Black Truth (A Twisted Fate Series Book 2) Read online

  Black Truth

  Copyright © 2016 by K. Mayer Enterprises, Inc.

  Book cover by JM Walker with Just write. Creations

  Interior design by JT Formatting

  Editing by Nichole Strauss with Perfectly Publishable

  Editing by Janine Weathers at Write Divas

  All rights reserved.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products, bands, and/or restaurants referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Visit my website:

  http://www.authorkristinmayer.com/

  To Mom,

  I love you infinity factorial. Never forget how strong you are. I’m thankful each and every day to have you in my life as my mother.

  Kristin

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Epilogue

  Playlist

  Thank You

  Other Books by Kristin Mayer

  My supposedly dead husband stood before me.

  He was alive.

  The asshole who’d caused havoc in my life was here. He’d torn me apart emotionally.

  “Willow.” He sounded concerned. He took another step forward with his hands out in front of him. “Willow, please let me explain.”

  He took another step, jolting me out of my shock. Fear ebbed back in its place.

  I remained speechless as the man I’d come to known as Tack took another step toward me. How were they the same man? Alex was cold and callous. Tack was warm and caring. Examining every part of him, he was exactly the same—dark hair, green eyes, built.

  Alex had manipulated me… again.

  Hurt and anger raced through me like an explosion, and a metallic taste filled my mouth. I wanted to scream, but the words caught in my throat.

  He took another step forward.

  I retreated by the same amount. On the phone, he’d had an Irish accent. Now the accent was gone. I felt sick. The man who had betrayed me. Tricked me. He was married… with a kid. I took another step back, not wanting to hear anything from his mouth. Lies. All of it would be lies.

  Instinct kicked in and I pushed the panic button on my ring Trent, my security advisor, had given me minutes before he’d left my hotel room.

  “Willow. I know what you’re thinking. Let me explain.” He still held his hands out and his voice was gentle. The old Alex was back. The one before the war and the night we made love and created the baby I was carrying.

  My head spun.

  The door to my hotel room busted open. Trent, Andre and Peter came in with their guns drawn. Alex’s hands went up higher as Trent repositioned himself in the room. I backed up farther as Alex trained his eyes on me.

  “Let me explain. I’m not Alex.”

  Trent came to my side as the other two spread out. Gently he guided me behind his body.

  Alex watched his every move.

  “Are you okay, Willow?” Concern etched Trent’s voice, which caused his Irish accent to become more pronounced.

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.” I turned my attention back to Alex, stuck on his earlier words.

  “What do you mean you’re not Alex?” My heartbeat pulsed through my ears as adrenaline raced through my body.

  Alex’s hands remained in the air. “I’m Gabriel Alexander Thompson. The man you married was Alexander Gabriel Thompson, my twin.”

  “Twin?” There were two of them? Two. How was that possible?

  I turned to Trent who fit the part of a military man with his dark-haired crew cut and lean muscular body.

  Trent turned his tense expression on Alex. “I didn’t find a record of a twin.”

  Andre lowered his weapon. He was the giant bodyguard who’d saved me in the car accident that put Carson on life support.

  “Andre, I did not give the order to stand down.” Trent’s voice was deadly.

  The tension built as Andre kept his gun lowered. At Trent’s nod, Peter turned his guns on Andre.

  My eyes widened, and I stopped breathing as I waited with bated breath to see what was going to happen next. The door opened and another security guard with his gun drawn entered.

  “Move toward the door, Willow. Slowly.”

  Inch by inch, I took a step back, following Trent’s lead. Everyone watched each other. Alex looked nervous as he watched me.

  Andre’s large booming voice rang through the room. “Hear him out, Trent. I served with him. He’s telling the truth!”

  Andre was in cahoots with Tack. That explained how Tack was able to get into places with extremely tight security. When I had asked him about having an inside man, Tack avoided my question since he promised to never lie to me.

  My breaths were coming faster as my heart accelerated to an unprecedented pace.

  Alex or Gabe, or whoever the hell he was, took a step forward, but stopped at the sound of Trent’s gun cocking. The other security guards cocked their gun as well.

  Doing the unthinkable, Andre stepped in front of Alex. “He’s not going to hurt her.”

  “I don’t take fucking orders from you, Andre.” Trent’s voice turned icy.

  “I know you fucking don’t. All I’m asking is that you stand down. Hear him out.”

  I stood frozen in place.

  Trent backed us up a little more. “Willow, when I say open the door, you run to the suite with the guys. Okay?”

