Midnight Lies (Tasarov Bratva 2)

ADRIK

"Bullshit." I bat the idea away without even considering it. "That's not possible."

"It's true." Emery takes a step toward me, but I hold out a hand to stop her. Hurt flashes across her face. "I wouldn't lie about this."

"Of course you would."

"Why would I lie, Adrik? What do I gain from lying?"

"You'd separate me from my brother," I explain. "You are trying to break up my family. Turn us against one another."

She wouldn’t be the first to try. It ended poorly for the last one.

"I tried to leave with Isabella so I wouldn't have to do that!" Her green eyes are glassy with unshed tears. “I just want to be safe. I just want my daughter to be safe. I don’t have any ulterior motives here.”

I’m not convinced. "On our honeymoon, you told me you didn't even know who your rapist was."

"I didn't," she admits. "I don’t know if he drugged me or… fuck, I don’t know. But Yasha has a scar on his arm. I saw it that night at dinner, and I had a flashback. I remembered it.”

“That doesn’t prove—”

“I remembered him on top of me,” she continues. Her eyes flutter closed like she can block out the memory if she keeps them that way. “I pushed and screamed and tried to get him off, but I was too weak. And later… I remember him on the phone, laughing.”

She’s not even talking to me anymore. She’s seeing it all again, reliving the experience.

Fuck me.

She’s telling the truth.

“So when you left the other night…”

“It’s because I remembered him,” she finishes, blinking up at me. “I remembered him and I had to get out. I had to get Isabella away from him. From both of you.”

“Both of us?”

Suddenly, Emery rears back. She wraps her arms tightly around herself. “It can’t be an accident that I ended up in your house, Adrik. Why did you choose to marry me? Why me?”

“Because you were the first woman I saw after I learned I needed a wife.”

She winces.

It’s not entirely true. There are a lot of women I wouldn’t have proposed to if I’d stumbled upon them first.

But it’s not a complete lie, either. Emery was just… there. And gorgeous. It made sense.

“You really expect me to believe that?” she whispers. “It’s just a wild coincidence that I ended up married to my rapist’s brother?”

“You need to be careful with accusations like that, kiska.”

“I didn’t get pregnant from French kissing in someone’s backseat,” she snaps. “I have a little human in the other room who proves what he did to me!”

“You said you don’t remember anything from that night. Maybe you were both drunk. Maybe you both made a mistake and—”

“He confessed it!” she cries out. “He crept into my room in the middle of the night and confessed to all of it. He knew what he was doing then and he knows what he’s doing now.”

“Emery, you—”

“It happened the night Sofia died,” she says. “He went on some spiel about ‘balance.’ About how you took a life that day, and he created one. It’s… it’s fucking sick. He’s a monster, Adrik.”

Just like that, it’s my turn to try and fail at fending off a memory.

I remember that night. Sitting at home, waiting for the news to break. Stefan was with me, fielding phone calls from the police and reporters. My father was there, ranting about a brewing war with the Volandris. About revenge.

But Yasha wasn’t.

He disappeared that night. Didn’t turn up again for a few days afterward.

Back then, his head still wasn’t on right. Pietro fucked him up good. He went on benders, got into trouble. He wasn’t himself.

Maybe he could have… No. No. Because if that’s true, it means I have to…

“What are you thinking?” Emery steps forward, eyes narrowed. “You’re thinking something. I want to know what it is.”

She looks so small standing in front of me. Her cheek is bruised from where Pietro hit her. There’s a cut on her neck from his knife and a thousand tiny scratches from the accident.

A few hours ago, I thought she was a spy. I wanted to hate her. To destroy her.

But now…

“I’m thinking that I made you a promise.”

She shakes her head. “What promise?”

“I told you I’d kill the man who raped you.”

Understanding dawns on her face followed quickly by horror. “Adrik. Adrik, no. You can’t. He’s your brother.”

“And if he did what you’re saying he did,” I take a deep breath, “if he took advantage of someone else the way he was taken advantage of… then he deserves the same justice I should have dished out to Pietro. He deserves to die.”

She grabs my arm. Her fingers are cold and thin. “Don’t do this. I never wanted you to do this.”

“Are you telling me the truth?” I ask. “Are you telling me every part of the truth?”

I look deeply in her eyes, searching for any hint of deception.

I find none.

She just stares back up at me, and there is nothing but sincerity there. She nods. “I am, I swear. Every word is true.”

“Then I will fulfill my promise. I swore I’d keep you safe, Emery. I meant it.”

Before she can say anything, I wrap an arm around her waist and drag her against my body. I kiss her, long and deep.

She is warm and pliant against me. She curves against my chest. When her lips part, I slide my tongue into her mouth, tasting the natural sweetness of her.

When I pull back, she’s breathless. “Adrik, please…”

But her eyes are still half-closed when I turn and walk away.