Free The Devil's Masquerade: The Poison by Jennifer Loren

those wonderful memories. My father is gone Nick. I have no one left but you.”
    “Your father died?’ I ask, and she nods with tears in her eyes. I open up my arms, and she immediately dives into them. She begins telling me all about how her father died and left her alone and unsure what to do with her life until one day she found an old picture of us together, a picture that she has hidden in her wallet. I smile as I take the picture from her hand. The day I talked her into skipping school and spending the day with me. The only way she would was if I promised to take her to the zoo. I threw her over my shoulder and acted like I was dragging her there, just in case someone found the picture they could blame me for her skipping school. I have to admit, that was a great day.
    “You remember, don’t you?” She asks smiling as I do. “That was a wonderful day. I still can’t believe you talked me into going to a stinky zoo, but you do have an incredible way of getting me to do whatever you want.” She approaches me, caressing my face, and looking into my eyes. I look at her awkwardly, but before I can challenge her memory, she stands up on her toes and steadies herself to kiss me. I quickly turn my head before she reach my lips. She stands back in shock and then smacks me hard across the face. “Fuck you! You said I meant something, but I was nothing to you!”
    “I didn’t come here to rekindle our old relationship. That relationship is over. I’m in love with Kayla now, truly in love with her. We can be friends, but we can never be anything more.” I give her a sideways glare as I rub my stinging face. “I came here to get answers and nothing more. Now tell me, Franky, why are you really here and why is there no record of you anywhere? I just had a friend of mine search through DMV records, real estate sales, car deeds, but there is nothing. There is nothing about you anywhere, not even at the college you say you graduated from,” I say, pointing to the framed degree on the wall.
    “I can’t believe you don’t trust me, Nick.”
    “Answer me then.”
    “Of course there is no record. Everything is still under the name the FBI gave me.”
    “Which is?”
    “I can’t tell you that, not until I have clearance from the FBI. But since you seem so insistent on knowing, I guess I will ask them if it is okay to share that information with you. Until then, I can’t give you much more than my word that I am only here for your mother right now. I will admit, I came searching for you, but once I found out you were married, I backed off and found comfort supporting your mother. You do not know how hard that was for me. You don’t know how many times I have dreamed about being with you again. I have learned a lot since we were together last. It would be nice to prove to you that I can fuck better than you have ever had,” she says, shocking me. “But for now, I have to go. My boyfriend is picking me up, and I am going to spend tonight fucking him .”
    “You want to fuck me, but you have a boyfriend? What is with you? You are not at all like I remember. You’re more like that girl I told you not to be. Remember that wannabe girl, the one that you pretended to be that night at the party when I had to rescue from that goon who was all over you? The night you thought it better to wear high heels and a short skirt with lots of makeup and overdone hair,” I say pointing out all the things she is wearing now that match that night exactly. “This is not you. I don’t know who this girl is, but it isn’t anyone I want to associate with.”
    “I am not a girl anymore Nick. If you would wake up for a second, you might realize that. As far as my relationship, he and I have a special open relationship, which works much better than any marriage I have seen. You should try it. When you get tired of being married to a dominating, paranoid, lunatic let me know. Now, if you don’t mind, please leave now so I can lock