“Seriously?” was all he said as he folded his arms and leaned his hips against the kitchen counter while he waited for Karen to give him some kind of answer for all of this. Sienna was out of earshot at least, on the phone by the sound of it. That meant he could talk freely with her “aunt.”
The older woman pinned him with a stare. It was no less effective, though he and Karen were no longer on the same eye level as when he’d last seen her two years ago. “I’m not going to tell Sienna who she really is. And you can’t, either.”
“What happened to you?”
“I was hit by a drunk driver. Sienna didn’t tell you? It happened while she was in a coma, so when she woke up, it was decided that I would stay with her.”
Parker said, “You’re lying about being her aunt so you can be here when she remembers whatever it is the CIA wants her to recall?”
“Yes.” There was no guilt in Karen’s expression, but then there never had been. Nor any pity when she’d found him in a sorry state just days after Sienna’s no-show. The day she’d stiffly told him to drop it, to let Sienna be and to go on with his life. To forget about her, like he could do that. Like there was no hope a CIA agent and a SEAL could find happiness together.
“What did Sienna forget that is so important?”
* * *
Sienna grabbed the phone off the desk. “Hello?”
The landline was down the hall in the office, where Aunt Karen holed up most of the day working on what she called her “correspondence.” Sienna figured she just read romance novels, given how many paperback books regularly showed up in the mail.
A sigh of relief was the first thing she heard. “Are you okay?”
“Uh...yes.” Sienna didn’t question the need; she simply strode to the door and clicked it shut without any sound.
“I can’t believe you’re actually okay.”
Who was this woman?
Sienna let the towel drop to the desk. “Why do I want to cry right now?”
“Because I’m the person who you love more than anything in the world, and we haven’t talked to each other in nearly two years.”
Sienna was sort of over other people knowing who she was. “Why would I love you? What’s so special about you?”
The woman on the phone laughed, took a long inhale and then laughed some more.
Sienna set her hand on her hip. “Seriously, I want to know.”
She chuckled, wheezing for breath. “That’s my girl. Don’t believe anything they tell you. At best, it’s nothing but a bunch of half-truths.”
“And at worst?”
“You’re not ready for that.”
“Is Sienna Cartwright even my real name?”
The woman was silent for a minute. “It was your birth name, but you’ve had so many aliases I can imagine it sounds weird.”
“And what did I call you?”
“Oh, right. Amnesia.” She chuckled again. Did people really laugh that much? “I’m Nina. Nina Holmes, your best friend since third grade.”
It couldn’t be a coincidence. Sienna had been living here months, and tonight she’d almost been kidnapped. Now this woman was on the phone, claiming to be her friend? Did this “Nina” think that she would buy it?
“Prove it. Because if you were my best friend, you wouldn’t have waited two years to contact me,” Sienna said.
“I was instructed not to. And there isn’t much I’m allowed to tell you—even if I seriously disagree with the reason. But...you take honey in your coffee.”
“What else?”
Nina was quiet for a second. “Oh, I have a good one. Your favorite dessert.”
It had taken Sienna two months of experimenting with different varieties to figure out the answer to that one for herself. For some reason it had been important to get it right. “If you think you can answer.”
“A scoop of strawberry ice cream and a scoop of chocolate—which is gross when you stir them together, by the way—with broken-up pieces of peanut-butter cups you hide in the freezer.”
Okay, so that was pretty specific. “And on top...?”
“A cherry. Obviously. No whipped cream. Which is also bizarre.”
Sienna smiled. More than anyone she’d met since she woke up from the coma, Sienna believed this woman actually knew her. Not that she thought Karen or Parker were lying, but deep affection welled up in her at hearing this woman’s voice. She knew she could reach out to Nina, but she still had to be cautious.
“Will they try to kidnap me again?”
It was a test, but she had to know what Nina knew.
“My guess, yes. They were hired, and since the first team failed, he’s likely going to hire another team to try again.”
So many questions popped into Sienna’s head, but she focused on the most pressing. “He?”
“I don’t know his name,” Nina said. “You’re the only one who did.”
“What does this man want with me?”
Nina was quiet for a moment. “He wants you to remember.”
“Does he think I don’t want the same thing? It’s all I’ve wanted for a year now. It’s all anyone wants.” Sienna squeezed her eyes shut. “Why is this such a big deal?”
“You’re not ready for that, either.”
“Well, you have to give me something, because I feel like I’m going crazy!”
Sienna took a breath to pray Aunt Karen and Jackson Parker hadn’t heard her. The last thing she needed was for them to look at her like she was something to be pitied. That wasn’t who she was. She was a fighter. How else would she have lasted living this long in a cloud of confusion with no way out and not go crazy?
“I can give you a way out of that house, but that’s all I can do. Karen was right about one thing, you do have to remember on your own.”
“How do you know she told me that?”
“It was the plan.” Nina paused. “Do you want an out or not? Because I’m in your neighborhood, so if you want space to figure this out I can help you. I’ll pick you up.”
Sienna wanted to say yes. She wanted to jump at the chance to see this woman she was clearly deeply connected to, if the way her chest was twisting was any indication. Did people really feel like that about those they were closest to? She might have that with Parker, if she allowed herself to find out how deep the well of her feelings for him went. And if they really did know each other like he claimed.
But something about Nina told her their bond had been forged through weathering hard times together. The kind of connection lifelong friends have. A bond that surpassed a blank memory. Her heart knew this woman, just like her heart knew Parker. But which one did she choose?
“This offer has a time limit. I’m not supposed to be here, but I received word from a contact that something was going down tonight. By the time I got to the scene, I heard the suspects were either dead or had already been arrested and you’d escaped. So I came to see if you needed anything.”
“I appreciate that.”
“But you don’t want to come?”
“I need answers. Coming with you isn’t going to give them to me any more than staying here