Stolen Lies (Truths and Lies 2)

“Have a good night, Kostas,” he says with a smug grin. “My night will be a helluva lot better than yours, I can assure you.”

He walks out without another word.

I glance over at my untouched ouzo and straighten my spine. I’ve been a cloud for far too long.

It’s time to wake the fuck up and find my goddamn wife.

Talia

“I need more formula,” I yell over the screams of my pissed off daughter.

Selene glares my way. “I was just in town a few days ago. Aris told you to make a list.” She eyes me accusingly, but I just shrug nonchalantly, not bothering to settle Zoe down. Her screaming always flusters Selene. For the sake of the human population, the woman should be sterilized so she can never reproduce.

“I did make a list.” Zoe’s screams get louder. “But Zoe had a growth spurt and I ran out sooner than I expected. Babies grow,” I challenge.

“And you don’t have any left at all?” she questions. I can see it in her features, she’s about to reach her limit. Her hands are shaking, and her eyes are twitching. Come on, bitch…

“If I did I wouldn’t be asking. Look, if you don’t want to go, I can.” I shrug with a smirk that I know will piss her off. “Zoe isn’t going to stop crying until she’s fed.” As if on cue, Zoe’s screams get louder. Every wail from her squeezes my heartstrings, but it’s for the greater good.

“Jesus!” Selene shouts over the loud crying. “Fine. I’m going.” She knows damn well she’ll be in trouble if my daughter is unhappy in any way. A pissed off Zoe leads to a pissed off Aris. And a pissed off Aris never ends well. We’ve both learned that the hard way. The only difference is Aris actually cares about me since I’m the mother of his daughter, whereas with Selene, he views her as nothing more than a human pincushion. Poking every hole when he feels like it. The thought has me gagging. Better her than me, though.

Frustrated, she quickly unlocks the key box right in front of me, just as I hoped she would. Seven-two-two-four. She grabs a set of keys, slams it closed, then heads over to the garage door. I watch as she types in the code. Four-nine-nine-five. The light flashes green and she opens then closes the door behind her. I wait until I hear the garage door open and close and then I run into the kitchen. I type in the code to the key box and it clicks open. Grabbing the pair of keys, I pull one off the ring and put the other one back. As I’m closing the box, I spot Selene’s cell phone on the counter. Holy shit! She forgot her phone.

Grabbing it, I tap the screen. It comes to life, but there’s a password. No problem since I know it. Four-six-three-six. I type it in, but it’s wrong. What the hell! I type it in again, but it’s still wrong. I saw her type it in myself. This has to be right. The phone prompts I only have one try left before it locks.

I hear the garage opening back up. Damn it! She must’ve realized she forgot her phone. What do I do? Then it hits me. I bring up the passcode screen and hit the emergency button. The car door slams closed as the call connects.

“What is your emergency?”

I run with the phone in one hand and Zoe in the other to hide in another room. “My name is Talia Demetriou and I need you to—”

Before I can finish my sentence, my head is yanked back and the phone is snatched from my hand. “You bitch!” Selene yells. She raises her hand to slap me, but I duck. Zoe is now screaming bloody murder, and I’m running to get away from Selene so she doesn’t inadvertently hurt my daughter. I make it into Zoe’s room and slam the door just before Selene can touch either of us.

The door doesn’t lock, so with my weight against the door, I grab the rocking chair and wedge it under the doorknob so Selene can’t get in. Once I know we’re safe, I make Zoe a bottle and feed it to her. She calms down right away, and once she’s full, falls asleep in my arms.

Since there’s no way I’m going back out there until Aris gets home, I use the time to go over my list. Stealing Selene’s cell phone wasn’t my original plan anyway. I just saw it on the counter and figured it was worth a try. Pulling the small diaper bag out from under my bed, I double-check everything I’ve accumulated over the last several months. Formula, bottles, diapers, wipes, clothes for Zoe and me, three knives, over two hundred euros. Reaching into my pocket, I add the spare keys I stole to Aris’s SUV. Selene and Aris will be so focused on me trying to steal her phone, they won’t even think about the fact my entire purpose was to steal his keys.