Page 51 of Falling for A Lie
“I heard your guy on the phone with her yesterday. We will both make more progress in this conversation if we don’t start by lying,”Drake growls, the gun now resting on his lap pointed in my direction.
“Oh, is that correct? It seems like you're the real detective, Drake. Funny how you're the smart one in the group,”I snap back, rolling my eyes at the obliviousness of the guys in front of me.
Wow, this is going to be a shocker. The truth is finally coming to light. But, here it goes.
“What the hell does that mean?”Caden snarls at me, his teeth bared like a dog ready to tear out my throat at his master's command. He begins to push away from Radley to reach me, but before he can, I raise my hand to the mask that covers everything but my eyes and slowly pull it up, revealing my face to the guys in front of me.
Caden's eyes widen in shock as he halts his advance. Rad appears as though he has seen a ghost, while Drake looks at me as if I am a figment of his imagination, ready to vanish the moment he closes his eyes.
The only one who is not shocked is Reed as he walks slowly toward me, taking my trembling hands that still grip my mask into his own. He leans in so that our faces are only inches apart and whispers, ensuring that the others cannot hear,“It's so good to have you back where you belong, little creature.”Without a moment's hesitation, his lips are on mine, just like the night before, searing his very essence into my flesh. I gasp at his touch, the mask falling to the floor as I bring my hands to the front of his shirt, pulling him closer and eliminating the distance between us, merging our bodies as our tongues battle for dominance.
There is a loud crash, and then Reed is yanked away from me as an enraged Drake grips him by the throat. “YOU KNEW SHE WAS THE NIGHTINGALE THE WHOLE TIME!”
I step forward, but before I can pull Drake away from Reed, Caden grips my arm roughly, yanking me back from the guys in front of me, while Rad pulls his brother away from their friend.
“I... I just found out,”he chokes out through his coughing once Drake releases his grip on his throat. Red fingerprints mark the sides of his neck as he looks at me with a sorrowful expression.“She wasn't ready to tell you. She said it wasn't time!”He groans, collapsing into the chair he chose when we first entered.
"What does that even mean, Damsel?”Cade whispers to me, still holding onto me as if he's afraid I'll run now that they know.
I pry my arm from his grip and step forward, looking each of them in the face as Radley pushes Drake onto the couch with a bit too much force. He grimaces at the movement, and I notice the same marks from Caden's hands on his arms, back, and neck. I file this information away for later because now is the time to express what I need to before I back out of it, making this all for nothing.
“I need you. I need your help. I had to consider what I could offer in exchange for what I am about to ask of you. Things haven’t been the same since we left your house in Hazelton that day. I’ve played the role of the good soldier and never said no, no matter what they demanded of me. I did it with a smile on my face because I felt I had no other choice. Scarlett warned that if we didn’t comply, she couldn’t protect us—couldn’t protect my sisters. I sacrificed the girl I was five months ago; my morals have vanished. I thought that would be the end of it, as long as the girls remained safe. But a month ago, she presented me with another ultimatum I couldn’t refuse. Thus, the Valkyrie was born, with the Nightingale at the helm leading them. I became significant overnight because we took the underdogs—the ones who never caught the attention of the lords—and transformed them into something greater. I thought it would be enough to protect them, but it’snot. Ben is dead, and I have a lifeless girl with my name carved into her flesh, along with a man trying to kill me tonight in the ring. I have two others besides my sisters, who I want to protect. They're my family.”
I suck in a breath as the air around us feels charged, as I push through the last of my speech, the part that gives them utter control on what happens next.
“I can’t do it on my own anymore. I will give you anything—my body, my mind, and my soul. I’ll offer it on a silver platter if you can help me because I cannot afford to lose them. But I can’t protect myself at the same time. I’m utterly helpless in that regard because I'm focusing on myself, I'm not focusing on them and it leaves them open to enemies. I need you. I need the Horsemen, I need the men who once cared for me, the same ones that saved me from dying in a bar parking lot at the hands of her psycho fiance.”My voice trembles, and the tears I had fought to suppress slide down my ivory skin, dripping from my chin onto my shirt.
