Adam burned. His heart tightening painfully in his chest as anger flooded through him. Shaking, he closed a fist around the document he held clenched in his hand. After all this time...it had been nothing but lies. Everything. He closed his eyes as the pain rocketed from his heart and rained down against him. Beating him unmercifully for his stupidity.

"That's not me."

Her stammering voice had him opening them back up, taking in her stunned expression. Her face as white as the paper burning his palm.

"Which one is not you, Abigail? Or is it Elizabeth?" He tossed the document at her, rubbing his palm against his slacks as if he could wipe away the traitorous poison seeping into his skin. "Or maybe I should just go back to calling you fucking Trixie."

Taking a sip of his drink, the scotch mixed with the acid churning in his gut making him wince at the burn as he watched her reach out a trembling hand and pick it up. Her face paled further while she skimmed the truth.

Her wide, grey eyes searched the marriage certificate and her mouth fell open in disbelief. If he wasn't positive she was the best damn actress he'd ever encountered, he would be almost convinced she was as flabbergasted as he was.

"It can't be..." she gasped, her quaking fingers reaching for the rest of the documentation in the folder.

Not able to witness any more of her acting skills, Adam strode away from the bar and walked into the living room. Standing in front of the windows looking down at New York beneath his feet, his mind unrelentingly mocked him. The word liar rolled through it over and over. The reality of everything he had felt for her being based on an elaborate fabrication began to sink in. Drowning him in remorse and fury.

He stared out, seeing nothing. Secrets, he could have dealt with, but lies...those were something he would never abide by. He should have known better. From the moment he met her, she had lied to him. What made him think she would have stopped just because he took her to bed and allowed her where no other woman had ever stepped? He snorted under his breath. The great and powerful CEO of Steele Industries...the man with the Midas touch and the devil's soul...had been taken down by a cocktail waitress from the Bronx.

"It's not me." She shuffled the papers. "I...mean...the birthdates...my social security number...it's me....but...," her voice trailed off weakly.

Her softly spoken words drifted over to him and he bowed his head. He clenched his jaw until it felt like it was about to crack from the pressure. So, she was determined to keep up the ruse even though the evidence was slapping her in the face. He drew in a heavy sigh, heat spreading under his skin.

"Enough!" he barked, not bothering to turn and look at her. "Just stop it..." He closed his eyes as her name dangled on the tip of his tongue and he swallowed it furiously back. He shook his head, not sure what to call her anymore. Fuck, he didn't even know what to say to her. His heart thudded dully as his own reflection mirrored the disappointment back at him. Nor was he certain how much more he was willing to hear.

"If you can't tell me the truth, then perhaps its best if you leave," he ground out. The words tasted bitter on his tongue and he took another swig of his drink to try and wash it away.

"I am telling you the truth!" Her passionate plea, made him turn his head.

"Are you?" he asked flatly, raising a brow at the tears he saw falling down her cheeks.

"I know what this looks like," she waved a hand over the documents spread out over the countertop, "but you have to believe me. I...this isn't me." She swiped at the tears with the back of her hand as they continued to fall. "I AM Abigail, dammit!" Her small fist pounded the top of the bar making the bottles rattle.

He gauged her reactions, searching for the flaws in her statement. The flushed cheeks, the rapid fall of her chest, the trembling body and those tears flooding her eyes...it was all very convincing. There was a time when those tears would have shredded him. He turned back towards the window to avoid seeing them. It's all an act by a desperate woman, he reminded himself. A woman who was now cornered by the truth and was trying to weasel her way out.

A woman who is your everything...a small voice niggled at him from the back of his mind and he angrily brushed it aside.

"Save your tears, baby," he muttered. "You are not fooling anyone."

"I'm not trying to fool you! Dammit, Adam...I'm Abby," she choked out on a sob.

Adam crooked his head over his shoulder. "Do you have any proof of that?"

Her mouth dropped open and she snapped it shut before shaking her head. "No. I had an old identification card, but it was in my backpack and destroyed in the fire." Her shoulders took on a defeated sag.

What an excellent performance, he thought tempestuously. Truly, she missed her calling in life. She was wasting her talent being a cocktail waitress. Ability like that deserved to be on the stage.

"How convenient," Adam murmured, turning back towards the window. Unable to look at her.

"Convenient?" Her shocked inhale broke the silence. "You think having your life ripped away from you and replaced by a sick fantasy is convenient?" A bitter laugh came from her lips. "Let me tell you something Mr. Steele. None of this has ever been convenient!"

