Chapter 28

After seeing Doctor Calloway, she went home distraught and confused. Nothing was working. She didn't know why or how, but it was getting increasingly hard to find out who she was.

In the boarding house, she settled for some crackers and soda, since having dinner would require her either using the communal kitchen or going out to buy lunch.

She had thought escaping would be freeing and fun, but it made her feel trapped in a way. Trapped in the never ending reality that she would never be able to recover her memories and would forever remain lost to her own self.

A stranger to the life she was living and the people she knew. It wasn't very easy, not being able to remember.

She picked up her phone and contemplated calling Remington. Somehow, in some way she missed him, more than she cared to admit. With his long black hair, his intense eyes and the way he never ceased to protect her. If she was being brutally honest with herself, Remington wasn't actually all that bad.

He was good to her. He treated her well and she knew he would have given her her freedom on a platter if she had asked.

But she didn't ask. And now spending time alone had made her miss him even more. She remembered their time at Alaska, it was a truly beautiful moment, she remembered falling asleep in his arms while she was in heat, how he would sometimes hold her when she had a nightmare.

She remembered everything.

Out of a spur of the moment thing she decided to go out again. Dr Calloway had been kind enough to tell her the spot where her body was found, she thought it was best she went there. Maybe being there would bring back some memories.

It was already late in the evening, but she went anyway, she had asked for directions and realized it was only a ten minutes walk from the boarding house.

She would walk.

She had switched her dress for jeans and a cropped top, her shoes were walking shoes. She had bought some clothes from the local shops to blend in, they somehow made her look like a teenager. She wore nothing but a pair of glasses, no makeup but some lipgloss as she started her walk to the spot.

After only about two or three minutes of walking, it became increasingly obvious to Valentina that she was being followed. The man wasn't even trying to hide it, he had been following her since she left the boarding house.

And the large black hoodie that covered his face was a dead giveaway.

It looked like Remy had finally caught up with her she thought as a wry smile appeared on her face. She should have expected him, that he would not leave her hanging for so long.

She continued her walk, but then as she approached a dark alleyway she took a turn into it, ready to confront Remy's man.

She would tell whoever he sent to stop following her. And to tell Remy to leave her alone and let her do things on her own terms.

That would be all.

She paused and turned, the man in the hoodie turned around the corner and revealed his face. Valentina stilled.

Wait a minute.

She thought as she stepped back a little.

The man didn't look like one of Remy's men. Not with the bald head and the snake tattoo, she had seen a lot of the men that were in Remy's park, none of them looked like him. Not even the scary looking once.

Oh no, he looked like a thug.

And he was walking towards her. Another man showed up, in the same black clothes, but no disguise this time.

He smiled at her fondly, like he knew her.

"So we meet again Valentina. It's been too long mi amor!"

She was tied and gagged. Like some common prisoner at the back of a van at first, then they brought her to a house and dumped her in one of the empty rooms. She was tied to the chair again, her hands and legs tied so tightly that she could barely move, even her mouth was gagged. She tried to free herself, but the more she moved, the more the rope seemed to tighten around her legs and her wrists, causing them to hurt even more. She decided to give up and wait to see what they wanted.

If it was money, then that could be easily arranged, she'd just call Remy. But if it wasn't and it was something else, she feared what it would be.

She must have been tied for at least ten minutes before someone finally came out to talk to her.

The same man from earlier. Tall, dark clothes and bald. He looked at her like he knew her, his small beaded black eyes stared at her relentlessly without blinking and she had to admit she was curious about him, about him and what he wanted from her.

They removed her gag and she panted slightly.

"Who are you?"

Her voice was raspy and sore, but she managed to say a coherent statement.

"Who am I?!"

She nodded.

"Are we playing games now Valentina?"

The man asked and she shrugged.

"I don't know who you are."

She answered and he chuckled.

Another one of his men came into the room around the same time, he was the one with the tattoos, the one that had chased her at first.

"I'm not here to play games Valentina. That's your thing, not mine."

He answered and she shrugged.

"Well I'm not playing any games. I don't know who you are!"

"Or why you have tied me up like some common criminal!"

"Because that's exactly what you are!"

The man shouted.

"A common thief!! A criminal who stole from me!"

She relaxed in her chair.

Did this have to do with something from her past life? Did it have to do with her losing her memory?

Did she truly steal something?

God this memory stuff was a bummer sometimes, she thought as she sighed.

"What did I steal from you?!"

She asked and the man looked livid.

"Perhaps, my man Shirley here might juggle your memories a bit."

He said as he pointed to the burly man behind him.

Valentina shifted nervously.

"For every question you get wrong, he hits you."

Valentina shook her head nervously.

"I swear! I don't know anything! I can't remember anything!"

"Why did you run away from me?!"

"I-I I don't know!"

She answered.

The first blow came as a surprise, but it landed squarely on her left cheek and Valentina shuddered in horror at the pain that followed.

..............

"How do you know she's here?"

Marielle asked and Remy smiled. They had arrived in town late in the morning, after leaving Hidden hills at the crack of dawn, with Remy determined that he would find Valentina there.

"It's Valentina. She can be very predictable."

He answered as he looked around. The only issue now was where she was going to be, he already knew she was in town, he just had to find out where.

When Kale had run to him saying Valentina was missing, he wasn't shocked, just disappointed. Perhaps he had gotten the wrong idea while they were watching the northern lights, but he thought they were growing closer to each other.

Apparently he was alone in his feelings, she didn't feel the same way. She never did before she lost her memories and she still didn't now.

It was time he gave up and stopped trying.

For the first two days he didn't look for her, despite his mother's insistence and everyone edging him to find her.

"If she wants to leave she's free to leave. This is not her cage."

He had told his mother.

"Bu-but she's your Luna!"

His mother had responded.

"And that has never meant anything to Valentina mother. Nothing at all! Even before she lost her memories she didn't care for me or how I was to her, why do you think now is any different?!"

"Remy please. She might be in danger."

That was the only thing that prompted him to look for her.

He would just check to be sure she wasn't in any danger. And then he would let her go forever. This time he wouldn't try again.

"So I've called up the hotels and motels in town, no one under the name of Valentina Combe."

"Do you think she's using an alias?"

Marielle asked and Remy shook her head.

"I don't think she would. But since she's not at the hotels and motels it'll mean she's looking for the less obvious ways of staying around without drawing attention to herself."

"And how will we find her then?!"

Remy scratched his chin.

"I'm thinking... I tried checking for Airbnbs but there's very few options for those. I'll talk to a local about how the housing situation works."

"Do you think she got her memories back?"

Marielle asked.

Remy didn't have any answer to that, but he didn't completely rule out the possibility. Besides, this wasn't the first time she tried to run away. Before she lost her memories she was trying to run away and after she lost them she was still trying. It was a pattern at this point, with or without her memory Valentina was always trying to run somewhere.

And it had to do with this town. Something about the town kept drawing her back, he just had to figure out what it was.