Page 110 of Liars and Liaisons

“I’ll take her first, and you can have whatever’s left when I’m done filling the little cunt with my cum.”

I push up, slinking away on the mattress even though I’m aware there aren’t many places for me to go. I won’t make it easy for them either way.

I’m too busy panicking, trying to find a single potential exit strategy, to notice the bathroom door slowly easing open. The two men approach me, almost blocking my view, but not before I spot yet another masked figure lurking in the shadows.

This one’s smaller, dressed in a red cloak, half of their face obscured by a satin purple mask.

They’re holding a gun.

When they shoot, they step into the light, revealing big blue eyes and nothing else.

39

The estate’sup in flames by the time we get there.

Not the entirety of it, but enough that the main portion of the house is barely visible. The barn’s engulfed, the lake reflecting the orange embers drowning out the night sky.

Priya’s no longer answering, and I don’t know if that’s because the cell service is shot or if it’s something else I don’t want to consider.

“What the—” Amelia gasps, taking in the scene before us.

“Where’s the fire department?” Kal snaps, pushing his door open before the car’s come to a complete stop. “I thought you said they’d been dispatched.”

Amelia and I shuffle out after him, staring up at the mansion as fire destroys it.

The house I’ve spent the last few months rotting in. The one I took from my father, who only wanted us to hurt here.

It’ll likely be rubble soon. The emergency response teams won’t come—either because they don’t want to visit the place where death is rumored to lurk at every turn or because my father has his disgusting hands in that too.

The scars on my back seem to throb in response.

Everything the man has ever come into contact with, he’s ruined. Just to spite me.

“Where’s Violet?” Amelia asks, scanning the yard.

I share a look with Kal, unease settling like concrete in my gut. “You two scour the grounds for her or any of my staff. The fire hasn’t spread everywhere yet; they might have found a way out.”

Leaving them there, I head around the side of the yard. Goats scatter as I stalk past, heading for the loggia off one of the parlor rooms, where some of the parties have taken place. One of the windows there has a trick lock, and I manage to shimmy it open, pushing the tall pane inward.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

I grip the window frame and hoist my leg over. “That doesn’t sound like searching to me.”

“I don’t fucking take orders from you. Are you really about to head in there, unarmed? You said yourself, your father’s deranged. What if he’s got Violet in there, tied up with a knife to her throat? What if he’s already killed her? What are you going to do then?”

Pausing, I stare into the darkened room. My breathing grows shallow, a hollow, sickening sensation forming like a black hole where my heart is supposed to be.

“If she’s dead, burn the mansion down with me in it. I am not interested in a life without the sun.”

“Romantic.” I can hear his eyes roll, and he grabs my arm, jerking it backward, pushing a Glock into my hand. “But very stupid. If you want to be with my sister, then bring her to me alive. If she dies, I’ll personally see to it that your eternity is spent somewhere far worse than hell.”

I glance at the gun, then at him with a blank look. “I don’t like you.”

Amusement flashes in his gaze. “You’ll learn to.”

Swallowing, I launch myself into the room, and a part of me waits to see if he’ll join. But when I turn back to the window, he’s already gone, and I’m completely alone.

Only the ghosts of my past and the mirrors reminding me of them remain.

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