Page 57 of Lust & Lies

AIDEN

YAWNING, I STARED AT the security feed, watching Noe eat. She’d taken her food to the bedroom, along with a bottle of water and a bag of chips, which I assumed was for later. She was doing a great job of avoiding me.

One more night, I told myself. I would give her one more night to rest. That’s it. And then she was mine. I’d been the gentleman for her. I’d given her the space she asked for. I didn’t pressure her into talking to me.

I waited, in hopes that she would seek me out and ask for answers, demand them even. Or at least tell me what she remembered that was making her distant. She hadn’t done any of that. Instead, she was avoiding me, avoiding the issues.

I had no choice but to close the distance between us before she did something foolish. My stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten all day, and it was well past lunch. I stood to prepare myself a plate.

As if on cue, my fucking phone rang again. Tristan. What was the point of having an assistant if no one called that motherfucker? Sighing, I answered and listened to my brother talk as I headed to the kitchen to eat.

Seated at the counter, I ate but tasted nothing as my brother went over how he would smooth things over with the board once the news hit that the murders had occurred at one of our hotels.

The PR team was working hard to prepare for the blowback. We were being hush about it, because the news hadn’t been revealed yet, and our knowing ahead of time would raise suspicions.

We had to prepare for a drop in our company's stocks and be ready to answer questions from our board members overseas. Most importantly, we had to get ready to show our grandfather that we could handle this. I yawned again as I listened to him talk.

“Ethan suggested we use this as a stepping stone to get grandfather to retire and let me step into his role,” Tristan told me.

“If grandfather heard him say that, he’d disown him.”

“What are your thoughts on that?” Tristan asked.

“I have no thoughts,” I told him, suppressing a yawn. I could barely keep my eyes open. “All my thoughts are on making sure we stay ahead of what’s happening with the Clarks and try to show the police, the public, and the board that we’re being transparent and cooperating with the investigation.”

I yawned again. Damn it. My eyes were watering now.

“Did you not sleep at all last night?” Tristan asked.

“A little,” I told him.

About thirty minutes. That’s it.

“Noe keeping you up late?” he teased.

“I wish. She... wants space,” I told him.

“And you’re giving it to her?” he asked, chuckling. “That doesn’t sound like the obsessed maniac I know you to be when it comes to her.”

“I’m giving her one more night to have things her way, and then we’re going to have a long talk about our past.”

“Are you going to tell her everything?”

“I am.”

“Everything?”

“Every. Thing.”

“Rest In Peace, Aiden Park.”

“Shut up,” I told him before taking a sip of my orange juice.

“Noe has always had a hot temper. She’s not going to just grin and bear it once she knows the truth. Remember when we were kids, she used to get mad when we called her Noe. She even chased after me with a bat because I wouldn’t stop calling her that.”

“She was a teenager. It made sense that she was tired of being called Noe. I called her Noelani,” I told him. “I only called her Noe when grandpa was around because I knew he’d have a fit if he heard me calling her by her real name.”

“He wanted us to call her Noe for her safety.”

“I know. And when we were little kids, that was fine. Calling her Noah and Noe for short was okay back then. Having her dress as a boy and keep her hair cut short was the only way to keep her father’s enemies from knowing his oldest daughter still lived.

But once she became a teenager, she started wanting to be herself, to be a girl, to grow her hair out and dress like a girl.

But grandfather wouldn’t allow it. Of course, she had an attitude.

Of course, she started to rebel. Her life was being decided for her. ”

“That’s precisely my point. You need to tell her the truth before it’s too late.

You know how she feels about her life being decided for her.

She’s lost her identity once. Now she’s losing it again.

You’ve got her living under a false name.

And like her father and our grandfather did, you say you’re doing it to keep her safe.

But to her, she may see it as just another man trying to control her. ”

I opened my mouth, prepared to argue my case, but closed it.

I had no case. My brother was absolutely right.

In trying to get Noe out from under my grandfather’s thumb, in trying to prevent her from marrying Seo-Jin and get her back by my side, I’d stolen something important from her. .. her identity.

I could blame it on love. I could blame it on my obsession with her. I could even blame my grandfather because she’d wanted out of her contract, and he wouldn’t let her leave. But the truth was, I was selfish. I was selfish as hell, and she didn’t deserve this.

“Fuck!” I muttered.

