A Beautiful Lie (Unlocked #1) Page 4

  “So nice to meet you dear. You know Luke has never brought any of his…” she paused dramatically, “friends to meet us.”

  I enjoyed watching the confusion spread across Nina’s face. She was looking for any excuse to bolt, but how could she deny someone who knew so many nice people?

  “He’s the biggest sweetheart ever, always stopping by to help us even when he’s got his big important job to worry about.” Doreen winked at me. She’d been trying to get me to find a steady girlfriend since I first asked Lara Kent out in the sixth grade. “So what’ll it be, kids?” She readied her pad of paper to jot the orders down.

  “I’ll take a water and the turkey club,” I said.

  Nina stared blankly at the menu. I studied her ‘before’ face. Undoubtedly, the burden of knowing would change her. How could it not?

  “Just coffee.” Her answer was flat. She clearly wasn’t planning to stay very long.

  Doreen took her time jotting down the simple order before plodding away.

  “Big important job, huh?” Nina rolled her eyes then leaned back into the worn booth cushions, looking out the window again. “What exactly do you do, Mr. um.…”

  “Luke,” I repeated. “Luke Nolan. I’m an investigator.” Though her eyes stayed trained on the busy sidewalk, this revelation piqued her interest. She sat up taller and shifted.

  “What, like, FBI or something?”

  I recoiled from the sting of the words. If only you knew, Nina Parker.

  “Not like that. I work for a private corporation.”

  “I’m assuming this is somehow tied to why you’re stalking me.” Though her tone begged me to get to the point, it was a little fun toying with her. I enjoyed the small mystery.

  “We work to find missing people.” She crinkled her eyebrows together, while she worked through her thoughts. I waited, giving her whatever time she needed.

  “Oh my God.” A louder than conversational laugh finally escaped from her. “You think I’m a missing person? Is that what this is about?”

  For the first time, she seemed to relax. A small smile even surfaced on her lips. She gave another laugh and shook her head as though that were the most unbelievable suggestion she’d ever heard. Sure, she hadn’t been a missing person in the traditional sense. But in a way she had been a missing person, at least to Adam.

  “No.” I leaned onto the table, finally getting her attention. Her eyes locked with mine for the first time, and I felt drawn to her. Her lips parted ever so slightly, like she wanted to say something. Instead, she waited. “That’s not what this is about.”

  We were interrupted by Doreen bringing her coffee and my sandwich. “You sure that coffee’s all you want, dear?”

  I never met a person that woman hadn’t tried to mother. Nina shook her head and thanked her, then sipped from the steaming cup. She was a girl who did things so carelessly. Instead of blowing on the steam to cool the coffee, she immediately took a sip, flinching at the burn.

  “You should really let that cool down.” I couldn’t help myself. In Adam’s absence, I felt protective of her. Like I owed it to him to make sure she got through this in one piece.

  “And you should get to the point.”

  I stared down at my sandwich. Any trace of appetite I had disappeared with the realization that the moment was upon me to do the job Alicia had assigned me. One last time, I studied her before face, trying to imprint the memory of her naiveté in my memory.

  “Your brother asked me to find you.”

  I braced myself for whatever big reaction would follow. Tears of joy? Of agony? I waited, but her face was stone. Across the table, instead of reacting, she took one more gulp from her cup and stood up.

  “If that’s all, I have a show to get ready for.”

  The bombshell revelation had not even registered with her. Inexplicably, she was putting on her black trench coat, preparing to disappear from the diner, down the street, and walk away from this. Alicia’s voice sounded in the back of my mind, urging me to the keep the door open. I’d recruited before. Always give them an option to come back. You don’t always recruit in an hour.

  “We should talk about this more,” I offered, doing my best not to sound completely desperate. “Adam…he’d love to meet you.” And there it was. At the mention of his name, she winced. With a simple uttering of his name, I’d made him real to her. “After the show, come by my place. I have so much to tell you.”

