Page 149 of Unspoken Lies

She doesn’t have to know what I’m working on behind the scenes until I’m absolutely certain that I can pull it off. I refuse to disappoint her in any way. She’s lost two years of her life. While I can’t get those back, I can help her take back her identity.

I refuse to give up my status as her husband, though. Fuck them all.

CHAPTER 33

JARED

I’m sitting in a restaurant with Rachelle across from me, her eyes on the waves outside the bank of windows. Was it a mistake to bring her here?”

“We can leave if the water upsets you,” I suggest, leaning forward.

“I used to love it,” she breathes. “You know I grew up in Florida, right? The beaches and the cool springs were where you could typically find me as a kid. I just can’t swim very well.”

“What if you learned?” I ask.

“Liliana was teaching me until I died,” she says, tossing her bangs out of her face. Her hair is growing really well, and it’s making her sassy tonight.

Fuck, she is easily one of the more infuriating women that I’ve ever met.

“You’re not dead,” I grit out. We agreed we weren’t going to talk about the past, but I guess I opened that door. “Do you want to learn how to swim?”

“I have treading water down, but I look like a dog having a seizure if I try to swim,” she says, smirking.

“I can teach you, wife,” I remind her. “We’re surrounded by water in California, you should learn.”

“Maybe,” she says noncommittally.

“Is it because I don’t have tits and my name isn’t Liliana?” I ask.

“Jealousy is cute on you,” Rachelle teases me.

The waiter brings us a salad course and champagne, my fake ID coming in clutch today. I turn twenty one in September, which means I won’t need to worry about the long list of things that I need to be a certain age for.

“I like to remind you that you’re mine,” I tell my wife with a wink. A ring sits in my pocket, filling me with nerves. She deserves to know what she means to me, even if it’s soon, even if she may not believe me.

I’m an undeserving man, begging for her to be his for real. Fuck, this isn’t how this started, I just wanted to get her out of the hospital.

“Maybe,” she says, smiling as she takes a bite of her salad and hums in appreciation. In her defense, this looks amazing, and the tomatoes look incredible.

Picking up my fork, I follow suit and take a bite, nodding as I chew. This is one of the most famous restaurants in Santa Barbara that’s right on the water. I wanted tonight to be memorable. The sun is lowering over the horizon, streaming the sky with its bright colors.

“It really is beautiful here,” she finally allows.

“We haven’t had a first date yet,” I say. “The guys have taken you out, and we’ve all gone out together. I like to stand out.”

“Is that what took you so long?” she asks, laughing.

God, she has the best laugh. I’m obsessed, a simp for my wife, and I don’t fucking care.

“Yes,” I reply. “I wanted to show that I put some effort in.”

I used to be able to shoot the shit with her, act nonchalant, but something in the last three weeks has shifted. I can’t put my finger on it except to say that I can feel that I want more with her. Time isn’t limitless, and it feels as if I’m running out of it.

Ignacio has been on edge with Liliana due to this drug lord who can’t be found. I put this reservation under our corporation’s name so we couldn’t be traced. I didn’t want to worry about having to bring one of the guys to guard us.

My eyes move to Rachelle’s empty wrist, and I think about how quickly Ignacio was able to find us. I should ask Liliana about a tracker for Rachelle now that my mind is moving down this rabbit hole. If anything ever happens, we should be able to chase after our little mouse.

Plans, missives, all they lead to is chaos control when everything goes wrong.