Uncovering You 9: Liberation Read Free

that I’ve seen, haven’t lived through what I have. You don’t have the experience to recognize the evil stewing beneath. I try to keep it in check, Lilly. Truly, I do. Only around you. Yet every so often,” He exhales, “it bubbles out again.”
    “Like with the letter,” I say.
    “Like with the letter,” he affirms. “Only you managed to defuse it in time. Before I could do something …” He gives a crooked smile. “…very, very rash.”
    I saunter up to him. “Oh?” I say, feeling both powerful and proud of myself for achieving my intended effect on him. “And what would that have been?”
    “Trust me,” he says, turning away. “You do not want to know.”
    I touch his arm. “But I do, Jeremy,” I say. “I want to know. Because I want to know you .”
    “You do. You’ve seen me.”
    “I want to know what goes on up here,” I brush the hair off his forehead. “What goes on in that strongly-guarded mind of yours?”
    He takes my hand. Turns it palm-up. And touches his lips to each pad of my fingers. “No,” he says. “You do not. I’m all sorts of fucked up, Lilly. If you knew even a tenth of who I really am, I would lose you forever. I am not willing to risk that.”
    “I’ve already seen you at your worst,” I whisper softly. “And I’m still here. Aren’t I? How much could it really push me away?”
    “Much more,” he says. “Yet that makes me wonder. Why are you still here, Lilly? Why do you remain with me?”
    “Because I…“
    “No.” He silences me by pressing a finger to my lips. “Don’t say it. Not now. Our journey together through this lonely world is just beginning. Don’t say it until you know what you mean.”
    “I do know,” I insist, my stubbornness kicking in. “You can’t dismiss me with a reason like that.”
    “I have my reasons,” he says. “As I’m sure you have yours. And your reasons, Lilly, have nothing to do with love.”

Chapter Two
     
    I spend the rest of the day pondering Jeremy’s last words to me.
    There was a definite implication behind them. It was the same one he alluded to when he first told me the story of how he claimed his father’s company in court.
    That he can recognize someone angling for revenge.
    It’s been a long time since I thought in those terms. There has been no opportunity in our recent time together in this wonderful retreat.
    But, now, that underlying current of suspicion is back. The poisonous gulf that threatens to undermine all that we have between us.
    Maybe I have been too naïve. Maybe I have stuck my head too far into the sand. Maybe I have become so enraptured with the silent brilliance of my own revenge plan that I lost all sight of the big picture.
    Honestly, how brilliant can my plan really be? There’s nothing to it at this point. No substance. No accountability. No… no nothing, really.
    I had this vague notion that I had to get close to Jeremy Stonehart before plotting my revenge. That was step one. At the time, the prospects seemed so miniscule that I didn’t even think ahead to step two.
    ‘Silent brilliance?’ I scoff. More like ‘silent idiocy.' What did I think I could achieve, even if I got close to him? Would I kill him? No. That was never on my radar.
    Hate and loathing were what made me pretend compassion, understanding, at first. Hate and loathing were what made me set my sights on worming my way into Jeremy Stonehart’s heart.
    Well, I’m there now. I have been there for months, actually—if the story of my being in a coma for so long checks out.
    Yet, something about Jeremy’s version of events doesn’t jive with me. There’s a piece missing. If I really had brain damage, wouldn’t I be able to know it, somehow? Wouldn’t it manifest itself in some way by hampering my mental abilities?
    The story about it affecting my emotions only is too convenient to check out. It’s too simple, too easy. Too clean.
    Why would I have fallen into a coma in the first place? That makes no