Everyone Has Something To Hide

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ever since receiving the news that Link will be out of town for a family emergency, not so sure about the emergency -- Link not answering any of her texts. It's been a few days since Trevor left and her parents are working, a knock on the door interrupting her thoughts. She opens the door and sees Link.

"Hi," she says a little surprised. She notices a faint bruise over his eye.

"Can I come in?"

Juliane nods, letting him in.

"How are you?" he steps inside, sliding his jacket off.

"I'm fine, you?" she asks, taking his jacket and placing it over the chair.

"I'm alright, but I need to talk to you."

"Okay," she walks over.

"Juliane, I have to tell you something about Trevor and I need to know if you want me to tell you or not."

"Okay," she says once more, crossing her arms -- instantly getting an uneasy feeling.

"The company that Trevor works for is involved in money laundering for the cartel, some of the money went missing around when the incident happened in your home. I think that they sent someone to your home to intimidate Trevor to rat on his business partners."

"You're lying," she says softly.

Link pulling out a folder and opening it, taking out pictures of Trevor with a bunch of people she doesn't recognize. He sets out pictures of mugshots.

"I'm so sorry," he says softly.

She takes each picture and looks at them one by one. Juliane completely silent.

"Juliane?" he looks at her.

"So they killed my daughter," she says softly -- that night flashing in her memory.

"Juliane look at me. I will hunt down every single one of these people if that is what you want and I will go get Trevor and drag him to your front doorstep if that's what you want."

Her face a mixture of rage and sadness.

Link continues. "Juliane, look at me," he says once more. "You have suffered enough for this, you do not deserve to suffer anymore. If you think revenge will help you heal then I will give that to you but you cannot let this control you. It will overwhelm you. I know how it feels when it is all you can think about but I am here to help you."

Juliane's eyes fill with tears. She jumps as her phone rings on the counter.

Link ignores it. "Juliane, I think that you should ignore that until you relax for a minute."

"Can you at least see who it is," she says softly, wiping her eyes.

Link nods, standing up and walking to the counter and picks up the phone. "It's him."

Juliane ignores it.

"What can I do?"

"Nothing," she shakes her head.

"Talk to me."

"I'll handle Trevor."

"What are you going to do?" he asks, using his sleeves to wipe her eyes.

"I don't know."

"Do you want me to stay or leave?"

"I don't want to be mean, but can you just leave me alone?" she says softly.

Link looks at her, leaning over and picking her up -- carrying her upstairs. He lays her down and climbs in the bed behind her. He holds her, letting her slowly fall asleep. His eyes begin to get heavy right as he hears their names being called out. He carefully gets up without waking her and going downstairs.

"Hey, she's asleep," Link comes down, smiling at her parents.

"Is she okay?" Jan asks concerned.

Link shrugs, dropping the American accent and bringing his normal English accent back. "There is something that I need to tell you both," he says, sitting down. He tells them about him, not telling them the information he found on Trevor, wanting Juliane to be able to tell them on her own time. "I wanted to completely honest with both of you because I am in love with your daughter."

"You're in love with Juliane?" her mom asks.

"Yes, it killed me to see her with Trevor last week but when I was gone, I realized even more that she is all that I can think about and that I will fight for her, however I have to."

Jan smiles and nods, listening to him.

"I have to go pick up Bella, can you let Juliane know that I'll call her later?" he asks, standing up.

"I will," Jan nods.