Stunned silence envelops us once more as I wait with bated breath to hear their response. Drake gazes at me incredulously, while Radley appears as though he wants to take my sisters and me and hide us away, disregarding the other two men in my family. Reed seems torn between wanting to do the same and knowing I would never abandon the other two guys. Caden is looking at me like I'm his next meal, and he can't wait to devour me and also protect me in the same breath.
"How can we trust you? You have been among us and never thought we deserved to know you were right in front of us. You had us going through the motions of losing you, and you weren't even lost to begin with. You have been here the whole time”Radley says softly, his voice breaking.
“SCARLET AND JOSIE FORBID ME FROM SEEING YOU!”The scream echoes around me as I clench my fist, my breathing becoming ragged as I pour my heart out to those who have broken me more than Jace ever could.I point a shaky finger at the bruised and broken man in front of me as I continue.
“Reed overheard their conversation; he knows what they threatened me with! I have never stopped thinking about the four of you, day and night. I never changed my number, hoping you would call me, but you never did. You only recently attempted to reach out, and that was after I made the first contact. I never thought I meant so little to you when you quickly became so much to me. I mourned you when I was forced to leave that day because of Jace; I grieved for what could have been and who I could have become. Moreover, I am a trained killer trying to survive a psycho who won't give up until I'm dead, not to mention the dead bodies and threats aimed at me, along with someone hiring a rapist to kill me! I don't even know who would hire a hitman because it wasn't Jace or Alec! I'm surrounded by people, yet I feel utterly alone. I'm begging you to help me one last time. I promise I will leaveyou alone when I can breathe without looking over my shoulder for a threat I know is lurking.”
Drake shuffles beside his brother before pushing himself up fully and making his way to me, where I’ve collapsed on the floor, my knees pressed against my chest, dress be damned, as I rock back and forth. This was a mistake. I should have never confided in them; I wonder how they can trust me. But how can I trust them? I should have known better. I’m so overwhelmed—how am I going to protect the others now? The thoughts spiral as pure panic creeps up my spine, and my vision becomes fuzzy at the edges as I struggle to regain my composure while the walls around me close in.
Everything begins to sound like radio static, and the last thought I have before the claws of the panic attack finally seize me in their death grip is that I am being pulled into the murky darkness where I belong. Where nothing can get me.
Chapter thirty-one
Caden
What the fuck is happening.
I look at the woman before me and I feel so stupid that I didn't catch this sooner. Now that I get a clearer view, she looks like she did when I saw her entering the race the other night, those eyes of hers are unmistakable with how they steal your very soul with just one glance in your direction.
The fact she's in front of me unmasked and begging for us to help her keep her family safe, I'm lost for words. She offered herself mind, body, and soul for protection. Part of me wants that more than anything to protect her against whatever comes to harm her, but part of me wants her to pay for causing us all to hurt in her absence to continue to hurt us by not coming clean sooner.
We were left in the dark. So why should we make this easier on her? Why give her what she wants when she never did the same for us? I'll accept her terms to use her as I see fit, but that's all this will be. We will protect her but we won't treat her the way we used to. She'll be nothing but a toy to be used when we need it and in return, she'll get the protection she's so desperate for.
The sight before me has my stomach turning as Drake and Reed sit beside her trying to coax her out of what blackness she found herself in. Radley looks torn between wanting to join them or coming to stand by my side. My sweet broken man tries to hide his cruelty, scared to turn into his father before him, but he knows that I'd never judge him. He's not his father, and it's okay to let the pain out every once in a while, to let the demons out to play against the ones that wronged you and that's what Soren has done. She's wronged us, she has had every chance to come clean, but she's sat and watched us self-destruct all because we were stupid enough to believe we ever meant anything to the girl before us. The only reason she cameclean now is because she needs us, to protect her family and the other men she saw fit to show her true self to. Maybe that moment I thought we shared months ago was nothing but her wanting a quick fuck and not an emotional connection to heal what she went through.
She's just another manipulative bitch and I'll use her until I tire of that pussy between her legs.
“Baby, where are you right now?” Radley finally makes his way to my side as he nudges my ribs softly with his elbow, he whispers the question for just us, and my inner monologue quietens as I look over to the man who put me back together after Soren broke me apart,
“Mo phrionnsa, I think we should take what she offers..” I bite my lip after the words leave my mouth as he stares at me curiously before silently coming to his final decision