Love, Lies, and Deception(69)

For my ears only, he whispered, “I will never be too far away from you. I love you, Marissa.”

“Leave,” Alec yelled pushing Kristian away from me. My grasp on his hand severed and he was gone. I loved him, too. I was going to miss him, but my heart belonged to Alec if he’d still have me after what I did.

“Good-bye Kristian,” I whispered, feeling the hot tears leave my eyes.

My vision started going blurry and the darkness started coming again. I was so cold that I shivered uncontrollably. “Hang on, baby, they’re coming. You’re going to get through this,” Alec cried. “I love you, Marissa. Please don’t leave me again.”

“Alec …” I began softly, “… I love you, too. I’m not going anywhere.”

Those words were a lie because in the following second I was gone … the darkness took me.





When I woke up, I thought I was in heaven, but then realized I wasn’t because of the pain in my side and the hard lump of a mattress under my body. Slowly, I opened my eyes to the stark white walls of the hospital and Alec sound asleep in the cot beside me. His arm was outstretched so that he could keep his hand on top of mine on the bed.

The room was filled with dozens of flower bouquets and it smelled heavenly. The early morning light started to filter in through the windows, and as if it called Alec from his sleep, he stirred and opened his eyes. He gazed at me once, but had to do a double take to see if he really saw that I was awake.

I smiled. “Yes, I’m awake and alive apparently. I thought I died.”

“You almost did,” he replied sadly. “If you would’ve lost any more blood, you would have.”

The silence grew thicker as we sat there and stared at each other. There were so many things left unsaid that I didn’t know where to start. “I have to tell you something,” I said regretfully.

Alec put his finger to my lips. “No, you don’t. Trust me, Justin made sure I knew every sordid detail. I don’t need to hear it again.”

Lowering my head, I let the tears fall. “I’m so sorry, Alec. I was so hurt after what you did in Denver, or what I was made to think you had done. I don’t expect you to ever forgive me for my actions.”

My chest ached and I didn’t have the guts to look him in the eyes; I was too ashamed. Alec lifted my chin with his hands. “Look at me, Marissa.”

Slowly, I opened my eyes and gazed back at him. “I’m not going to lie, I was furious when I found out what you did, but I know we all make mistakes. Trust me, I’ve made plenty. It took all I had not to kill Kristian when I saw him. It makes me sick to think of him touching you. When Justin called me and told me the things he was going to do to you when he found you, I went hysterical. I called you over and over hoping you would pick up your phone, but you never did. Then, when he found you …”

I squeezed his hand. “I’m okay now. He can’t hurt me anymore.”

He nodded. “I know, but with Kristian still out there I’m afraid it’ll never be over. Why did you let him go? What if he comes back for you?”

“Kristian isn’t going to hurt me. You should know that by now.”

Alec sighed and gazed wearily at me. “He was obsessed with you, Marissa. The authorities tried to find this girlfriend of his, but it turned out she didn’t exist. It was a ploy so you would allow him to get close to you without you thinking he wanted to get romantically involved. I must say it was a clever trick and it worked.”

Closing my eyes, I sighed and hung my head. How many more lies am I going to discover?

“What else did you find out?” I asked.

He pursed his lips. “Nothing much on Kristian really, just that him and Justin were from California and their parents were living off in Europe somewhere. After Lindsey died, the police found medical records where Justin tried to kill himself but failed. That was done shortly after her death.”

“Does Emily know all of this?” I asked hesitantly.

Sighing, Alec nodded and brushed the hair off my forehead. “Yes, sunshine, she does. When she couldn’t locate Justin the other day she went crazy trying to find him, only to find out from me and Detective Michaels that he was the killer. She left Boone to go to her parents’ house, but she should actually be here sometime soon along with your sister.”

“What will happen to me since I killed Justin?”

Alec smiled. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. You get to go on with your life just as you planned.”

“What’s going to happen to you?” I asked. “Where will you go from here?”

I didn’t want him to leave me, but if that’s what he wanted I wasn’t going to stand in his way. I held my breath waiting on his answer.

Cupping my face, he leaned over and laid a tender kiss to my lips. “I guess I’ll go wherever my heart takes me, and right now it belongs to you. I don’t want to be anywhere else. It’ll take some time to get over what happened, but I have to believe we’ll be okay.”

Releasing my breath, I sighed and pulled him to me. I laid my forehead against his and smiled. “All I want is your forgiveness. I’ll spend every day from here on out trying to make everything up to you. And you will always have my heart. Just promise me you’ll keep it safe.”