  She had stopped moving and was biting the corner of her lip as though considering the offer. “I won’t be done until eleven.”

  “I’ll send a car,” I insisted. I tried to convince myself that Adam would expect that kind of handling from me.

  “I’ll be at the Black Kettle.” Her voice was distracted.

  “Text me when you want the car to show up, otherwise it will be there at eleven.”

  “Then I’ll need your numb—”

  I held up a hand to stop her. Creating a new message on my phone, I typed “Luke” into the box, then sent it. Moments later, she fished her buzzing phone from her coat pocket.

  “You have my number? How do you have my number?” Her already dark eyes grew darker.

  “Nina, I’m an investigator. Don’t act surprised.”

  With one final glare, she was gone, walking out of the front door of Ivan’s. I watched her turn down the street and fade into the dreary afternoon.

  4

  Nina

  A fury of emotion swarmed within me as I headed down the street toward the subway. Who did this guy think he was? It was either a cruel joke or a terrible misunderstanding. A brother. It was an impossibility that five-year-old me had clung to every night. The memory of all those nights I spent wishing for any sort of biological relative surfaced as the afternoon wind whipped my hair around my face. The more distance I put between myself and the restaurant, the harder I tried to push that thought away.

  Still, the familiar metallic taste of impending sickness crept up my throat. After Brent was born, I’d spent endless, sleepless nights yearning for the universe to send me family. I often cried so hard that I’d make myself sick. I would check to make sure that Rick and Melinda were downstairs, preoccupied with the baby, and sneak to the bathroom where I’d throw up.

  What sort of sick animal would do this to someone? In that moment, fleeing down the avenue, my senses had never been so alive. Luke Nolan did something to me. Whether he was friend or foe, he was under my skin, burrowing into my consciousness. Had I made a mistake agreeing to show up at his apartment that evening? Still, it was a more alluring alternative than spending another night alone at the loft while Tomas devoted all of his energy to working on the series and making love to Eden.

  In the light of day, I’d been able to look at him. The previous night he was just a shrouded figure approaching me alone on my doorstep. Today, he was Luke Nolan, the private investigator stalking me on behalf of my brother. Today, he was the devilishly attractive man asking for more of my time that evening.

  Any attention felt better than no attention at that point. Still, what the hell was I supposed to do now? I asked myself that question the entire subway ride back to Brooklyn. Foolishly, I’d forgotten there was a chance that Tomas would be in one of his moods. When I walked into the loft, Eden intercepted me at the front door.

  “Gigi, go to your room.”

  In the background, I heard the sound of glass crashing to the floor, followed by the sound of Tomas grunting. His moods were becoming more volatile as we got nearer to finishing the collection.

  “But I’m starving,” I sighed, regretting my choice to stick with coffee at Ivan’s.

  Eden disappeared down the gallery hallway and turned into the kitchen. What started as gentle murmurs between her and Tomas swelled into loud conversation, then became yelling.

  “Is that her?” His anger seeped through his screams.

  “She’s leaving.” Eden kept her voice low and calm. I couldn’t imagine how many ledges she’d ta
lked him off in the years she’d been with him. The girlfriend of an artist had to be one of the most difficult jobs in the world. “I’m just getting her some food.”

  “Like hell you are.” Loud footsteps sounded and drew nearer. Within moments, Tomas appeared at the opposite end of the gallery.

  Stay calm, I told myself as I turned toward the stairwell that led up to my small apartment.

  “Oh no you don’t.” He pounded toward me. “Get over here.” Before I could ascend the stairs, he had me by the coat collar. My heartbeat quickened, knowing what was coming. In these moments I tried to slow him down, stare into his eyes, and find the real Tomas, the one I knew.

  “Please,” I spoke into his ear.

  “Please what? Have I not given you everything? You live for free. All I ask of you is to show up to the sessions, and last night you left!” His grip was so tight around my neck that I struggled to breathe. His hot breath bathed me as I struggled against him.

