Page 3 of Redemption
“Who the hell are you?” The words come out like a hiss as I stumble backward. “You’re not Lachlan. Who the hell are you?”
He extends a hand to steady me before I fall, but I find my balance and dart around the table, putting a solid hunk of metal between me, my daughter, and …
“Who are you?” My voice roughens and hardens.
He looks like Lachlan. The dark hair. The face. The height. The build. The suit. Everything.
“You’re not my husband.” My breathing turns shallow, and I can’t control the short, sharp breaths that compete with my hammering heart.
Instantly sensing the change, Aurora stirs. Meanwhile, I’m still frozen, staring at his face. A face I know better than any other face on the planet. A face I’ve studied. A face I’ve fallen in love with despite all my best intentions.
He stares back at us, as if mesmerized. His gaze rivets on Aurora’s dark hair before his nearly black eyes lock on mine.
“She’s beautiful, Keira.”
“Who the hell are you?” My tone is sharpened by fear, anger, and confusion as I back toward the door, needing to put as much distance between this stranger and us as I possibly can. My body feels like it’s going haywire. All my senses feel like they’re betraying me.
I know what I see—a man who looks exactly like my husband—but it’s not him.
Aurora lifts her head, turning toward the man who’s not her father.
Any move he intended to make is arrested completely when he sees Aurora’s face. The change that comes over his countenance makes him look less like Lachlan—softer, gentler, and more wistful.
“She looks just like a portrait of my father when he was a child. It hangs in the gallery of our family’s estate.”
“Who are you? Answer me, or I’m going to scream this entire house down, and you’ll never get to say a word before they kill you.”
It’s the only reason I haven’t screamed yet. Something tells me I’ll never get answers if they kill him where he stands. And I have to know.
Who is this man standing in my house, who looks like my husband but isn’t? Who is he talking about? His father? What family estate? What in the hell is happening? Am I going crazy?
That makes as much sense as anything right now.
“I’m losing my mind. This isn’t happening,” I whisper to myself as I back farther away, ready to run and hide rather than face whatever life is throwing at me next.
I’m not ready. It’s too much.
“It’s okay, Keira. I won’t hurt you or Aurora or Lachlan. I’m not here for that. I’m here to help. Please, be at ease. I know this is a shock. I know it doesn’t make sense.”
“You stole his face!” My hushed yell upsets Aurora, and a small cry escapes her lips. I wrap my hand around her head, pressing it against my neck, whispering soothing sounds. “It’s okay, baby. You’re okay. Everything’s okay. Mommy’s fine. It’s okay.”
But my trembling hand belies my words. It’s not okay. I’m not okay. Nothing is okay. The life I thought I knew and understood started crumbling days ago, and now, it’s accelerating.
“I didn’t steal his face,” the man replies with a calm, reassuring tone that’s completely lost on me. “He shares mine. I’m your brother-in-law. Aurora is my niece. Her grandmother insisted I come as soon as we learned what happened. You’re all in grave danger. We need to get you out of here.”
I shake my head, bouncing Aurora as she quiets down. I can’t process what he’s saying. It doesn’t make sense.
A brother? A mother? What the hell?
Impossible.
Words spill from my lips without me even realizing I’m speaking. “You’re lying. I don’t believe you. Lachlan doesn’t have a brother. He’s?—”
“An orphan who doesn’t know his family exists, but that doesn’t make us any less real.”
My first instinct is to scream down the house, just like I threatened to do moments ago, but I can’t force myself to do it.
Instead, I bite out, “Prove it. Prove it, or they’ll kill you. They won’t think twice. Not this week.”
