Twist My Heart by Brooke Taylor (ebook audio reader .txt) 📕

to entertain and influence. Hollywood A-listers, sports stars, titans of business, political influencers, crowned heads of Europe… You name it.”

“Your brother hardly has the personality for guest service. What does he do for him?”

“Security is the short answer. I learned a long time ago not to ask too many questions about Coop’s work.”

Which I took to mean I shouldn’t ask any more questions either. But question after question popped into my head. I had enough anxiety about my own issues without trying to figure Coop’s out. Distracting myself from it all, I rashly changed the subject to something more social. Normal people asked about each other’s work, so naturally I blurted, “Nik tells me you go in a cage and beat the shit out of people for a living.”

At Leo’s jaw dropping, I immediately wanted to reel the words back into my mouth and rearrange them like a proper, filtered person should.

He grinned at my obvious embarrassment. “Nik and Coop always make it sound so brutal, like they forget it is an art. It’s right there in the name—Mixed Martial Arts. Which makes me more of an artist.”

He did have a creative look about him. And I really couldn’t imagine Leo hurting anyone, even though he was strong enough to. But… “Nik said the last guy you fought left with his face rearranged, like literally. He had to have a nose transplant or something.”

Oh my God, why couldn’t I control my mouth?

“Picasso is my muse. I could think of worse.” Leo smirked as I continued putting the cleaned potatoes, now salted and stabbed, oiled and foiled, onto a baking sheet. “So this was Nik’s idea of pillow talk? Why am I not surprised?”

I blushed, recalling a lot more than talking going on among those pillows. “So, um, Nik said you helped him research me on the computer?”

“Nice change of subject. I tried to access the flash drive, but none of my usual tricks worked. I don’t suppose you remember the password?”

“I don’t remember my name or how to bake a potato.” I mimicked him, sliding my tray into the preheated oven.

“Yet you somehow remember how to fire a carbine, speak German and Sanskrit, and know how to twist men like Nik in knots and make men like Coop speechless.”

“It’s wild. I have no idea where most of the things out of my mouth come from. I guess we could try putting me on a keyboard and seeing what I type.”

“We do have an hour to kill waiting on the potatoes.”

“An hour? I’m going to die.”

“You’ll survive.” Leo handed me an Outbreak energy bar to tide me over, then walked into the great room and pushed the red flash drive into the USB port.

The supple brown leather of the office chair felt cold and smelled rich as I scooted it up to the built-in desk. Closing my eyes, my fingers found their place on the keyboard. Within a few strokes I was in.

“That was easy. What was the magic word?”

“WickedGames321.” I lifted my foot, wiggling my sparkly red toes. “The color of the nail polish in my purse. I knew there had to be a reason I had it. Now what? What do these files look like to you?”

“Photos mostly.” Leo leaned around me to change the view from file name to image before enlarging them. The screen filled with a hundred or more pictures of two girls from the time they were babies until barely teenagers. “Recognize anything?”

The uneasy sensation wasn’t a memory, but the weight of it had me so breathless, the words had to be pushed from my lips. “My sister.”

My fingers trembled as I clicked through the photos of the girls smiling, hugging, and playing like best friends. So happy. And like Nik had suggested, there were several shots of us riding horses and playing at a farm somewhere. My mind was spinning like a cyclone, my heartbeat frantic.

Clicking out of the files, I removed the thumb drive. I hadn’t been prepared to see pictures of myself or of my sister. I wanted to take my time with them and study them in private, when I was ready.

Leo pushed out a long breath. “Not what I was expecting.”

Me either. “What were you expecting?”

“Maybe hoping is a better word. It would be nice to know why you’re running and who you’re running from.”

What if I hadn’t been running from something but instead I had been running to someone?

I’d been so sure the items I’d escaped with had no personal value. But these images proved my sister meant everything to me. Being with Aimee at the mall, laughing and being girly, had seemed to fill a void. Now it made sense. Losing my sister had created an impact so large the crater remained even though the memory of it hadn’t. But did it mean I believed she was alive? Had I been trying to find her? Would I still be able to find her now, with no memories to go off of?

Didn’t matter. Being on the run prevented me from searching for her… Yet.

“Maybe it’s the money someone wants?” I suggested. “It’s a lot.”

“Twenty-five thousand dollars isn’t enough. When people go to this kind of effort, it’s either for revenge or because you have something on them and they need to silence you.”

“So let me get this straight, you think I know something big enough someone is willing to kill me over? And I have amnesia?” I laughed, because really, what else was there to do. “I guess the joke is on them, huh? Or me.”

“They aren’t just willing to kill you, Thea. They’ve already done it. If someone has those kinds of abilities, they’re pretty powerful.”

The pain usually throbbing in the back of my head had moved front and center. I pushed the heel of my palm between my eyes. “Are you sure no one can follow me to Marakata Cay?”

“You need to talk to Coop if you want to know more about the island.”

I slowly lowered my