talk to me without acting like they want to gut me like a fish.
“I already let them draw the blood, brother dear. You come back to call me a liar to my face again?”
“Livy is demanding to see you.”
My heart slams against my chest over and over. God, the need to see her is so huge that if I were standing it would bring me to my knees. “Have you already poisoned her against me? Told her I was lying and some psycho stalker?”
“You could be,” Blade says, the bastard. We’re brothers, but I told him shit that no one but the two of us shared, and he still wouldn’t even try to believe in me. If the roles were reversed, I’d be different. I know I don’t look like Bear, but I can’t make up the past shared by only two people. I shake my head and bite my tongue. I don’t want to piss him off more. He may keep Olivia away from me.
“He just told me the truth,” Livy says, walking into the room. I turn to the door and drink her in like a starving man and she’s the only sustenance.
“Luke … Bear … Honestly, I’m not sure what to call you,” she stutters, as she continues to walk into the room. I want to go to her immediately, but I don’t. I watch as she sits down in a chair across from me. Her eyes are swollen. You can tell she’s been crying. She looks pale and she’s definitely lost weight. My heart hurts in my chest, because I feel responsible for the pain she’s wearing like it has been woven into her skin.
“I’ve missed you, Livy,” I say my voice gruff.
“I’ve missed you, too,” she admits. “Both of you really, which sounds super weird. “I’m not really sure what to think right now.”
“Trust me, I understand that. Believe it or not, I’m sorry. I know that sounds lame, Livy, but it’s true. I don’t want to cause you more pain. I just can’t handle being without you anymore either.”
“If you’re truly Bear, why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why hide, while watching my house? Why just why?” she asks.
“I wish I had an easy answer to that,” I admit, exhaling in frustration. “In my brain, which I’m starting to worry about, I was only waiting until I could find your brother. If I could take him out, it would keep you out of danger. That was my main goal. I knew if he was watching you, and I came back into your life, he would go after you again. I couldn’t let that happen again. I just couldn’t.”