Stolen Lies (Truths and Lies 2)

“Enough,” Aris stands. “Put the damn knife down.” He steps toward me and I press the blade against Selene’s throat.

“Aris!” she cries.

“Talia, calm down.” Aris’s eyes dart over to Zoe. When he steps toward her, I have no choice but to let go of Selene.

“Don’t you touch her.” With the knife still in my hand, I lift my daughter out of her high chair.

“She’s my daughter too,” Aris sneers. “And if I want to fucking touch her, I will.”

He steps toward me and I take a step back. When he doesn’t make another move, I continue backing up until I’m back in my room.

“We’ll deal with this tomorrow,” Aris says. “Clearly shit needs to change around here.”

Without saying another word to him, I slam the door in his face, and then I pray to God that Kostas comes back for me and Zoe. Because if he doesn’t, I’m not sure how much longer Aris is going to keep me alive.

Kostas

I’m seeing shit.

Losing my goddamn mind.

It. Was. Her.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and debate on what to do next. Either I can drive my ass back over to Aris’s house and find out for sure, or I can sit here like a pussy wondering.

I’m just downing the rest of my dinner in a restaurant between the hotel and Aris’s, when my phone rings. I could answer it and tell him right now that Father is dead. Most days, I’m a dick, but even I won’t do that to him. No, I’ll do like I intended when I drove over there earlier and tell him to his face. I send his call to voicemail. Seconds later, I get a text.

Aris: Did you come by?

The next text comes immediately after.

Aris: What did you need?

Aris: Want to meet up?

I groan and before I can reply, he continues blowing up my phone.

Aris: Selene said you had something important to talk about.

Aris: I don’t hit her if that’s what you’re wondering. She fell.

Fell?

I’m not stupid. That bitch did more than fall. Someone bashed her fucking head in.

My mind drifts to earlier.

“What do you want?”

I lift my brow and sneer. “Excuse me?”

“How did you even get on the property?”

“I used the fucking code,” I growl. “Were you trying to keep me out?”

Selene has the sense to stand down once she remembers who she’s talking to and shakes her head in vehemence. I’m not some pushover like Aris. I will drag her skinny ass back to the cellar by her fake-red hair to remind her if I need to. Luckily, she replaces her snotty expression with one of healthy fear.

“What’d you do to your face?” I ask, nodding to indicate the giant ass bruise that looks fresh and is forming beneath her swollen-red flesh.

She purses her fat lips before letting out a huff of exasperation. “I fell.”

Says every woman hiding the fact she’s being hit by a man.

“The floor must fucking hate you.”

“And I hate the fucking floor too,” she snarls out. “Aris went to…run an errand. Is there something I can help you with?” Her venom bleeds away as her green eyes skim down the front of my body in appreciation.

“Nah,” I grunt out. “I’ll come by another time.”

When I turn to leave, she grips my bicep. “Call him first.”

I glower over my shoulder at her. “Are you his keeper?”

“W-What? No. He’s just always busy and rarely home. You should call him first so you don’t miss him.”

“Hmmm,” is all I say before breaking from her hold and walking away.

The door slams shut behind me. I’m almost to my car when I feel eyes on me. Stopping, I turn and look back toward Aris’s massive house.

Blond hair.

A woman.

Talia?

But when I squint, the vision vanishes. That’s all she is to me now. A fucking ghost.

God, I miss her. I’d give up my entire fortune to have her in my arms just so I could inhale her hair. I don’t know that I even remember what she smells like anymore. The fact I’d give up everything to see her once more is disappointing. I’d always thought of myself as someone powerful. Someone who doesn’t need anyone else.

Like my father.

Turns out, I was never like him.

I was always like my mother.

After I pay my bill, I leave the restaurant and inhale the early fall air. The sun has gone down. It’s only just hitting me that my father really is gone. I extinguished him from this earth. Remorse or guilt should flood through me, but all I feel is relief. I was never allowed to figure out who the real Kostas was. He bred me into his monster. For his favor over my brother, I gladly heeded every instruction. And now I’m nothing but a shell. I don’t want to do anything but fill up my entire being with her.