My eyes fluttered open and Liam was the first thing I saw. I smiled. “Liam.”
He smoothed the hair from my face as he said, “You were having a nightmare.”
“I was back in the basement, and he was there. I still can’t see his face, but that laugh.” I closed my eyes and sighed.
“We’re going to find him, Mallory. I promise you.”
I nodded. “I just wish I could remember something. Anything. I feel like it’s right there…out of reach, and if I could only just remember something, it will all come back to me.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Food sounds good,” I stated as I forced myself to get out of the warm bed and followed Liam into the kitchen. When I looked into the living room, I paused. “Are those my boxes?”
Liam followed my gaze. “Yes. They were delivered not that long ago. The furniture is in the storage area of the barn. I didn’t want to wake you up and ask if you wanted it in the house, so I just figured we could store it there until you know what you want to do with it.”
Smiling, I reached up and kissed him quickly on the lips. “Thank you for getting this all here to me, and so quick!”
“Let me make us some sandwiches and you can start going through things.”
“Okay,” I softly said as I made my way into the living room. I sat down on the floor and opened the first box. It looked to be boxes that contained papers, legal-type papers.
“I found the sale of the house!” I called out.
“Speaking of,” Liam stated as he walked into the living room and set my sandwich and chips on the coffee table. “I spoke with Georgia, and she talked to her friend who works for the state of Illinois. If we can find your birth certificate, we can get your license. The only problem is, they need an address, and since you don’t have one, I’m thinking you should just get a Montana license.”
My brows raised. “Do you now?”
Liam grinned. “I do. Once we get your license, you can get the money out of your account in Chicago when we find out what bank your account is at, and you can open up one here. That is, if you still want to live here and work for me.”
“I want that more than anything.”
He winked. “Good.”
I took a few bites of my sandwich and started looking through the box again. I frowned and reached to the bottom and lifted a photo. It was of me and another girl. We looked like we were good friends. Behind us stood a man. He wasn’t with us, that was clear. He was off to the side, and most likely wasn’t aware he was in the photo.
Frowning, I stared at the photo. He seemed so familiar, but I couldn’t place him. I closed my eyes and attempted to search through my memory.
“Mallory, are you okay?” Liam asked, gently touching my arm. I jumped and looked at him. “What’s wrong?”
I slowly shook my head. “This guy, in the photo. I feel like I know him.”
“You must if he’s in the photo with you.”
Shaking my head, I said, “No, he’s not…he was standing off to the side…”
My voice trailed off as a foggy memory came to mind.
I was in the deli. He was standing off to the side watching me. He smiled. I politely smiled back.
“He’d been there before. I’d seen him multiple times but hadn’t placed him yet.”
Liam looked confused. “What are you talking about, Mallory?”
I closed my eyes. “The day in the deli. He was there. Then…”
Snapping my eyes open, my entire body started to shake. “He was in the hotel room. I told him to leave, and he grabbed my arm. Told me if I didn’t shut up, he would shut me up.”
Liam was in front of me, holding both of my hands. “Who?”
