Truth or Lies? by A. Gomez (books to get back into reading TXT) 📕

“I think so. He was looking at it for a very long time before he put it on.” She looked slightly bemused at the thought of Josh. “He was asking a lot of questions about you. The man looked like he was in agony, he was so distraught,” she added.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said dryly. “But, I’m sure his other girlfriends will help him feel better.”

“Isa,” Belín began, “there are no other girlfriends.” She turned the laptop around to show me two more pictures of girls. It was the two girls on Josh’s phone. “Do these two girls look familiar, Isa?” She quickly scrolled to another shot of one of the girls. “Remember, I said that Ben could only tell me certain things but I was able to fill in the blanks? Well, these girls were one of those blanks. When I was showing Ben my pictures he immediately had an unusual amount of questions about these two particular girls. I quickly caught on and asked him a few questions as well. He answered what he could and I filled in the blanks.” She sounded proud of herself.

“Belín, I don’t understand. How are you connected with these girls? These are the girls I saw on Josh’s phone.” Then Ben’s words came back to me, echoing in my head, “Josh is good at all things tech, including cell phones.”

16

I covered my mouth, astonished. All those instances Ben glanced at me when he was talking about Josh’s background in computer science and technology. That time at the hospital when he didn’t seem surprised at all at the girls on Josh’s phone. He also added how there were usually more girls. It all made sense now. Those girls weren’t girlfriends on the back burner. This was in fact work related! And I didn’t believe him. I was such a bitch to him. “Ugh!” I cried, covering my eyes.

“Belín, how?”

“These girls’ names are Elsa and Inara.” She continued, “Both of them are from Kosovo, Elsa is eighteen and Inara is nineteen. They are both here in the U. S. but I’m not certain where… yet. I have an idea, however.” She passed me the laptop so I could continue scrolling through the pictures. “They are the prime example of wanting a better life and being tricked by a Romeo. The Romeo promised them a wonderful life in the U.S., he told each of the girls he loved her, he wanted to be with her, build a life with her…” she said. “The Romeo was able to send each of them a passport and somehow get them into the United States. I don’t know how but they are both here.”

“And Josh is involved because he was able to see activity online from the people who brought them here,” I added. “Oh, my goodness! Did the girls know each other in Kosovo?”

“No, they were from two different towns in Kosovo. However, they may possibly know each other now since they are in the same city together and were both tricked by the same handsome Romeo.” She continued, “And yes, Josh is involved because he’s very good at what he does. He was able to find out where these girls are but the FBI is not telling me. Fear of jeopardizing the case, you know.” She waved her hand in the air as if it were a silly thought.

“So, this is the story you’re following here…these two girls. You suspect they may be somewhere in Dallas, don’t you?” I asked, stunned.

“Yes.”

“So, Josh was telling the truth,” I stated.

“Yes, he was,” she said.

“And once again, I behaved so horribly.” I closed my eyes and exhaled heavily. “How can I ever make amends? Will he ever forgive me? I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t.” I was guilt ridden. “I should’ve stopped to listen.”

Belín pushed the laptop aside and took my hands in hers. “Isa, he is the epitome of a man in love. He is completely in love with you and I believe you can do no wrong in his eyes.” A smile flashed across her face. “My father has always said that whatever man loves Isabel Grace will need divine patience,” she snickered.

I frowned. “I’m not that difficult.”

“Enough for him to need divine patience.” She was still giggling.

I giggled a little, feeling more regret than anything else. I handed her the laptop so she could finish uploading and emailing. I wanted to get dressed and run to Josh. I wanted to hold him and beg his forgiveness. I wanted to be with him.

“I can sense what you are thinking, Isabel. Is there anything you want to talk about?”

I thought for a moment. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to see Josh anytime soon or at all,” I replied. “Ben said it would be better if I didn’t distract him so he can recover and now I have to pretend I have feelings for David again.” I was despondent.

“If it were me,” she exclaimed, “I would go to him, declare my feelings and throw myself into his arms and never let go. At least that’s how we think in Spain,” she said passionately, hugging herself. “Who cares what Ben said and what you’re supposed to do. You could die tonight and will have never declared your love for Joshua Rockwall.”

“So, is that what you did with Ben?” I eyed her, smirking. “Declared your feelings and threw yourself into his arms?” I teased. She looked at me smiling, her eyebrows wiggling at me but didn’t answer. “You naughty girl! You two have done way more than just talk.”

We started laughing uncontrollably. Ben walked in without knocking, his hand on his weapon. He must have just heard a commotion instead of laughter.

“Is everything all right?” he asked.

I stopped laughing and tried to wipe