Dangerous Lies (Lies 5)

Prologue

Liesel

I always knew that falling in love was dangerous.

I could fall in love with the wrong person.

A monster.

Criminal.

Devil.

A man who could hurt me.

Rape me.

Ruin me.

That was always my biggest fear—that I would fall in love with a man who would hurt me, a man I couldn’t escape. That I would love him even when I shouldn’t. That my love for him would kill me.

It turns out, I didn’t fall for the devil.

I fell for a good, compassionate man. A man with the biggest heart. A man who loves me as his equal. A man who loves my kids as his own.

I found a man who completes my heart—a man I want to spend the rest of my life with and beyond.

But falling in love with him was still dangerous.

And I don’t know if we can survive our love.

1

Liesel

Beep, beep, beep.

An annoyingly high-pitched sound infiltrates the fog in my brain. I try to open my eyes, but my eyelids are too heavy. My legs feel numb, and my teeth chatter from the chill surging through my body.

Beep, beep, beep.

The sound continues, trying to pull me back to reality. I don’t know what happened, but I do know that I don’t want to return to reality. Whatever happened was bad. I may not have much of a heart left, but I have to protect it.

Stay asleep; life will be easier if you just sleep.

“Miss Dunn, can you open your eyes for me?” I hear a sweet voice say.

No!

It’s a trap. I won’t open my eyes.

I feel a hand running through my hair, brushing it out of my face before it lands on my cheek.

“You should open your eyes now. It’s time,” her voice is still sweet, yet firmer now.

I shake my head gently back and forth. “I’m scared.”

Her hand moves down my body until she’s gripping my hand. “I know. I’m going to be right here holding your hand the whole time, though. You won’t have to face the truth alone.”

The truth—that means something terrible did happen. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I wasn’t supposed to be asleep when I gave birth. What happened?

“Open your eyes, sweetheart. Then we can talk. You still have time to decide.”

Decide?

I’ve already made my decision. Nothing is going to change that.

“On the count of three,” she says.

“One.”

“Two.”

I open my eyes before she gets to three. I don’t like doing what I’m told.

“There you are.” She smiles, still gripping my hand. “How are you feeling? Do you need more pain medicine?”

“I just need you to cut the crap and tell me what happened.”

Her lips thin, and her smile drops, but she nods.