From the corner of his eye, he saw her slip off the stool and start pacing. Her arms wrapped tightly around her middle as if she was trying to hold herself together. Taking an unconscious step towards her, he had to stop himself from walking over and pulling her into his arms.

Her adamant refusal to admit the truth vexed him. Why not just come clean? He continued to watch as she muttered under her breath and went back to the paperwork to scuffle through it again. Perhaps...this went further than being a manipulative liar. The truth was...he knew very little about her. As angry as he was for being lied to, conceivably...she may not have known she was doing it. He turned and his heart felt heavy in his chest. Elizabeth could be a troubled soul and what she needed was help.

Scowling at his drink for a minute, he asked quietly, "Whose fantasy are you living, Elizabeth? The one you have woven between us or your husband's...the man you are running from?

"What!" She whirled around and gawked at him.

"Do you know what is real anymore?" He calmly spoke to her as if she was a small child. The same voice he had used many times in the past in attempts to pacify his mother. Walking over to her, he placed his now empty drink on the bar. Keeping his distance, Adam reached out and gently tilted her head up with the tip of his finger. "I can help you...if you let me. I have some excellent doctors..."

"You think I'm the sick one?" Her eyes flew open with astonishment as she stumbled backwards. Her hands flying up and scrubbing off his touch as if it had burned her.

He dropped his arm to his side. "Elizabeth," he tried again.

"Don't call me that!" she spat. "Don't you ever fucking call me that!" She shoved him hard in the chest, making him stumble to catch himself.

Stomping up to the folder, she shakily shoved the documents back inside it. Turning, she stalked towards him and slammed his stomach with the damn thing so hard it knocked the wind out of him. Reaching up, he grabbed it to keep her from assaulting him with it further.

"That!" She pointed to the folder he held like a shield. "That is the lie! All perpetrated by a madman!"

Her anger was so intense and unexpected, Adam took a step back from the heat of it. Her whole body trembled and her ashen eyes flashed with rage. Though tears still steamed steadily down her face, her lips were twisted in a sneer as if she would really love to rip his head off and jam the folder down his exposed throat.

Either she was so wrapped up in her imagined world she could no longer discern what was real and what was make-believe or...he glanced up at her...he had just made a horrible mistake. Adam looked down at the documents in his hand. Had he? He ran a shaky palm through his hair. Or was he so willing to believe anything to avoid the pain of the truth. To prevent himself from losing her.

She stormed away from him, pacing the length of the living room before she stopped, her back going ridged.

"Where did you get those?"

His eyes dropped to the folder in his hands. "Does it matter?" He stalled.

"Where did you get those, Adam?" she asked again, spinning around to face him.

His eyes snapped to hers and he didn't like the look they were sending him. The betrayal swimming in them was undeniable making his stomach churn uncomfortably as he got his first pure taste of guilt. Something he wasn't accustomed to.

Fuck! Plowing his hand through his hair, grabbed a fist full and pulled. Tossing the fucking folder up on the counter, he wished like hell he had burnt the evidence of his depravity the night he got it. Pouring himself another drink, he took a healthy swig. The scald of it glided down his throat as grey eyes assessed him from across the room.

He did business with the most influential men in the world with ease, but that stare from her...unsettled him.

"I did a background check," he said finally, lifting his head to meet her gaze.

A muscle jumped in her jaw as she tilted her little chin. "I see."

"You didn't give me a lot of choice," he muttered, swirling the ice in his glass. "Every question I asked...you refused to answer." He took a sip, narrowing his eyes at her. "Just as you are doing now."

"Don't blame your insecurities on me, Mr. Steele," she said bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest. "I could turn the table right back at you. If you would have taken no for an answer..." she scowled at him, "none of this would have happened. My apartment wouldn't be in ashes. Vivian wouldn't be clinging for life in the hospital and you wouldn't have brought the very man responsible for it to my doorstep." Walking towards him, she sneered up at him. "But...no...you wouldn't walk away."

"I couldn't." It was the truth. Just as he couldn't leave her now, though his mind was screaming for him to do just that.

She exhaled an exasperated breath and raised her arms up in the air before dropping them with a clap to her sides. "Why the hell not! Why couldn't you just leave me the fuck alone?"

"Because I loved you, dammit!" The words tumbled from his lips before he could check them and he cringed, breaking away from her astonished scrutiny.

He cursed under his breath in frustration. Where the hell had that come from? He leaned his palms against the coolness of the bar, absorbing the chill. Shit...he wasn't even sure if it was true and if it was...he damn sure wasn't ready to show his cards yet. Fuck, half the time he wasn't willing to admit it to himself, let alone confess it to her. How could he expect her to believe him when he wasn't even sure of the emotion himself? And now...he wasn't even fucking sure who the hell he was admitting it to!

