Rough Roads (Beau Brooks Fanfic)

Living a Lie

A/N: Please read the authors note at the end! It's extremely important!!

**Natalie's POV**

I awoke to the sound of knocking. Thinking it was a nurse, I groaned and pulled the covers over my head.

"Miss Connors, we have some details to discuss." The deep voice called me from within my warm confines. Slowly pulling the covers down, I eyed Christian and huffed, sitting up in bed. "Mis- Natalie, I think you may have left out some major details when we spoke yesterday. About your family."

My throat became dry in anticipation of what we were about to talk about. What exactly did he know?

"What do you mean by that?" I asked quietly.

"Miss Connors, what is your birth name?" He asked me suspiciously. Squinting my eyes in confusion, I looked at his face to find a trace of sarcasm or something in that area. I found nothing.

"Natalie Connors, why?" He sighed heavily, taking out a file from his briefcase that he hadn't had yesterday. "What's going on?" I asked, nervousness apparent in my voice.

"Miss Connors, do you remember much of your childhood?" He asked me. I though hard for a minute, and remembered stories my mom used to tell me about when I was little.

"Yeah, my mom used to tell me stories of when I was little all the time." I answered confidently.

"Yes, but do you specifically remember your childhood?" He asked, studying my reaction.

"I'm not really sure, sometimes when I think about it I get little flashes of places, but never full events." I admitted, a bit embarrassed of my lack of memory.

He placed a file on the table that hovered over the bed, opening it to show pictures, files, records and... my birth certificate?

"Miss Connors, as you are well aware, you were adopted by the Connors family, but I don't think you know just how old you really were." He answered, pointing to my birth certificate. "Your name is Natalia Andros, and Mr. and Mrs. Connors are both witness protection agents."

I let out a light laugh, then proceeded to burst into laughter, clutching my sides for support. After receiving a harsh glare from Christian, I spoke up. "That's a good one Chris, you almost got me there." I laughed.

"This is serious Natalia." He stated sharply.

"Don't call me that." It was my turn to be harsh. "My parents could barely make dinner without something catching fire, and you expect me to believe that they're government agents? What, am I the fucking daughter of a god damn drug lord? Why would anyone be after me? Hmm?" I snapped rather rudely.

"Miss Connors, please bare with me, I know this is a lot to take in bu-" I cut him off mid-sentence, immediately getting fired up.

"What the fuck is this? Some practical fucking joke to make me believe this was a fucking set up?" I barked. "And my brother? Was he some secret agent too? This is ridiculous, you're a joke." I spat, flicking through the file in my hands.

For the most part it seemed pretty legit, except for the fact that I was adopted by the biggest nervous wrecks out there, and definitely would never be any kind of agents. My dad had a hard time fixing my bike when it broke because it was "too complex", but he was a government agent. Sure.

Christian stayed silent as I looked through the file, coming across my proclaimed "birth parents". Stacie Lynn Andros was plastered across the top of the page, and gave a very detailed summary of my "mother's" life. Came from a high-class family, went to a good school, but rebelled against her parents by getting arrested, smoking, drinking, vandalizing property and such. Met a "dangerous" boy when she was 17, and became pregnant with me at the age of 18.

Turning the page, the name, Xavier Cole Andros stood out to me. He was the supposed "dangerous boy" that my mother had met and gotten pregnant by. Below was his criminal record, ranging from possession, to burglary, and his brief summary. He was the leader of the largest gang in the East Coast, and had thousands of people after his head. My mother was killed by one of his very unhappy business partners, and I was thought to be next.

My eyes grew wide, reading the reports in the file, basically summing up that my actual father had given me up when I was almost 11, and assigned me to the best agents he knew. My eyes stung as I tried to process the fact that everything I once knew, and everything I had been told about my life, was, in fact, a lie.

I had never tried riding my dog as a toddler, I had never once cut my own hair with crinkle-cut scissors, and I hadn't been the wannabe Cat Woman that my parents had told me I once was. Thinking back, all of the signs were there. The way my "parents" had been extra careful when taking me outside, the way they each had bluetooths attached to their ears every second of the day (A/N for those of you who don't know what bluetooths are, they're like an earpiece that you can answer and make calls with, without having to use your hands/phone), and the way that my parents had never discussed what their job was.

Tears freely slipped from my eyes as I remembered how easily they lied to me, yet acted like a real family.

**

"Come on Angel, it's time to go." My father spoke softly to me as we got up from the grassy patch where we had been picnicking.

"Aww but it's so pretty here. Can't we just stay for 5 more minutes?" I whined, giving him puppy eyes.

He sighed heavily, smoothing out my hair, "Honey, it's getting real dark out." he paused, " but i'll tell you what, when we get home we can make some ice cream sundaes and you can put as many sprinkles on it as you'd like!" He offered.

"Yay!" I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around his neck while he still leaned over to talk to me. "You're the best Daddy in the whole wide world!" I shouted excitedly. He laughed lightly, patting my back, and taking my hand in his.

"That's because Daddy loves his little girl" He answered, smiling.

"I love you too Daddy" I smiled back, walking to the car with the rest of the family, picnic basket in-hand.

**

My stomach clenched in anger, realizing how betrayed I felt in that moment. He lied so easily to me, without a second thought. Like it was his job. Angry tears streamed down my face as my breathing picked up, my fists tightening as I tried to calm myself down.

My mother hadn't lied just as much as my dad, if I can even call them that. She never went out of her way to tell me she loved me, but she was nice to me all the time. I was embarrassed and ashamed that I had let not one, but 2 people trick me into thinking they loved me for so long.

There wasn't even a way to confirm or deny everything I was reading, because they had been killed. I watched the life slip from their eyes right in front of me, hearing they loved me. Their last words had been a lie.

**A/N**

Thank you for reading! Since there is a slight plot twist in the story, I'm going to need your guys' help! Please vote and comment if you'd like me to continue with this story, and let me know what you would like to happen! I'm stuck with deciding whether or not I want Natalie/Natalia's "parents" to still be alive or not, so please comment on what you'd like! This chapter is a bit shorter than most but I really wanted to get this up because of my absence prior to the last chapter. Thank you for getting this to 8.7K reads! That's incredible! I'm so so grateful and you guys are so amazing! :) I'm not sure on when I want to end this story, but your guys' input would definitely be appreciated! Some time soon I will start editing the beginning chapters because they're a bit mediocre compared to the recent chapters. Thank you again and I can't wait to hear what you all think! :)