  “I’m sorry.” It was no use arguing that he had told me to leave. It would be no help to point out that the cost of rent was included in my contract and deducted monthly from my pay. And I definitely couldn’t remind him that I let him take control over me whenever he asked, subjecting me to conditions that left me mentally paralyzed for days after. “I’m so sorry.”

  Eden was nowhere to be seen when these episodes occurred. She respected that, in some way, this dynamic was essential between an artist and his muse. She also didn’t believe that he was capable of hurting a fly.

  “Sorry?” His dark eyes protruded from the hollow skin beneath them. He looked like he hadn’t slept a wink since the night before. “You’re sorry? I give you everything!”

  I started to feel lightheaded as I gasped for air in his grip. We had reached the crescendo. He loosened his hold and stood back, gazing at me. His eyes flickered between hatred and betrayal. “Get away from me,” he spat, and pushed me backwards. I tried in vain to soften the landing, but couldn’t avoid banging my knee onto the stairs. I didn’t bother trying to chase after him as he stormed away down the gallery.

  Every part of my mind and body wanted to feel in danger, but I didn’t. No matter how far he pushed me, no matter how much he hurt me, I never felt scared with Tomas. Still, part of me wished that I hadn’t run out on Luke at Ivan’s so fast. Maybe if I’d delayed myself a little longer, I could have snuck in without Tomas knowing, and maybe he wouldn’t be looking at me like I was a piece of garbage.

  Even though I told myself that I wanted nothing to do with Luke Nolan and whatever information he claimed to have, meeting him that night would at least get me away from the loft until things calmed down. At least it would give me a distraction until this current episode blew over for Tomas. Until he could stand to look at me again.

  I stumbled up toward the small apartment above Tomas’ loft where I stayed. By the time I entered through the door, my entire body ached. Thanks to my already hectic day, I had failed to tend to all of my wounds earlier that morning. Caring for the marks left behind by Tomas had become a daily ritual, one that I almost took pride in. It was proof that everything that was happening was real.

  In the small bathroom, I ran the sink with hot water and removed the old bandages from either wrist. I welcomed the burning sensation as my mind drifted back to the morning, a few weeks earlier, when these marks, along with others, had been inflicted on my body in the name of art.

  “Here?” I asked in disbelief. The morning sky was a deep blue. Tomas had roused me from my sleep at five-thirty in the morning and dragged me out of bed. A surprise project, he’d explained.

  “It’s the perfect spot,” he answered, approaching a thick, leafless tree in the middle of a dense wooded section in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. I turned to look back toward Well House Drive, which cut right through the park.

  “But people jog through here in the morning,” I argued. In fact, I’d never been up early enough to test that hypothesis, but it seemed to be a reasonable assumption.

  “The series is called Exposed for a reason, G,” he reminded me, his lips forming into an evil grin that made my stomach churn with nerves. This one was going to hurt. “Don’t worry, nobody will be able to see you if we hurry.”

  Tomas had a way of quickly urging me on, providing minimal time to think and process the events. With a simple nod, he willed me to remove my trench coat and let it fall to the ground. The vision of my naked body always thrilled him.

  “Perfect, now stand right against here.” He backed me against the rough trunk of the tree. “Two hours, tops,” he promised.

  Reaching into his bag, he withdrew a thick, coarse rope. He positioned my arms above my head, handling me like porcelain. With a kiss on my forehead, he began binding my arms to the tree. At first, the pressure of the rope tightening against my skin thrilled me. In the distance, I heard the city rousing from its sleep. I felt so beyond their average, boring lives.

  But then the tightness changed to strangulation. My hands went numb from the depleted blood flow, and by the time he moved to bind my breasts, I was begging for him to reconsider.

  “Shh. Deep breaths and look inward. Remember what I told you about pain?” But I couldn’t recall a single thing we’d spoken about in the past. Agony overtook me as he tied the final knot on my legs.

