Chapter 4 .

Aria's pov.

After I had gotten to the motel, Richard told me to go to. I got a room and texted him my room number. After that, I ended up taking a shower.

It had been such a long day and I let myself cry in the shower thinking back on everything my mother told me before she died.

When I got out of the shower, I dried off and started to apply the concealer to hide all my bruises. I do it out of habit. Ivan always told me my bruises made me even uglier to look at despite he was the reason I have them.

I got dressed in gray sweatpants. I struggled to get on a sports bra because of my broken ribs. Not that I feel the pain, but the movement makes it, so I get pressure on my lungs or something.

Then I got a black singlet on before I got my big black hoodie on again. I still haven't looked inside the envelope I got from Ruben and Dahlia, but I will have to get to that when I have figured out my situation. So I hid the envelope with my cash I have, and put it in a hidden compartment I have in my backpack.

After that, I just sat down on the motel bed. I don't want to lay down, because I know if I do, I will fall asleep and Richard will be here soon.

After an hour, I suddenly heard there was a knock on my motel door. I carefully walked over to it.

"Who is it?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"Aria, it's me, Richard Kingston." He answered, and I recognized the voice from the phone call with him.

I carefully opened the door and stepped aside, to let him in.

Richard seems to be 52 years old, he is 186 cm tall. He has short mahogany brown hair, dark brown eyes and a straight nose. He also looked like a lawyer, he had the whole lawyer vibe about him.

He looked at me a little shocked before a warm smile was on his face. I was also careful not to look him in the eyes.

"Oh my, it truly is you, Aria. You have your mother's eyes and nose. You have your father's hair color, and you are a dead ringer to your twin brother other that he is taller, more manly features, and he has a straight nose instead." Richard said, and I could hear his voice break.

I looked up at him shocked. I have a twin brother? Who looks like me? Just more manly of course.

"It's so good to see you again, Aria." Richard said, and I saw tears make their way down his face.

He moved closer, and it looked like he was about to give me a hug, but I ended up flinching and that stopped him in his tracks.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to give you a hug. But we can wait till you feel more safe. I understand life with Ivan is worse than I originally thought." He said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"You know me?" I asked him, still shocked. He said it was good to see me again, so that meant he had seen me before.

"Yes, I have worked with your family as their lawyer since before you were born." He said, giving me a warm smile.

"Let us get out of here. I have booked us a hotel suite for the night. It's more secure than this motel and Ivan won't be able to get to us there." He said, motioning for me to go out the door.

I nodded and picked up my backpack before I carefully headed out of the motel room and Richard walked behind me, not so close that I was uncomfortable, but not far away either.

We got to the parking lot and there I saw a few black SUVs waiting, together with what seemed like guards, that made me start to tremble.

"Please don't worry Little one, they are here to keep us safe. They won't do you any harm. On that you have my word." Richard said, walking up next to me and looking at me with an understanding expression.

And for some odd reason, I do believe him. I gave a small nod, and he smiled back before he motioned for me to a car where a man was holding the door open for us to get in.

I took my backpack off my shoulder and one of the men put a hand forward to take my backpack put I pulled on more into my chest and started to shake a little. That backpack is now everything I own, I have all my money in it.

"It's okay, you can have your backpack close to you, nobody will take it away from you." Richard said with an understanding voice, and the men holding out his hand for my backpack stepped back and we got into the car.

I held my backpack protective on my lap.

"When we get to the hotel, it will be late. So I will let you get some rest and we will speak more tomorrow. The suite has two bedrooms and nobody will come into your room. But some of the men here will stand guard both inside the common area of the suite and in the hallway." Richard said, on the other side of the back seat in the SUV we were in.

"That is only because Ivan is out there, and we don't want him or the Russian to come for you, Aria." Richard added and I nodded in understanding.

"I'm so sorry for all the trouble I'm causing you, Sir. But my mother said, I should trust you and only you." I said, pulling my backpack closer to me.

"Little one, this is no trouble at all. And I'm so happy to be here with you. To finally bring you back home. The rest of your family have been looking for you all these years." Richard said at first with a warm smile. The last part more sadly.

"Do the rest know you are with me right now?" I asked with a shaky voice. It actually scares me to think that I have this whole family I have never known.

"No, I haven't told them about you yet. I needed to make sure you were real and just not some person to pretend to be our missing Aria. But you are without a doubt, our Aria." He said, first a little sadly and carefully, the last part more happily.

"Please can you give me a few days to come to terms with it all before you tell them? I have just lost my mother and the life I knew has all been a lie." I asked low with a shaky voice.

I'm not a person that asks for favors or anything often. But I'm at a loss for words right now, and I feel I truly can trust Richard.

"Of course, if that's your wish." He said, smiling warmly.