Saving Alexandria [Book 3 of the Stavros Series] ✔️

10//Truth Be Told

"Michael," I whisper into the darkness. The single candle has long since burned out so now the only light in the room is from the night light of mother nature: the moon.

"Yes Alex baby," he murmurs against my skin.

"Why did your mom have panic attacks?"

He doesn't tense or freeze underneath me like I figured he would. Instead he doesn't hesitate to give me an answer. "She was worried about money."

"Oh." It's so foolish of me to assume it's because of a tragic accident like it is for me. But being who I am I've never had to worry or stress over money, not one penny. "Money isn't everything though," I say, trying to make Michael feel better. "It's just power and more often than not it's put into the wrong hands." I lift my head from his chest to look at Michael. "But it can do good things too when given to the right people," I tell him, thinking about my own uncle and father.

He raises one brow, arching it perfectly and it makes me jealous to watch. "And when given to the wrong people," he runs his fingers up and down my spine, "it can tear families apart."

"Not if you let it."

He sighs heavily and my body raises up and down as he does so. "Alex," he chuckles dryly, "I'm not some poor kid who had two hard working parents that still had to live paycheck to paycheck. I'm quite the opposite actually."

"You are," I ask surprised.

"My parents were convicted of fraud. They stole over half a million dollars from people in and out of the country with their stupid ideas and lies. I didn't figure it out until I was fifteen when my parents uprooted us from Chicago to a small town in Alaska."

"They were caught," I say knowingly. Even though I'm a heiress and my father is a billionaire, we still have to be prepared for fraudsters who could take all of our money and ruin our business.

Anyone can be a victim to fraudsters.

Michael nods his head and I can see the change in his eyes, the anger that seeps through. "They kept telling me and my brother that we were going to live off the grid. They said they were tired of society and technology and the media."

"Did you believe them?"

He laughs. "My parents were married to their  phones. No I didn't believe them and neither did my brother but we loved the idea of living in the wilderness. We've never seen a place like Alaska before, not the untamed wild or the fresh air. We were addicted."

"So what happened?"

"My parents were found and caught a couple months after we moved. That's when me and my brother figured out what they did. They ruined lives, they made people go broke for their own damn comfort," he says in distaste. "I was almost sixteen at the time and both my parents were carried off to prison but my brother just turned eighteen so we stuck together. We were going to move to another town, one where not everyone saw my parents being pushed into the back of the sheriffs car."

"So you did?"

"No," he shakes his head. "They wouldn't let us. We lost the house since it was in our fathers name, we didn't have a car, no money, no family that wanted to do with us, and no way of leaving really. But the good people of that town took us in. They fed us at the diner for free until we both got jobs at the mining lodge and they let us stay at the bed and breakfast for free and the teachers of the local high school would come by and teach me things I should have been learning in school."

"That's so," I choke on my own emotions, "amazing. Why would they do that for you?"

"Because they don't have money. They never have, they don't really see the point in what it does either. Sure they use it to but this and that and for land owners and such but they don't use it to cheat out other people like my parents did. They rely on the goodness of their hearts to survive, not green paper."

"If they took care of you then why are you living out here?"

For the first time he pauses and freezes underneath my body. "That's a story for another time." He shifts us so we're laying on our sides looking at each other. "I want to know more about you."

"Me?" I laugh humorlessly. "Trust me when I say you don't want to hear about my story."

"Yes I do."

I look into his eyes and I see something in there that I haven't seen in my entire life in anyone else's eyes. It's a net, it's two strong arms, it's a blanket, it's safety.

"I had a little sister."

He reaches across the small space between us and grabs my hand, intertwining our fingers before giving me a reassuring nod.

"Her name was Angela. She was nine when I was sixteen. I had just gotten my license and I was so excited to drive somebody but my parents left for a business trip to London. It was just me and her at the house and we were both so bored," I pause, feeling my heart constrict in my chest. I shake my head. "No, there's no excuse for what happened. We weren't bored; we could have done so many other things but I chose to put her in the front seat and drive." I feel my vision start to become blurry and I know the tears will fall any second now. "We were driving down this road in the hills in the middle of night with the radio as loud as it could go." I sob and Michael squeezes my hand. "We were singing and I remember," I hesitate, "the smile on her face," I smile, "it was so big and she was singing so loud and proud. She took off her seat belt to do these silly dance moves that she thought were hilarious." I laugh. "She was my best friend. I loved her more than anything. When she was born I took her in my arms and promised her that I would always protect her, no matter what." I look up to Michael. "That's what big sisters are supposed to do. They're supposed to protect and defend the little ones against everything bad in the world."

"I know baby," he says sadly, wiping my tears away before grabbing my hand again.

"But I didn't," I shake my head. "I didn't protect her. I was too distracted by the music that I didn't notice there was a turn. We hit the tree head on. She wasn't wearing a seat belt," I sob, "she went flying through the wind shield." My mind loses control and soon sobs rack my body.

Michael leans across the small space and kisses away each of my tears as they escape. "Alex," he murmurs, his lips against my cheek and my name coming from his lips sounds so good, they feel like home. It's right where my name belongs.

Then he surprises me once again, for the nth time since I've known him. He sings, and he sings amazingly.

"Oh, my dear, I'll wait for you

Grace tonight will pull us through

Until the tears have left your eyes

Until the fears can sleep at night

Until the demons that you're scared of disappear inside

Until this guilt begins to crack

And the weight falls from your back

Oh, my dear, I'll keep you in my arms tonight"

And that's how I fall asleep, not curled up into his side, or laying on top of his chest, listening to his heart beat. I fall asleep simply holding his hand and listening to his voice because sometimes that's all you need, just somebody to hold your hand and be there beside you.