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I laugh. “Yeah, I can see why you’d think that. I meant to say I want to open something similar in Seattle.”
“I agree, but you need to let me invest in it, be your partner. As I said earlier, we have to pay a decent salary to our therapists. Not what you pay me.”
“Ugh, I already offered to give you a competitive salary, but you refused. I wasn’t ready to expand at the time.”
“At last, you admit that your offer was shitty, so no one would apply for the job.”
I grin. “I refuse to continue this conversation. Now tell me, why would you want to invest?”
“Your platform is mental health. With everything that’s happening around the world, that’s one of the sectors we should be investing more on. Mom’s money would be well invested in something that could’ve helped her…”
I squeeze his hand gently. “I wish I had met her.”
He nods. “She would’ve loved you.”
I don’t know why I like knowing that she would’ve approved of me. Not that it matters. It doesn’t matter. Derek and I are just friends.
Focus on the now and the practice. I raise my glass of wine. “To the future of our practice.”
“To our bright future,” he agrees.
Not sure what that will look like, butI want him to be a part of it.
ChapterThirty-Six
Him
April 11th
Since I don’t have an identity, Charles uses his connections to adopt me. I’m now Finnegan Orson Gil. He says it’s safer that way. Plus, he always wanted a family, and since I need a family, it’s just logical that I become his son.
I spend a week in the hospital, where they run several tests. MRIs, CAT scans, blood work… I wish Ricardo Zamudio had done this for me. Now more than ever, I’m convinced that he only wanted me for my memory.
The doctors confirm I have retrograde and dissociative amnesia. Charles finds me a good counselor who’ll help me cope with the loss. The neurologist wants to see me once a month.
I tell Charles how I’ve been trying to search for myself through facial recognition. I even sketched myself as a young boy. There’s no one who looks like me. I’ve gone as far as fifteen years in data, and I come up empty every time.
I’m more convinced that the Zs killed my family and kidnapped me so they could use their money. There’s still something about my past. Whatever happened three years ago is the answer to the question, why did they keep me alive?
If I ever remember, I might use it to kill Zamudio and his family. Unfortunately, the people who were supposed to eliminate them failed. I hope they believe I died during the attack on the farm.
That part of my life doesn’t matter anymore though. I have to create a future for myself. After taking an aptitude test, among others, it appears that I have a high IQ, and I’m good at pretty much everything.
Charles hires several tutors and asks a friend of his who is a former Delta Force to help with my training. I don’t want to lose the skills I learned from Derek and the Zs. He also calls in a few other favors, and I begin to learn logistics and forensics from a former agent from MI6 who has a security company. I’m not sure why Charles Gil came into my life, but I’ll forever be grateful.
My plans include college. The semester doesn’t start until next September, but thanks to Charles, I begin to take some classes online. I wish I could continue the courses I bought with Derek’s money, but I have to forget about Travis and leave that life behind. I don’t want anyone to find me, not even Derek.
He was good to me, but those forums he recommended are for mercenaries. People who only care about money. What if Zamudio is looking for me? Derek might just accept the contract and eliminate me. I have to be ready for the Zs. I might hire people to help me finish them.
Maybe that gut feeling that’s been eating my insides is vengeance and not the notion that someone is missing me and I have to go back to them. That’s just crazy.
No one is looking for me. I already checked.
The image of the gorgeous woman comes to mind.
Who is she?
Is she the one who’ll save me or condemn me?
