Page 23 of Falling for A Lie
I take a tentative step away from Reed, my hands shaking and bruised. “C..Caden I'm sorry, please.. believe me I didn't mean to.” The pleading in my voice seems to catch his attention as he steps towards me.
His eyes take in every inch of my face as his voice takes on an icy tone. “The only reason I'm not fucking snapping your neck for laying your hands on me, is because we are brothers and you're in pain.”
He keeps his hazel eyes on me that are filled with pure malice as he jabs his finger into my chest, punctuating every word that follows after to drive in how serious he truly is. The tears start flowing freely between us. “But if you ever do what you just did to me, all bets are off. You'll be as dead to me as my abusive piece of shit father.”
Radley gives me a look that breaks me. “Get your shit together Lennox Drake. Our family right here is the only thing that matters, Soren is dead to us. So stop chasing ghosts, and stop holding on to what could have been. It's time to let go, Drake. She's Gone.” With those parting words he shoulders past me, leaving me to crumble to the floor as a gut wrenching sob wrecks my body and soul.
I wake up an hour later, curled up in a ball in the mess that litters my floor. Everything comes back in waves as I gather myself, begging for my racing heart to slow. I have no choice but to let her go, and with her goes my heart and half my soul.
A door slamming alerts me to my brothers being awake. To which one it is, I didn't exactly care to find out. I decide to shuffle to the bar cart in the corner and fix myself a tall glass, chugging it in one sitting. Sleep will elude me now that I had that impromptu nap. So I'm left to my own vices to drown out the constant nagging in the back of my mind, repeating what I know to be true.
From here on out, I'm an impenetrable fortress forced to build walls to protect what's barely left. Because this isn't abattle I can win or a problem I can solve, this is just a reality that I'm forced to live.
Chapter sixteen
Soren
Four Months since leaving Hazelton..
The crisp, chilled air of February touches the bare skin of my stomach and the top of my breasts as I pull my jacket just slightly tighter to fight the sudden shiver that wants to slide over my bones.
My heels clack on the tiled floor of the building where Scarlett texted me to meet her. We are to discuss what the nextsteps are to be now that my sisters and I have completed the Rite of Lilith. A rite that held over ten grueling tasks that tested us in a way I didn't think we would survive with our souls intact. We had to make questionable decisions and execute orders that changed me into the woman I am now.
Gone is the woman who thought she could marry a man and settle down, live a quiet suburban life, and bend and submit to his every need.
Gone is the woman who was weak, vulnerable, and trusting of everyone.
I gutted that fucking bitch with each task. I became a necessary monster. I became my protection and my savior. I didn't need to be saved; I could save myself.
My sisters didn't need me to protect them anymore either; they turned out to be just as lethal and cunning as I have become. Together, we faced this new life we were forced into, all because a man couldn't be trusted. A man I thought I loved and thought he felt the same. But in the end, though, he was just a money-hungry prick who used me to fix problems that were never mine in the first place. My life was to be void because of another person's problems. The love I thought was there was a mask for greed that lay below the surface. I wasted eight years, and I'll be damned if I ever allow myself to be in that position again.I brush my tattooed fingers across my mouth, pulling the hairs away from my face that have gottenstuck in my lip gloss as I take a moment to gather myself, straightening my spine and sucking in a shaky breath.
The feeling of having eyes on me makes me slowly take in my surroundings, looking for anything out of the ordinary or for a threat.Nothing. Nothing is there but my paranoia itching at my brain that Jace somehow found me and he'll kill me before I even have a chance to enjoy my newfound freedom. The thought makes me nauseous, but I mask it perfectly. This life I now lived was mine, even if it was one that I had to sacrifice my morals for.
This was still my freedom to claim. No man would ever have the right to take that. Never again. I was done with that part of me that needed to have someone protect me or be there at every part of my life to support me. To make decisions because they believed it was what I wanted or what was right for me. I was done being weak. The quick scope of my surroundings doesn't turn up anything out of order, so I decide to leave it at that.
The elevator is to my right as I strut further into the brick building. The white walls glistened with the raised sun. Without a second's pause, I shoot a quick wave at the receptionist while the hairs on the back of my neck still stand to attention, and I continue forward to whatever fresh hell awaits me beyond these elevator doors.
The doors open to the conference room. A set of surprised eyes meet my own as I step past the doors. Josephine, Jace'sestranged sister from his father's second marriage, stands there looking like a queen in her own right. I suck in a shaky breath as the false bravado I held into is slowly sinking into the pit of my stomach.
What the actual fuck is she doing here? Is this a plan to get me back to her brother's grasp? Was this all a fucking lie?
I step up to the round table and grip my gun at my back holster, ready to pull it out and kill this bitch where she sits if I need to. I haven't made it this far to be at someone's mercy again.
“Hello, Deary. What a marvelous day it's been. I have to say you're looking way better than you did before. The new look suits you.“ Josephine's voice rings through my brain as I keep my left hand so tight around my pistol that I can feel my knuckles turn white.
“What can I say? Almost being murdered will do that to you.” I deadpan.
“Tsk. Tsk. Little Soren has finally grown some balls on herself. Gotta say I like the new look and the new attitude.” She waves her hands dismissively in my direction before she turns her attention to Scarlett, who is sitting back, watching everything unfold before her eyes with a look of fascination and concern for what will happen next.
“You're sure this is the girl you want to take on this project, Scar?” Her voice is cold as she speaks.
Scarlett's eyes snap to the woman beside her and with a sneer on her perfect face. Yet her voice was soft with a hint of danger. “Are you questioning me, Little one? I would not have spoken so highly of her if I didn't believe she had what I was looking for.”
My brows crease as I consider the two ladies in front of me, speaking as if I'm not even in the same room with them. I huff impatiently, feeling left in the dark about something that involves me. I step up, slamming my hands onto the table. “What are you talking about? I'm standing right here, so either tell me, or I'm going to take it as my sign to leave.”
Scarlett's chuckle echoes through the now quiet room as Josephine's mouth hangs open at my brazen tone with the head of the Ladies.
What she doesn't seem to understand is that I'm not like the other Ladies; I didn't seek this life. I was thrust into it as a means to survive, not of a decision of free will. Her fucking brother is the reason I'm in hiding, but I'm bidding my time. Until the sick fucker finally gives up, and I can have the life I was owed.