Page 63 of Lying Lainey

“I’ll tell you everything, but we can’t do it here. We need to go somewhere that won’t be overheard by any kind of technology,” I whispered, my voice so soft I wasn’t sure he could hear me. “Ignore everything about what I’m going to say because I mean the opposite of all of it.”

Halstead frowned at me, confused but nodded.

“There’s nothing to give up on since there was nothing there to begin with. I feel nothing for the three of you. Anything you think might have been real was all an act. Truly, it’s why I’m the best because I know how to play with men’s emotions and get them to believe anything I want them to. Do yourself a favor, either call the police and have me arrested, or let me go, and I’ll be on my way. Calling the police will drag things out, and if you’ve already given the code to Reuben, then I have zero need to stick around here,” I pointed out. “So what will it be? Draw attention to yourself by calling the police and revealing the relationships you’ve kept so hidden from the world, or simply let me walk out of your lives with no additional turmoil?”

“I’m not going to give you an answer right away. You don’t deserve it after all you’ve done. Instead, I’m going to put you somewhere you won’t be able to cause any trouble while we decide what your fate will be,” Halstead answered, playing along. “Come on, let’s go.”

While it sounded like he was going to drag me out of there, he actually scooped me up and held me like I was a small child. Wrapping my arms and legs around him, I hid my face in his neck as he headed out of the room.

“Kerian, shut the door behind you. Quintin, I need you to unlock the secure room, please,” Halstead directed, his voice low and gentle.

“What the fuck is going on?” Kerian asked in a harsh whisper.

I felt Halstead shake his head, then we moved forward, and I was set down on something soft. Bracing myself for the anger and hurt from these men, I took a shaky breath and opened my eyes to see where I was.

twenty-six

Lainey

The room was simple, but there was no window, the only light coming from the overhead fixture. A wall of screens that showed the property from various angles told me this was their security room. The hum of servers along the base of one wall informed me that I’d grossly underestimated their home setup. Soundproof paneling lined the walls making it clear why Halstead chose this room to talk.

He was squatting in front of me, eyes full of concern as he searched my face, waiting for me to speak. Kerian wasn’t willing to be that kind, and he paced the room, arms crossed, muttering to himself before stopping to glare at me. “What the fuck is going on, and this time you better not lie to us, or I swear to God, I will hand you over to the cops myself, no matter what these two think.”

“Keri,” Quintin snapped. “Clearly, there is more going on than any of us realize. Let’s not say things we’ll regret later.”

“How can you say that? She’s been lying to us the whole fucking time,” Kerian yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at me. “Tell me how the hell are we supposed to trust what comes out of her mouth now?”

“I suppose we give her a chance to speak, tell her story, then decide if we wish to believe it or not,” Quintin reasoned as he turned to me. “Unless you have proof to back up what you tell us, we would gladly appreciate it.”

Nodding, I scrubbed my face with my hands, trying to figure out where to even start with this story. Then I decided on the basics, something they could look up recorded by police, lawyers, and an official criminal court. It would be the hardest part of my story, but it was the best I could do to prove I wasn’t lying.

“The name I was given at birth was Elaine Caddel, but I always went by Lainey. I was entered into the social care system the day I was born, thanks to my deadbeat mother being a drug addict,” I started. “I lived in a group home until I was ten years old, and a man named Trent came to adopt me. He was a con artist and would regularly take kids like me who had no family for him to worry about coming after him. Our purpose was to help him pull off some job or be used to further the plot of a con he was trying to pull. He used us for various fake ad campaigns for schools, hospitals, starving children in a foreign, war-torn country, and many other ploys.”

Kerian headed for the simple desk he set up and started to type away. I assumed he was looking me up and knew he’d find it. For some reason, I never got up the nerve to wipe my past completely off the map, but you had to know exactly what to look for.

“Make sure you use Woville as the town to look me up. That’s where the group home was and where he adopted me. He also changed my name legally to Lainey instead of Elaine at the time of my adoption to make it harder to find my information. Hard to have a daughter who pops up as an orphan if you google her name,” I offered in hopes of proving I was being as honest as I could be.

Silence stretched as the sound of the keys clacking filled the room. “Found it,” Kerian announced. “It’s exactly as she says and has a photo of her at age ten when she was adopted.”

He turned the screen so the others could see my smiling face with Trent standing next to me as I held the adoption paperwork. Tears flooded my eyes as I looked at that version of myself, so young, innocent, and happy, thinking I’d found a man who wanted to be my family.

“I was with Trent until I turned eighteen. The moment I knew I couldn’t be put in the system again, I called the cops and ratted him out. I told them he was a con artist as well as the owner-operator of a hidden sex club that he filled with the kids he adopted and didn’t need anymore,” I shared, pausing as the memory of those times he would bring me to the club and threaten me with that fate if I didn’t play my part. “As fucked up as it is to say, I was his favorite. It kept me out of that place, but it forced me to be by his side and trained to become exactly like him. The moment he signed those papers, I was his puppet to dress up and play pretend with, creating a new story for me at the drop of a hat. Daughter, niece, ward, princess of a foreign country, politician’s illegitimate child… you name it, I’ve played it. As Trent said, I was a natural with an ability to make people believe whatever I wanted them to. I suppose it’s why I ended up becoming just like him in the end.”

The room fell silent, which only made the sound of my rapid heartbeat thunder in my ears. Would they believe me? Is bearing my soul enough for them to see I’m telling the truth? Did I have to tell them everything? Fuck, there were things I wouldn’t even admit to myself, let alone anyone else.

“Lainey,” Quintin said, finally breaking the silence. “Why did you come to our company? Are we your target?”

I shook my head. “No, you’re not my target. I wasn’t lying when I said my purpose was to destroy the code before it could be finished. However, it seems I’ve failed, and now none of it matters because I’m ruined, and the Syndicate will do as they’ve threatened to expose everything about me. Oh, and let’s not forget they plan to tell Trent I’m the one who sold him out, so even if I could run from the Syndicate, I’ll never be able to outrun the man who taught me everything I know. So call the police, lock me up, and throw away the key. It will be the only way to keep you three out of my mess. I won’t let the Syndicate use this as a reason to harm any of you.”

“Hold on,” Halstead cut in, raising a hand. “Backup a moment. I think you skipped over some important information here. Who or what the fuck is the Syndicate, and why the hell would they be threatening you or planning to hurt us?”

In my word vomit to try and get Quintin to understand, I’d shared more than I meant to. I’d planned to make sure they believed me before bringing in the Syndicate because it was hard for me to even make sense of it. Who grabs random Omegas off the street and forces them to do their bidding? Seriously, it sounded like something out of a thriller movie rather than something that could really happen.

“There is a group called the Underground Omega Syndicate, and they are the ones who put me up for this job,” I explained, talking slowly to buy myself time.

Kerian frowned and raised his hands to search for their name, but I was up on my feet, diving across the room to slam his hands on the desk. “No.” I snapped. “Don’t, please. I’m begging you. Do. Not. Search their name, or you might as well put a gun to my head right now.”

He cocked his head as he looked at me with a frown on his face. “You’re terrified of them.”