He enjoyed her company. In bed and surprisingly...out of it, more than any other woman he'd ever been with. She incited him in ways he'd never experienced. When she smiled, his heart raced. When she was sad, he wanted to make her happy. His whole behavior when it came to her felt odd and foreign, but it also excited him and pleased him. He wanted more of it and he couldn't stop himself from taking what he wanted.

She was right. He should have walked away, but...he couldn't. She had become his world. His light to show him out of the darkness. And now, he didn't know if the woman he was having these warring feelings over was even real...or if it had all been just an illusion. The fact she might not be his...fucking crushed him.

"You loved me?" Her voice was softer, tinged with awe. "This is how you show love, Adam? You have people checked out?" Her slight shoulders slumped forward, ducking her face away from him. "If you would have given me time...I...I would have told you. I would have told you everything."

His chest tightened, his muscles stiff and his heart was in a contorted snarl.

"Dammit," he said roughly, scrubbing his hand over his face. "I don't know how to act. Or what to do when it comes to you." Getting his shit together, he walked over to where she stood. Surprised at what he was prepared to do considering he had no idea if she was telling the truth or crazy as a jaybird. He hesitated, not sure what exactly to say. "I've never...," he stumbled over his tongue and tried again. "I've never been in this position before." He sighed. "I'm flailing, Abigail. I'm lost...and I have no clue which direction to go."

Slowly, she raised her head to face him. Her bottom lip trembled and she sunk her teeth into the delicate skin. "I tried to push you away, Adam. I tried to keep you out and save you from...all this." She heaved a heavy sigh. "But you kept pushing and pushing..." Rubbing her forehead, she looked up at him with tired grey eyes. "Every time I told you no, you came back with something else. You drove me fucking crazy until I gave in."

What she said, was the truth and he frowned at the realization. She had tried to avoid him at every turn, only he had obstinately refused to be rebuffed. If she had been lying to him, then why bother to push him away? If she had only been trying to lure him into some reprehensible plot, then she would have jumped at his advances instead of rebuking him.

Fuck...he was a first class idiot.

"I know you did, baby." Reaching up, he put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her towards him. Shocked when she didn't resist, he didn't waste a moment and wrapped his arms around her before she could slip away. "I'm so sorry. But...here I am. In the middle and fucking things up left and right," he said gruffly, crushing her to him.

Easing her head back, she looked at him. Her smoky eyes shimmering. "You are a monumental fuck up, Mr. Steele," she said, giving him a trembling smile.

"Thank you," he grinned wryly. Dropping a kiss on the top of her head, he looked down at her. "I'm trying, Abigail. I truly am," he said sincerely. "And I am very sorry for my poor reactions."

"It's too late," she pulled out of his arms, "the damage has been done." She gave him a forlorn look he didn't like. "By getting that background check you've started a domino effect that can't be stopped."

"What are you talking about?" He took a step towards her. Fear skating up his spine as he felt her slip more than physically from his fingers.

"He found me because of you," she said, turning and walking towards the windows.

"Who had found you?" he growled, chasing after her and grabbing her by the elbow. Spinning her to face him. "Enough of the riddles! What the fuck is going on, Abigail?"

"My stepdad."

Shock made Adam stumble back a step, but he kept his hands gripped on her shoulders to ensure she didn't get away from him again. "You're stepdad?" What the hell did he have to do with any of this?

She nodded. "Dean Swanson."

The name on the marriage certificate. Her husband...was her stepdad? Adam wavered, instantly releasing her. This was nothing he could have ever imagined. "Your husband is your own stepfather?" Though he tried to keep it out, he couldn't stop the disgust from creeping into his voice.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" she said, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "He is not my husband! Do you hear me? That...that forgery is not real. I'm Abigail Madison Lane! Elizabeth Swanson was my mother!"

Adam didn't know if men fainted or not, but he sure as fuck felt like he was about to as he staggered over to the couch and flopped his ass on it. What the hell kind of trouble was she in?

Author's Note:

Hello my darlings!

I have decided to put my books on a new rotating schedule. So, from now on or until further notice, Bending Steele will be updated every other Thursday. This give me time to spend on creating quality chapters you deserve and actually gives me a chance to...you know...go outside once in awhile. :)

I hope you enjoyed this latest installment and if you liked it, you will consider giving it a vote. I also love hearing from you and comments are always appreciated. If you don't see any updates here, check out my other stories When Roses Collide, FANGED and Steal You Away.

As always, thank you for reading!

Sincerely,

K