  “O-okay.” Fear wanted to claw its way in, but I refused to give into it.

  Slowly, Alex stepped to the side and be
came a target again. “Willow, hear me out. You’re pregnant with my baby. Not Alex’s. Mine. That night before Alex died, you were with me. I’m the man you fell in love with. Not Alex. Me. I left and Alex tried to take you from me. Think about it. You felt something different that night.”

  How was this happening?

  Twin.

  Gabe.

  Alex.

  There were two of them. The room spun a little. “I feel dizzy.”

  “Trent, don’t let her fall. Get her a seat.” Alex took another step forward. “Damn it; tie my hands behind my back. Whatever you need to do, but don’t let her fall.”

  My head swam a little more and I leaned into Trent.

  “Peter, throw both this fuckwad and Andre some ties to secure themselves.” The command was given from beside me.

  Peter threw the zip ties to both men and they complied quickly.

  “Peter, if they move, shoot to injure.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I leaned into Trent’s side as he took me to a wooden dining room chair with a leather seat. My breaths came even faster.

  “Breathe with me, Willow. Long deep breaths.”

  I followed Trent’s lead, slowing my breaths considerably. I was not able to take my eyes off Alex as he tracked me the entire time.

  “Will you get her some water, Trent? I don’t want her going into shock. Not with all the stress she’s been under and being pregnant.”

  Pregnant. I was carrying this man’s child who wasn’t the man I had been married too, but was the man I thought I had married. My head hurt. This was a cluster fuck. Honestly, with my mind trying to comprehend what had been going on, I wasn’t sure what to think. Still, my eyes weren’t able to leave Alex’s. A water glass appeared before me.

  “Take a sip, sweetheart,” Alex said, imploringly.

  Without thinking, I complied. The room was coming back into focus. A few minutes passed as I glanced around the room. No one moved.

  “Please, Willow. Let me explain.” Alex’s words pierced me. They were honest and heartfelt.

  Trent asked, “What do you want to do?”

  Taking another tentative sip, I looked at the man seated on the floor. His emerald eyes were soft. Concern and love filled them. I wanted to have him taken away, but this was Tack. This same man had been there for me through so many ups and downs. There were too many times he’d had a chance to hurt me in the last month or get what we believed Alex was after… my trust fund.

  I took another sip of water as everyone waited for me to answer. Finally, I asked, “Trent, can we clear the room except for the three of us? Is it safe?”

  Weighing his options, Trent thought for a second. He pointed to Peter. “Take Andre out of here. I’ll deal with him later. I want a three-man team outside the door. Secure Alex to the chair across the way. Before you leave, search him. I won’t take any chances with Willow’s safety.”

  Carson’s parents put us up in one of their hotels to be closer to the hospital since the car accident. I was thankful Nonno slept with earplugs and a sound machine since he was in the other room of this suite. On top of that, he was a deep sleeper.

  Alex gave Trent a serious nod. “Good. Her safety is all that matters. But my name is not Alex, it’s Gabe.”

  A warm shiver went through me. This man cared for me. It was evident, but I was leery. Regardless, Tack had played me emotionally and physically.

  Following Trent’s instructions, Peter patted down Gabe.

  “I don’t have anything on me.” No one responded while he was escorted to the chair across the room. His wrists and ankles were zip tied to the armrests and legs. Peter was a little rougher than was probably necessary, but Gabe remained quiet. The men filed out. Trent stood to the right of me with his gun drawn.

  I took another sip before speaking. Surprisingly, my voice came out stronger than I felt. “Explain what you are talking about.”

  “When we met, it was unexpected. I was on an extended leave from the military. From the moment I saw you, something clicked. My world forever changed.” Gabe watched me.

  I nodded. “I remember.”

  A small smile crept on his face. “It was the only time I’d wished I’d never enlisted in the Marines.”

  I sucked my lip between my teeth remembering our time under the tree where he’d said something similar. This man was different from the one I’d been married to for a short time. Was a twin possible? Or was he still playing me? I wanted to believe I hadn’t fallen in love with a monster.

  He sighed. “Without any notice, I was given a mission that restricted all communication. There was no time to tell you. When I got back, I read your e-mail stating you’d moved on, were shutting off the e-mail account, changing your phone number, and to never contact you again.”

  “I didn’t send that.” My hand went to my mouth.

