The Lies That Define Us (Us 2)

“I’ll tell you what makes us different.” He circled back around to stand in front of me. “You have a weakness and I don’t.”

I stared up at him unflinchingly.

“Raymond?” he prompted, tilting his head to the side. “Bring our guest in. I think Scarlett is going to need a bit more persuasion to see things my way. I knew she would.” He winked at me.

I’d never known the lowering of an eyelid could seem so menacin

g, but on Blaise, it was downright chilling.

“Felix,” he spoke to the man behind me, “restrain her.”

“Hell no.” I jerked upright out of the chair. I hadn’t been standing more than a second when a fist slammed into the side of my face, and I crumpled to the ground. The breath had been knocked out of my lungs and my cheek throbbed painfully. Pressing my hands to the floor, I spat out a wad of blood. A large hand closed around my arm and yanked me up so fast that I screamed when it felt like my shoulder had been torn from the socket.

“Ari? Ari.”

I was shoved down onto the chair and saw Liam being dragged into the room by Raymond. My arms were jerked behind me and my hands bound by a thin, coarse rope. Felix tied it so tight that my I could feel my fingers beginning to go numb.

“Are you okay?” Liam asked me as he was pushed into the chair across from me.

There was a large bruise spreading over the left side of his face and bruises on his arms from fighting back, but other than that, he looked okay, which allowed me to breathe the tiniest sigh of relief.

I nodded. “I’m okay,” I squeaked. “You?”

“Well, isn’t this exchange sweet.” Blaise chuckled, and even his laugh sounded like ice falling from the side of a building. Standing between us, Blaise clasped his hands together, positioned in front of his stomach. I knew it to be his “non-threatening” stance. “Chair,” he demanded again and Raymond quickly slid one over to him.

Blaise sat down in the chair so that the three of us formed a triangle with him at the head.

“My sweet, sweet Scarlett, I’m going to tell you a story. Now listen close, I want you to understand.” I swallowed thickly and stared straight ahead at Liam. “I want you to listen too.” I saw him swing his gaze toward Liam. “In fact, I think I’ll start at the very beginning so you’ll understand her better.”

I lifted my head to the ceiling and tears leaked out of the corner of my eyes.

Please, I begged, let us get out of here alive. Please. Liam doesn’t deserve this. If someone has to die, let it be me.

“I know Scarlett’s told you she was ‘kidnapped’ but that’s not true.”

I closed my eyes and swallowed thickly.

“She was traded.”

“Traded?” I heard Liam speak in a surprised tone. “What the fuck does that mean?”

I lowered my head and rolled my shoulders, trying to get some feeling into my slowly dying limbs.

“I’m a very powerful man, Mr. Wade. Lots of people owe me, and when they don’t pay up, I come to collect. Be it a car, or a house, or whatever I deem worthy enough to fill the debt. In Scarlett’s case, her father owed me a lot of money, and his time was up. When I came to collect and he couldn’t pay up, I decided I wanted her,” he pointed at me, “and I always get what I want.”

Liam stared at me questioningly, and I closed my eyes, unable to look at him.

“So her father and I made a trade. I got Scarlett, and he got to walk away debt free. Now, of course, we had to make it look like she was kidnapped for the benefit of her mother. That was part of our agreement, that her mother never know the truth of what her father had done.”

More tears came.

I hadn’t known that.

Oh God.

“You’re lying!” I spat.

Blaise’s dark eyes swung to me. “Why would I lie? I have nothing to lose.”