  He stood back to admire his work. “Incredible.”

  I could only watch as he set up his easel. He was protected from view of anyone but me by a grove of dead bushes. The only moment of mercy came when he finally put brush to canvas and began painting.

  Not far off, on the nearby road, the rhythmic footsteps of a single jogger grew louder. I tried to shrink and make my body as compact as possible, even though I knew I would never be seen. At this Tomas let a small laugh escape.

  I don’t know how long he left me bound there. By the time he started to untie me, I’d drifted off to try to escape the pain. Relief jolted through my body the moment my arms fell back to my side. I examined my wrists and breasts, which were raw and bleeding from struggling against the rope.

  “This one is our best yet,” he swooned, removing the final rope from my legs. The moment he wrapped me back in my coat, I fell to the ground. Sensation had not yet made its way back down my legs. He gently pulled me back to my feet and kissed my cheek. “You bring out the best in me, Gigi.”

  I finished applying antibiotic cream to the open wounds and made my way into my bed. Still restless, I reached for the small journal that I kept tucked in my nightstand. It was sadly underused, but it helped as a crutch when thoughts were racing through my mind. Putting pen to paper, I wrote whatever words came to me.

  People always say that the truth will set you free. When I was a little girl, I even believed that. I clung to the hope that one day, everything would make sense. That answers would somehow change things. But these days, I have no interest in the truth. It won’t pay my rent. It won’t give me the family that I’ve never had. And it definitely won’t erase the choices I’ve made. At least that’s what I told myself, until he showed up on my doorstep…claiming to know everything.

  The sound of Bria’s car horn shrieked outside my window, rousing me from my sleep.

  Shit.

  I’d only come up to my apartment to get away from Tomas and prepare for the show that night. Falling asleep hadn’t been a part of the plan. But now the clock read seven-thirty, which meant I was late. I tried to piece together the events of that afternoon – the diner, Luke, Tomas. At first blurry from sleep, it all gradually came back to me.

  The car horn sounded again, impatient. I smoothed my hair and grabbed my costumes and makeup bag. Before I descended the stairs, I listened for any movement below. Silence. I tip-toed my way down to the front door, threw it open, and dashed out as fast as I could manage.

  “Finally.” My co-worker threw her car into drive before I even had the door closed. “I was about to leave.”

  During the first two weeks after I joined the troupe, I’d got
ten to every show by the subway. Even for New York City, it was a ridiculous sight to see me buried beneath multiple costume changes, toting a massive case of makeup. And it was a pain in the ass to get there. Since she lived relatively close by, Bria offered me a ride to all of our shows, so long as I never made her late.

  “I’m sorry, I fell asleep,” I mumbled.

  “Did Mr. Fancy Rich Artist keep you up all night?” She nudged me, her long raven hair falling over her shoulders as her Long Island accent carved into me.

  “Something like that.” I tried to laugh it off.

  “Are you sure you’re not there just to be his fuck toy?”

  That was the rumor that had been going around about me since I joined the troupe. While the other girls lived off the pittance they made at the shows each night, as well as whatever they could scrape together in their side jobs, I was sitting pretty in a loft overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge and the skyline of Manhattan. The rumors came with the territory.

  “It’s not like that,” I groaned. “We’re almost done with the series and then he’ll show it.”

  “And then what?”

  I blinked. “What do you mean?”

  She smacked her gum and looked at me expectantly, waving her hand in a circle motion. “After he shows it, then what? Do you keep living with him? Do you move out?”

  I slammed my head back into the torn leather of the seat. I hated this question. Everyone asked me the same thing, as though I was supposed to have everything planned. Tomas had always promised that once he showed my series, my career would take off as it had for his other girls. One was modeling for Ford, another had landed a starring role on some teen drama. But I could never bring myself to admit out loud that I was banking on success.