Page 86 of Possess Me

I had to think about his question. “Mount Sinai and Florida Mercy. You think he lured me here?”

“Yes, I do. And I need to find out why, but first, I will discover if he lied to you.”

I touched his arm, shaking my head. “Jeffrey is my friend. He’s your friend as well.”

“Maybe so, but everyone has a price for betrayal.”

A cold shiver skated down my spine. “Not with me.”

“How did you meet him?”

“He saw me in a bar one night when I was extremely distraught.”

“Where?”

“Chicago.”

The flare of anger in his eyes was terrifying. “Chicago.”

What’s so important about Chicago?

“That’s where I grew up, at least mostly. Jeffrey and I hit it off and one thing led to another. He wooed me. Maybe I just needed an excuse to move on with my life. About three weeks later, he asked me to consider moving to Miami. So I did, believing that I was in love. I wasn’t.”

He sucked in his breath. “Interesting. Stay right here. I need to make some phone calls.”

“What is going on?”

Even the way he took a deep breath scared me. “I hope you’ve told me the truth, Fallon. I really do.”

“I have no reason to lie to you.”

He nodded, but I could tell he had a million questions running through his mind.

At this point, I had no idea what to say to him, but I sensed he was certain I was somehow duping him or worse.

“What was her name?” I asked.

He stopped just before walking inside, his shoulders slumping. “Megan. Her name was Megan.”

With that, he walked into the cottage and out of the line of sight. I gripped the back of the couch and almost instantly, Bella awakened, jumping up on her hind legs and throwing her long front paws around me. A horrible, nauseous feeling pitted my stomach.

“Oh, Bella.” I pressed my face into her fur, shaking to the point I wasn’t certain I could stand. An animal lover. Someone escaping her past. Quirky. Someone who looked like me.

No. No. It wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t possible.

With my vision suddenly foggy, I tried to put pieces together that I’d done my best to drive into a padlocked box. Would my own friend, a man who still acted as if he cared about me betray me? Why? Who in God’s name was Vissarian to my past? No, not my past exactly. To the people my stepfather worked for. Luis had been an assassin.

Was there any chance in hell that…

Oh, my God. What was I missing?

While I was still reeling from everything that he’d told me and his reaction, I heard my phone.

Maybe Jeffrey was checking in. If so, he could clear everything up. As I jogged into the cottage to try to find my purse, I thought about how odd Jeffrey had seemed when he’d answered the door. The way his eyes had shifted away from me had seemed so strange, especially after what I’d told him on thephone and his encouragement for me to return to Miami where he promised to help me sort out what to do.

What did I really know about the man?

Hell, what was I saying? What did I know about Vissarian other than what I’d read and the day and a half we’d spent together?