Page 78 of Twisted Truths

Growing up, I was always the closest to Kol. He was my confidant, and now I need him to tell me that this pain won’t last forever, lest I do something stupid.

“Kol!”

The sconces flicker in the dim hallways while I charge down them but settle when Kol steps out of his bedroom wearing only dark pajama pants. I probably interrupted him and Rapsody.

I cringe. It’s just a reminder of what I’ll never have again with Ariana.

“What the hell is going on?” he says, moving toward me, his expression a mix of anger and concern.

Now that I’ve found him, it’s as though I can’t push the words past my throat. It feels tight, and my breathing comes out wheezy.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Kol clamps me on the shoulder. “Relax. Breathe.” He pulls me into one of the sitting rooms. “Here, sit down.” He forces me into one of the chairs. “Now count with me and breathe.”

He leads me through a breathing exercise, and eventually the tightness in my throat relaxes, and I’m able to breathe.

“I don’t know what that was.” My voice is hoarse.

Kol sits across from me. “Could have been the start of a panic attack. Rapsody used to get them sometimes. Reminded me of that.”

Unbelievable. This woman and her lies will be my end.

I close my eyes, remembering the words Ariana just spoke to me. They were like an arrow and my heart was her bull’s-eye, leaving it a bloody pulp mess.

“What happened?” Kol asks, voice grave.

“She lied. She’s been lying this whole time.” I push both hands through my hair and rest my elbows on my knees, staring at the carpet.

“Who? Ariana?”

I nod, unable to say her name.

“What did she lie about?”

Her feelings for me. That she loved me.

I don’t admit that out loud. “She’s a con. She’s been stealing from us.”

Kol looks at me in confusion, and I bolt up out of my seat to pace.

“The first lie was when she showed up. She didn’t tell me she was the one who saved me on the beach.”

Kol blinks a few times. “Wait… she saved your life? What about this Leah person who’s been staying here?”

I shake my head. “Everything’s a lie.”

“Sid, you’re not making sense.”

Ariana was the one who saved me. Did she know that I’d been apathetically trying to take my own life that day? Had she known when she showed up and used that information to manipulate me? If she knew I was trying to end my life, she knew I was lost and broken and that made me an easy mark.

The pain in my stomach makes me bend over with a hand pressed to it. God, to think that she may have known all along feels like another sort of betrayal.

“Fuck!” I stand and shout at the ceiling.

“Calm down. Start from the beginning and tell me what’s going on.”

So I do. I manage to get my thoughts together long enough to explain the sordid story to him.

When I’m finished, he flops back in the chair and blows out a long breath. “What a mess.”

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