Stolen Lies (Truths and Lies 2)

I snort. “Nothing’s changed, little brother.”

His brown eyes dart to Talia, who’s perched in my lap like a fucking goddess waiting to be worshiped. Rather than worshiping his queen, he spits her way. She flinches and I hate that he holds some sort of power over her.

Not for long.

Adrian is still as a statue, leaned against the wall like a fucking gargoyle. All it takes is Aris to move the wrong way and Adrian will pounce on him, gutting him like he gutted Basil. The violence ripples from Adrian in waves like heat from the sun. Powerful, malevolent, unforgiving.

“You didn’t think you’d go on terrorizing me and not get caught in my web eventually, did you?” I stroke my fingers through Talia’s blond hair, my eyes fixed on him. “You’re caught now. Nothing but a useless fucking moth, struggling to get free.” I flash him a smug grin. “You, Aris fucking Demetriou, are a victim now. Something to be destroyed and ruined. Forgotten.”

“Fuck you,” he snarls. “Your theatrics are boring, Kostas. Get the hell on with it.”

“Personally,” Talia pipes up, her voice wavering slightly. “I find his theatrics quite charming.”

“You always were a dumb bitch,” Aris growls, fighting against his restraints.

“They’re mouthy as fuck when they’re looking death in the eye,” Adrian bellows from across the room, making the three of us look his way. His hateful glare is fixated on Aris. I should let him deal with my brother, but that wouldn’t be fair to Talia. She suffered too. This is her vengeance.

“I’ve been planning your death for a while now,” I tell Aris. “I imagined all the ways I’d cut you and drain you of your blood. How I’d make you suffer slowly. But then I realized it’s not up to me.” I pat Talia’s thigh. “It’s up to her.”

She rises from my lap and I rake my eyes down her perfect jean-clad ass.

“I trusted you,” she says, her voice small as she picks up the knife from the table. “I tried to comfort you.”

“Aww,” Aris taunts, his nostrils flaring. “You thought your magical pussy would make me all better? Sorry, princess, but your cunt is just like every other cunt out there. Although, you squealed like a little pig when I shoved my dick in it.”

She freezes and I’m tempted to leap over the table to crush his fucking skull. But I won’t. Not unless she asks me to. And my brave wife doesn’t ask for help. She slowly approaches him, like a viper ready to strike. The knife in her grip gleams in the light.

“You raped me,” she accuses, her voice breaking. “You took advantage of my kindness and then you took advantage of me.”

He laughs hatefully. “It didn’t feel like rape when you were impaled on my cock. It felt like vindication.” He sneers at me. “How does it feel knowing I popped that cherry, big brother? Does it burn you up every night knowing your brother’s dick has been inside your wife? Does it—what the fuck?”

Blood runs down his cheek from the slash of the knife. Her body trembles as she stares down at him.

“It was rape and you know it,” she seethes. “Admit it and I’ll let you keep your cock.”

“My cock belongs to you, though, bitch,” he taunts. “You damn near begged for it the whole time I had you holed away from Kostas. If Selene weren’t there, you know we would’ve already made another baby.”

She slashes again, this time ripping through his bottom lip. Blood runs thick down his chin. His eyes turn wild as he realizes he’s dying in this living room. Tonight. At the hand of the one he brutalized.

Eye for a fucking eye.

Even Howler learned that lesson.

“Say it,” she orders. “Say it or I’ll cut you a thousand times. Don’t fucking test me, Aris. I will. I’ll cut you for every time I lied to your face and told you Zoe was your daughter.”

His nostrils flare. “I raped you because I could,” he sneers. “I haven’t deflowered a virgin since I was a fucking teenager. I should have taken your ass instead.”

She turns her head to look at me, tears gleaming in her blue eyes. Even had he not admitted, I knew the truth. But this was something she clearly needed to hear. To confirm. For me to know without a shadow of a doubt. This is her vengeance, not mine.

Yes, he took and took from me, but he didn’t take that.

He stole her virginity and her freedom. He stole her happiness.

For that, she will make him pay.

I give her a nod of support and a wink.

“You thought you could bring down my husband, but you couldn’t,” she whispers, turning back to him. “You couldn’t because you were always the weak one. The unloved one. The least favorite. Poor little Aris. Only Mommy loved you, but even still, she loved you equal to your brother.”