  Gabe shifted minutely and slightly winced. “I know that… now.” He took a deep breath. “Almost six weeks ago, I was discharged from the military. I didn’t re-enlist. I tried to stay away, but that lasted about a week before I had to see you. I needed to see if you’d moved on. What you were doing. Our feelings had been too strong to ignore. I was angry and irritated with how you were able to discard what we had. None of it made sense. So, I came to your house.” His tone turned more clipped.

  I tried to imagine what he saw.

  Pausing, Gabe worked his jaw as a vein in his neck popped. He took a second to look down at the floor, visibly trying to calm down. “When I stopped by, I parked down the road. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to confront you. Then I saw you with my supposedly dead brother.”

  The words grew terser and he swallowed. “One more step and you would have seen me. But you yelled at him and ran to your car. I knew then by the look on your face you had no idea. I don’t know how I knew. I just knew.” Gabe shifted again and I felt his frustration at not being able to move. Tied to the chair he was like a caged animal.

  “What happened next?” I asked.

  Again, it took Gabe a few moments to speak as I watched him flex his hands a few times at his sides. “I knew the bastard had set this up. You hadn’t written the e-mail. When I got it, I had been blinded by the hurt. When you drove off, I was still processing. My brother was living the life I was supposed to live. I needed to know more, so I followed you to your hotel. In the lobby you cried as you checked in. All I wanted to do was tell you who I was. I—”

  “Why didn’t you, Gabe? Why didn’t you tell me then what was going on?” My tears nearly sprang free but I held them back.

  Hurt mixed with anger flashed through his eyes. “I had to make sure you were okay. Instinct told me to investigate Alex and figure out his endgame before I made myself known. I came to your room. When you opened the door, the situation spun out of control and I lost myself in you.”

  From the moment I’d opened the door that night, our chemistry had taken over. We were hungry for each other. Our bodies were desperate to unite. I thought we were finding our way back to each other. But, was it possible we were simply finding each other again?

  There was too much missing information. “Di-did you kill Alex?”

  He shook his head. “Part of me wanted to. It took every ounce of control to confront him after I left the hotel. I found him downtown and intended to let him know the shit ended here. He took off down the street away from me. A black van intercepted him up and sped off like he was being kidnapped. I investigated. The plates weren’t registered. Then, he turned up dead. I couldn’t reveal myself to you until I knew what was going on.”

  My breathing had increased again, so I took another sip of water and a deep breath. It was still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that there was a Gabe and an Alex.

  “You never told me you had a twin.” The words were accusatory with bite to them, which I thought were deserved.

  Gabe’s jaw moved back in forth. “I thought he was dead. I watched him drown in a river when we were thirteen years old. That was t
he other reason I held back when I first saw you. My brother was supposed to be dead.”

  Dead.

  The words resonated within me. “Why wasn’t he?”

  “That’s something I’m going to have to ask my mother.” The words became a deadly omen as Gabe’s jaw set. A muscle ticked in the side of his neck as his arms flexed.

  “Did you get along?”

  “No, I hated him along with my mother.” His words were spoken with conviction and lingered in the air.

  When we’d dated, I’d never met his mother. Gabe said they were estranged and it was too fucked up of a story to go into. He’d promised to tell me everything when he returned. With Alex’s PTSD diagnosis and erratic behavior, I never pressed the subject of his mother. I knew his father was out of the picture from Gabe telling me so one night in bed.

  The situation hit me and again I forcefully asked, “Why didn’t you tell me who you were after Alex’s death? Why did you trick me? You played me!” I nearly shouted the last sentence and took a few steadying breaths. Per the doctor’s orders, I was to remain calm. As the reality of the situation sank in, all I wanted to do was yell and cry at the same time. This situation was proving to be a challenge.

  Gabe looked down for a second and a sigh left his lips.

  I was on the brink of breaking. When he met my eyes again, I felt the connection I had with Tack—the same one I felt when I first met Gabe. They were one in the same. My head hurt.

  Gabe reiterated, “No one knew I was a twin. I needed that to remain a secret while I figured out exactly what Alex was up to.”

  “I wouldn’t have told.” Anger bubbled up and I felt as if I were trapped in a maze, unable to get straight answers or make sense of what had happened.

  “I know you, sweetheart. I know you better than I know my own self. Your anguish had to stay real. If I was there, the people watching you would know there was something wrong. You were being watched by the police. You were being watched by Harley. You were safer not knowing until—”

  “The accident,” I said, finishing for him. Harley had been Alex’s accomplice in the Botticelli theft.

  Gabe flinched at my word. “Yes. Fuck, I nearly died, thinking I’d lost you.”