Page 131 of Lust & Lies

I gave him a small smile and a nod. I had no plans to drink whatever the hell he brought me. Once the door closed behind them, I let my smile fade. With them gone, I felt like I could finally breathe.

Relaxing against the pillow, I stared up at the ceiling. The more my memories returned, the more I felt cornered.Trapped. Like I’d been shoved into a cage and told it was for my protection.

I couldn’t just lie around, waiting to find out whether Aiden wanted me dead or not. I had to do something.A phone. I needed a phone. I couldn’t ask to use Aiden’s.Wait. There was a landline in the house.

It rang one night, and Aiden rushed from the room to answer it. So, we had a phone, but who would I call? 911 maybe. And tell them what? That my husband might have wanted me dead in the past... maybe?

Or that I was living as Noelle Park, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t her? And if I wasn’t her, that meant I wasn’t Aiden’s wife. And if I wasn’t Aiden’s wife, then why the fuck was I here? Why the hell were we living a lie? And by the way, what the fuck was my name?

I swallowed back tears.Fuck it.I was calling 911. My gaze darted to the door. It should take Aiden a few minutes to make the tea. If I acted fast, I should be able to go to the guest room and use the phone before he returned.

By the time he realized something was off, the police would already be there. But could I trust the police of this small town to handle Aiden Park? I could tell he had connections. Could I trust them not to be on Aiden’s side?

Okay, so maybe I wouldn’t call the police. Who else could I call?Hatfield Orchards!But I didn’t know the number. If I saw the phone, maybe the numbers would come back to me. It was worth a try.

I threw the covers off and got out of bed. I crossed the room and eased the door open, wincing when it let out a soft squeak. Peeking my head out, I looked both ways. The coast was clear.

I slipped into the hall and quietly rushed over to the stairs to listen. I didn’t hear anything. No voices. No footsteps. No one moving around at all. Maybe Aiden was still outside with the doctor.

Now was my chance, probably my only chance. I tiptoed down the hall, not even sure which room to check. I opened one door. It was a guest room. No landline. I tried another. Another damn guest room. Still no landline.

My heart was pounding now. If I didn’t hurry, I’d get caught. The last door I tried was an office. There had to be a phone in there.There it was.I rushed over and picked it up. But there was no dial tone.

I pressed a few buttons. Still nothing.Impossible. I could’ve sworn I’d heard this phone ring one night, and Aiden had gone to answer it. If it didn’t work, why was it even here? I pressed a few more buttons, then checked to make sure the phone was plugged in.

It was.So, why wasn’t it working? Could it be that the phone could receive calls but not make them? Fear threaded through my veins as the truth dawned on me. Aiden had rigged the phone to only allow inbound calls, preventing me from calling for help.

What type of house of horrors shit was this?

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

NOELLE

NO MATTER HOW HARDI tried to believe in this man, believe in our love, something ugly always reared its head to remind me that I shouldn’t be so damn trusting of him. A phone that couldn’t make outbound calls.

There was only one reason such a phone would be necessary, and that was to make sure the person you’d kidnapped couldn’t call for help if they escaped. I swallowed back tears.

I’d been kidnapped. And my kidnapped ass had been walking around here, smiling, laughing, and enjoying life with my kidnapper. I’d been eating with him. Gardening with him. Sucking his dick and jacking his kidnapper ass off.

I’d called him my savage, not realizing just how savage he was. I placed the phone back on the receiver. I needed to get back to my room before he returned. I turned to leave, but movement on the desk caught my attention.

It was an iPad or something. Had Aiden been in here watching movies? I moved closer to the desk. No, it wasn’t a movie playing on the screen. This was a fucking reality show. On the screen, I saw Aiden, standing outside, chatting with Dr. Mercer.

Dr. Mercer patted him on the shoulder, then moved to get into the passenger seat of the car. The nurse was in the driver’sseat. Aiden stayed there, watching the car until it pulled off. This was a security camera.

The feed was minimized, allowing me to see the other available icons. Front Yard was the one I was currently viewing. There was also an icon for the Garden Room, Main Bedroom, Guest Room 1, and every other room in the house.

This man had the entire house under surveillance. He was able to monitor every step I took, see every room I’d wandered into, even this one. He could see whatever I did, whenever I did it. There was no hiding anything from this man.

I couldn’t escape the clutches of someone who was watching my every movement. My breath hitched as I saw him on the camera, turning back toward the house. I started to turn and run back to my room, but another icon caught my attention:Home Security System.

I clicked that one. A screen pulled up with numbers on it. The screen flashed gray and then read:Front Door Open. Aiden was entering the house. It then readFront Door Closed. He was closing the door.

He still had to go to the kitchen to make the blooming tea, so I had a little more time to snoop. I exited out of the Security Icon, then found the one that said Front Entrance. I clicked that one, and it opened up in time for me to see Aiden punching in the security code.

Damn it.He did it too fast. Could this be rewound?Yes! It could.I slid back the little bar and zoomed in. I could even maneuver the camera and have it turn a little more to the left.Perfect. I replayed the clip. Into the security pad, he’d entered the numbers0213.

My birthday. I remembered my birthday! It was the day before Valentine’s Day, and Aiden, Ethan, and Tristan always gave me chocolates on my birthday and on Valentine’s Day. Iusually ended up with so much candy that it lasted me the entire month.