Page 5 of Mimic

Was she still alive?

Did she go back to her family?

Had she found someone to love her?

I didn’t go back to my mom. I didn’t believe the lies they tried to brainwash me with. My mother would never have sold me.But I couldn’t be sure she was alive, much less safe. I assumed that was the first place Devlin Scott or his son, Daniel, would look for me.

I wouldn’t put her at risk. Maybe now that they were both dead, it was safe to look for her. Now that the Trick Pony was gone, maybe it would be safe to be me again.

“Indie, I’m sorry.”

“What?” My eyes focused on Mimic as he stood in front of me. He’d cleaned up the broken glass and the ink as best he could. I knew by the stains on the floor I wasn’t the first person who’d dropped a bottle of ink and made a mess. I likely wouldn’t be the last.

“I wanted to apologize for accusing you of being my sister.”

“How do you know I’m not?” I asked, thinking about the day a few months ago when I first met him.

Gunner was in his office, and the bell over the door chimed as it opened. I turned around to greet the newcomer, and my eyes settled on the sexiest man I had ever seen in my life.

It had been years since I’d had such a visceral reaction to a man. Ten years of being used and abused had a way of turning your libido off permanently.

Or so I thought.

He was tall and slim. Not skinny, he had muscles, but compared to Gunner, and even Bruce, who wasn’t more than six feet tall, but was wide like a football player, this man seemed small. But no less dangerous.

He stared at me as the door closed behind him. He had to be eight inches taller than my five-foot six-inch frame. His hair was dark, almost black, and it curled a little at the ends. Cut short on the sides and messy on the top.

He wore a cut like Gunner’s, and I assumed this was another one of his brothers. He looked close to my age, myactual age, not the age on my license. But there was something in his eyes that said he’d lived a lifetime beyond his age.

I recognized that look. I wore a similar one. One that took me years to hide.

“Rosebud?”

He didn’t move closer; he just stared at me like he knew me. Like I was someone he’d been searching for. In that moment, I wanted to be her. Until he continued.

“Where the hell have you been?”

“Who’s Rosebud?” I asked, looking behind me. My heart sank as I realized there was someone special in his life already. Someone he had lost but wanted back.

“Don’t play games with me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. My name is Indigo.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me, baby sister.”

Sister? He was looking for his sister? Suddenly, the band around my chest loosened, and I considered the possibilities. I’d never considered the possibility of having a man in my life. Not until—I looked at his chest, Mimic—not until Mimic walked through the door.

“I’m not your sister. My name is Indigo Cambridge. I’m twenty-six years old, and I just moved here a few months ago.” The lie rattled off my tongue, and for the first time, I felt guilty about it.

I wanted Mimic to know my real name. My real age. But fear held me back. That, and the angry stare he was directing toward me.

“You’re fucking lying.”

“Don’t call me a liar!” I snarled through gritted teeth.

Okay, so I was a liar, but he didn’t know that.

“Then don’t fucking lie to me, Rose.”