Desperate Lies (Lies 2)

“We keep Liesel from getting money. She’s desperate. I need her that way to end this.”

Kai and Siren exchange glances.

Beckett nods in agreement—I’ve always liked him.

Zeke shows no emotion. He’s always ready to do what I ask; no questions asked—even after everything that has happened between us.

Enzo studies Siren, like he’s begging her to be the voice of reason.

“No kidnapping or hurting her to get what you want. There are five of us. We can stop her from getting money or harming us without hurting her. Liesel’s on our side. We just have to remind her of that,” Siren says, her look threatening death if I disobey her.

Siren’s wrong—Liesel isn’t on our side. I don’t think she was ever on anyone’s side except her own.

“Promise me, no hurting or kidnapping Liesel. We’ve all betrayed this family at one point or another to protect ourselves or someone we love. That’s all Liesel is doing. Just remind her that we all love her and want her to join us again,” Siren continues as she walks to me.

I frown as she puts her hands on either side of my face. “Promise me.”

There is no getting around this. Siren won’t stop until I promise. And she knows I won’t break a promise—not with her. I won’t risk my relationship with her. Our connection is too strong. I need Siren in my life.

“I promise I won’t kidnap or hurt Liesel unless she’s trying to hurt or kill one of us. I will protect everyone in this room above everything. But if Liesel tries to hurt one of you, I will stop her with whatever means necessary.”

“Liesel won’t try to hurt us,” Siren says.

Everyone else in the room exchanges glances. Liesel has already hurt the rest of us. Siren just hasn’t felt the same level of pain because she knows Liesel the least.

“She might,” Kai says.

Siren’s head whips to her. “You’re not helping.”

“I’m just being honest. Liesel is always welcome in this group, but only if she chooses to put our family first. She’s not doing that right now. We don’t know what she’s gotten into. We don’t know how dangerous she is,” Kai answers.

I pull Siren to me, holding her tight against my chest to try and reassure her. “I promise I won’t hurt her unless I have to.”

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She nods, and a soft sigh escapes her lips.

I’ll do my best to keep my promise to her, at least while we are on this yacht. But someday, I’ll be forced to break my promise. There is no way this ends without Liesel dead. She’s done too much.

At midnight, we all leave my room and head to the center of the yacht. We are all wearing tuxes, fancy dresses, and masks to cover our faces. Although, we don’t really need to hide who we are.

We are greeted by one of the employees as we walk down the hallway.

“If you could head to the top deck, you will be given more instructions from there,” a man in a sharp suit says.

Wordlessly, we climb to the top deck, where several people are already gathered. There is a small bar set up with drinks. We all walk over to get one to hold in our hands, not because any of us will be partaking. We need to be completely clear-headed for whatever we have gotten ourselves into.

“Where is she?” Zeke asks, holding a whiskey drink in his hand as he scans the deck. Everyone is dressed like this is the most extravagant party they have ever attended. And everyone has a mask on. Even so, I can spot some politicians, athletes, and models in the crowd.

“I don’t see her yet,” I answer.

“She better be here. I don’t know what we’ve gotten ourselves into, but I don’t like it,” Zeke says.

“She will be,” I say.

I tracked her phone here. She’s here.

I take a sip of my scotch. I guess I’m going to be needing a bit of alcohol to get through tonight after all.