“Finally sinking in for you, huh?” Tristan asked. “Finally regretting it?”

I swallowed. I was. I was regretting it. I loved her. But this wasn’t love. This was me controlling her, and who the fuck did I think I was to believe I had a right to make decisions for her?

I wanted her to be free of my grandfather’s demands. Yet, all I’d done was place my own demands on her. All in the name of love. Damn. I was no better than the old man.

“There’s still time to fix it. Or, at least try to,” Tristan told me.

“I’ll tell her everything in the morning.”

“And if she decides she wants to leave you, what will you do?”

I closed my eyes as pain clawed at my insides. I knew what Tristan wanted me to say. I knew what I was supposed to say. If she wanted to leave, I had to let her go. But fuck... I couldn’t do that. I could not let her go. I didn’t have that kind of strength in me. I just didn’t.

“I....” I went silent. “I need to focus on this stuff with the hotel,” I stated, trying to change the subject.

“I’ll handle it. You sound exhausted. And if you’re exhausted, how are you going to take care of Noe?

She and I may argue every time we meet, but she’s always been like a sister to me.

Take care of her. I’ll take care of the hotel, the board, monitoring Scott Pollard, and dealing with Julian.

I’ll also handle grandfather when he learns about what’s going on with the Clarks.

And if after you talk to Noe, if she wants to leave, let me know.

I’ll come pick her up and let her stay at one of my houses until she decides what she wants to do. ”

I clenched my teeth. Why did both Ethan and Tristan keep trying to take her from me? Why did everyone want to take her from me? Grandfather. Ellie. My brothers. Seo-Jin. The Watchdogs. Her enemies. Fuck!

“Do you hear me, Aiden?” Tristan asked.

“How can I not hear you? I don’t need your help with Noe. And I’ll handle my end of things with the Clarks. You focus on your end. I need to go. I’ve got some emails to answer.”

Tristan sighed. “Just when I feel like I’m getting through to you, you become guarded again. Okay. Handle things the way you want to. But don’t come to my house, drunk and hurt when Noe leaves you.”

“Bye, Tristan.”

I ended the call and stared at the wall for a long time, mind on Noe. Tristan didn’t have to worry about me coming to his house drunk and heartbroken due to Noe leaving me, because I wasn’t going to allow her to leave.

Yeah, I regretted the way I’d handled things. But regret wasn’t going to erase what I’d done. All I could do now was convince her that the man who made those mistakes was not the one standing in front of her now.

I understood what I’d done wrong. And in the future, I wouldn’t do shit like that again. But breaking up wasn’t an option. Years ago, she’d given me permission to kidnap her anytime I wanted to.

That time was now.

NOELLE

TODAY HAD BEEN THE longest day ever!

I’d been avoiding Aiden all day. I only left the bedroom when I knew he was in his office. And even when I did venture out, I made sure I didn’t stay gone long. I hadn’t wanted our paths to cross. I went downstairs a couple of times to get food and water.

Oh, and to get a few books from the garden room. Other than that, I stayed holed up in my room, and by doing so, I managed to stay away from Aiden. Likewise, he stayed away from me also, which left me irrationally angry.

I wanted space. Yet, I didn’t want him to want to give me space. I understood how insane that sounded. Even so, it was how I felt. Every time I heard him walk past my door, I held my breath, hoping he’d keep walking while also hoping he’d enter so I could see him.

My heart was pulling me in two different directions. One part said flee. The other said this cage wasn’t so bad. There was food here. And a garden. And a big cock that I could ride whenever I wanted.

The part of me that felt that way was horny and craving her savage, so I ignored her. She was thinking with her heart and her pussy, not her mind. That was the part of me that was foolishly in love with Aiden Park.

That part of me wanted to keep believing his sweet lies. They said ignorance was bliss. But I was no longer ignorant of my past. Not all of it. More memories were returning, and with them came clarity.

I had to leave this place. This morning, while I’d been reading a thriller novel about a girl who’d been kidnapped by a serial killer, I’d had a memory that left me disturbed as hell. In the book, the girl had tried to escape.

She’d fought her attacker and almost got away. But he knocked her out, then drugged her to keep her out while he chained her up in the basement. Reading that scene caused a sense of Deja vu to wash over me.

Flashes of memory fragments had bombarded me. I’d closed my eyes, trying to shut them out. But there was no shutting them out.