Hidden Truths (Truths and Lies 1)

He’ll kill me.

My thought has me frozen in fear. Distracted. Worried. Confused. Hot skin against my own has me crying out in shock.

Holy shit.

Aris is naked and he’s rubbing his erection against my stomach. This is bad. Really bad. I have to put a stop to it. My hands find his chest and I push against him to no avail. He’s strong. Really strong. Oh God.

Kostas will kill me.

He. Will. Kill. Me.

Aris’s strong hands bite into the backs of my thighs as he lifts me. I scream against his mouth as terror floods through me. His mouth consumes mine as he shoves my ass against the dresser.

No. No. No.

I claw my fingers down his chest, trying to stop him. My lips finally break from his and I scream. But that one small moment allows him to nudge the head of his cock between my spread thighs and he thrusts.

One thrust to destroy my world.

Another scream rasps from me as everything spins around me.

Numb. Darkness closes in on me and numbness takes over. Pain tears at me from the inside out while I try desperately to block it out.

He will kill me. Kostas will kill me.

Oh, God.

What have I done?

A loud, ugly sob rattles from me and my body goes limp.

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.

“You’re not going to die,” Aris growls, dragging me to the heinous act, making me realize I’m chanting those words.

I squeeze my eyes shut, blocking out the way he drives into me in a painful way. I try to ignore the way he kisses my neck and grips my breast.

This can’t last forever.

This. Can’t. Last. Forever.

I’m crying so hard I can’t breathe. Loud hiccups resound from me and snot runs down my lip. Everything aches, but it’s my heart that hurts.

Why did he do this?

Why?

He makes a grunting sound and then heat floods inside me. A burst of elation rushes through me. He’s done. He’s fucking done.

“You’re not going to die,” Aris says again, swiping away the snot from my lip with his thumb. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

His cock softens and he pulls out of me before stumbling over to the bed, falling face first onto it. I stand staring at him, my entire body shaking uncontrollably as his semen runs down my thigh. For far too long, I gape at the man in horror, until his breathing evens out into soft snores, jarring me from my frozen state.

Oh God.

I need to get the hell out of here.

Kostas

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

My cousin Victoria yammers on the phone loudly to her husband, and I want to tell her to shut the fuck up. Instead, I grit my teeth and continue to pace the floor.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

She’s dead. My mother is dead. I’ll never hear her laughter again. See her smile. I’ll never be able to tease her about being the favorite son. I’ll never again smell her lovely floral perfume scent she’s worn since childhood.

I pause my pacing as a violent tremble shakes through me.

“Kos, hon, you okay?” Paulina, my other cousin, asks.

“I’m fine,” I growl.

But I’m not fine. Everything is a fucking mess.

I need for my father to be okay. I can’t lose both my parents in one day. I’m barely holding on to my sanity, which means Aris has probably gone off the deep end. He was a momma’s boy, and he, like me, watched his mother blow her head off right after she shot our fucking father.

Fuck.

Paulina hands me a tissue, but I wave it off, opting to swipe at the rogue tear with the palm of my hand.

I should have pressed Father on the Nikolaides issue. I’d known something was fucking wrong, but I ignored it. I hoped Father would come out and tell me why he was obsessed with making Niles pay.

Revenge.

My mother is a cheater, and he wanted to make them all pay for it.

An ache forms in my stomach. How could I have not seen this? All these years, I thought my mother and father loved each other. Sure, he was an asshole, but he would kiss her and occasionally playfully carry her up the stairs. I took it for face value. I’d never dreamed she hated him and was only staying with him because of us. He spent years tormenting her over this shit.

I want to be angry with him, but I understand his need for revenge. He loved his wife. They had a contract—that’s what marriage is after all—to love one another. She was the mother of his children. And she stepped out of the marriage. With Niles fucking Nikolaides of all people. He conned her like he tries to do everyone else.

I’m going to end that motherfucker.

String him up by his goddamn ballsack.

“Kos,” Paulina says, “are you sure you’re okay?”