Dark Lies (House of Sin 2)

Eli brings me to a car on the other side of the street and opens the door for me, waiting until I get inside before he shuts the door. The silence that follows is bone-chilling. No more Jamie. No more library work. No more apartment. No more life. Everything is gone.

The door on the other side of the car opens, and Eli slides inside, shutting it behind him again.

“Thank you for not causing trouble,” he says.

I look out the window at all the people bustling by, going about their regular lives like they deserve, blissfully unaware of the misery in mine.

A finger tips up my chin and forces me to look at him. “I mean it.”

The tears can’t stop forming in my eyes, no matter how much I try to keep them at bay.

He cocks his head. “Why are you crying?”

“I don’t want her to get hurt,” I say.

A gentle smile tugs at his lips. “Do you care that much? She was only a coworker.”

“She helped me when no one else would,” I answer.

His eyes narrow, and he stares at me for a moment. “You know … your ability to trust and believe in people has me in awe.”

My lips part, but before I can answer, he’s already smashed his mouth onto mine, claiming a greedy kiss that makes my head spin. But I cannot let these delicious, heart-thumping kisses make me forget what he just took from me. Not once … but twice.

So I force my heart to stay at bay, to let him have my body but not my love, and tears roll down my cheeks.

As his lips pull away from mine, he stares into my eyes and at my salty tears. With his thumb, he swipes them off, the look in his eyes solemn and full of turmoil.

“Did that do nothing for you?” he murmurs, his lips still so close to mine that I can taste them. “Is that woman all you really care about?”

But I ignore how good it felt. “I just want to keep her safe.”

If that’s the only good I have left to give this world, then so be it.

His eyes lower. “She will not be harmed.”

He lets go of me and leans to the other side of the car, gazing out the window just like I was. But something tells me it isn’t because he misses this world. It’s because he misses the place where he could truly make me his.

And as he barks, “Go,” at his driver, the world begins to unravel before me, along with my only shot at freedom.

But now I have something I didn’t have before. Something I can use against him. His heart.

Chapter 13

Amelia

The second I step foot back in that house, my heart feels like it’s stopped beating entirely. House of Sin, the place where the unwanted and the criminals are sent when they have no more place in society. When their families and the ones they hurt demand a bigger punishment than jail. Suffering until there is true repentance … and I have certainly had mine.

I swallow hard as Tobias and Soren approach from the living room area, the looks on their faces thunderous.

“You made it back,” Tobias tells Eli, and then he throws me a forsaken look. “With her.”

Eli places a hand on my waist, a warm zing flooding my body, but I ignore it. I hate the way he makes me feel. “Safe and sound.”

Tobias makes a face. “Well, at least one of our sinners is.”

Is he talking about Anna?

“I think you swallowed too much salt water when you rescued yours,” Eli quips.

Excuse me, have I just ended up in a sitcom or something? What is this? Why are they bantering like brothers about capturing people and taking them in as prisoners? Don’t they understand what’s wrong with that?

“I don’t blame him for being salty,” I say, rolling my eyes as they both stare at me as though they’re surprised I could speak. But if anyone’s allowed to be salty, it’s me, and I’m more than willing to pile on top of it.

A definite smirk spreads on Soren’s lips, and he looks away while Tobias throws him a deathly glare. “Really?”

Eli raises his brow at me. “Do you enjoy egging him on?”

“I enjoy egging all of you on.” I fold my arms. “You dish out misery. You receive it.”

Soren snorts out loud and then turns around and walks off toward that basement I’m not allowed to enter. Guess he wants no part in this. Tobias, however, doesn’t seem at all amused. “You need to rein her in.”

“No thanks,” I reply.

Tobias’s eyes narrow. “You seem to have gained quite the confidence since your escape. And I think it’s time you were punished for it.”

Eli steps in front of me. “The only one who will be touching her is me.”