Page 77 of Twisted Truths

Sucking in a deep breath, I decide to lay the truth all out there. At this point, it’s over anyway, and he deserves to know that I’m the fucked-up one between us. “Her name is Uma.”

He blinks several times as though he doesn’t know what I’m saying, can’t comprehend that Leah isn’t Leah.

“She’s not the one who saved you on that beach. I am.”

His face pales, and he pushes a hand through his thick hair, tugging on the strands. “But the necklace…”

“It’s my necklace. Correction. It was my mother’s, and it’s the only thing she left for me before she took off. I was forced to give it to Uma as collateral for a large debt my father owes her.”

His face twists, and he doesn’t say anything for a second. “You’ve been stealing from me to pay a debt?”

My throat squeezes painfully around the truth that tries to rise up out of it. I blink and a single tear topples down my cheek. “Yes,” I whisper.

I don’t know how he knows I’ve been stealing from him, but that’s not my biggest worry at the moment.

“There’s so much you don’t know about me. That I haven’t told you.” I walk over to the sitting area, my legs unable to hold me up any longer. “My dad isn’t a good guy. Not the worst kind of guy by any means, but my entire life, my dad has never had a real job. He’s a grifter, always running some kind of scheme on someone.”

Obsidian stands in front of where I’m sitting. I look away from him, not wanting to see the revulsion in his eyes.

“From the time I was little, he taught me how to run cons on people. When I was a kid, he used my youth and innocence against people’s naiveté. When I was a teenager, he used my beauty against men’s lust for the forbidden. The only reason I became a lifeguard after high school was because my dad wanted me to work at a country club so I could steal from the rich people or act as a honey trap.” I shake my head, feeling disgust at myself for ever going along with any of my dad’s plans. “Bast isn’t even my real brother. My dad took him in when he ran away from home because even as a kid, Bast was good at hustling on the streets. That’s my dad though. He’s always been an opportunist.”

“Why are you here?” His voice is hard, and I chance a glance up at him, finding the disgust I expected.

“My dad got mixed up with Uma and owed her a lot of money, an amount we couldn’t have possibly paid off in the three months she demanded. After I saved you on the beach, I ran away because I was taught to never have anything to do with the cops. Even something good like saving a billionaire’s life could mean a lot of media attention I didn’t want and lead to people prying into my past. When I found out who I’d saved, my brother and dad wanted me to reach out and demand money from you.” I shake my head. “It didn’t feel right. Besides, I had no way to prove it was me.”

Obsidian lets a sadistic chuckle loose. “That didn’t feel right, but stealing from me does?”

“Of course not!” I plead with my eyes for him to believe me, but he shakes his head and looks at me like he did that first day I came to the manor. “I applied for the job, and when I got it, my brother and I planned that I would steal things, then pass them off to him to fence and get the money to Uma. At first, I told myself that you wouldn’t even notice anything was gone, you have so much here, who was I really hurting? But as I got to know you… fell in love with you… I felt such guilt about it. I told Bast that I couldn’t do it anymore.” My head falls into my hands. “I know that doesn’t make it okay.”

Tears leak onto my palms, and I sob for a minute, but Obsidian remains quiet. When I finally raise my head and look at him, the rage lining his features frightens me.

“Was this all just some game, then? Keep me distracted so I wouldn’t figure out what you were up to? Make me easy to deal with, pliable in case you were discovered? Maybe you hoped I’d never believe it if you were accused.”

I bolt up off the couch. “No! My feelings for you are real. I love you!”

He sneers. “Enough with your lies. I can’t even stomach looking at you.” He prowls to the door and leaves without another word.

It feels as though he dropped the cracked heart I thought I was piecing back together in my lap.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

OBSIDIAN

My chest has been hollowed out. Scraped clean from the inside.

I stalk from the room, unsure where I’m going, just knowing that I can’t be in the same room as her any longer. Can’t stand to look at the fucking liar.

When I think of all the things I shared with her, I want to be sick. She knows me in a way that no one else does and why? Because I believed every piece of bullshit that came out of her mouth. What a fool. I’ve always prided myself on not being able to be led around by the dick. Who knew I had to be worried about my heart?

I was fooled by a fucking con artist.

The shadows gather around me as I make my way through the manor and find myself in Kol’s wing.

I’m so devastated and heartbroken, I don’t know what to do with myself. Don’t know what I’m even doing here. What the hell is Kol going to say that’s going to make this better? Nothing can make this better.

“Kol!” I shout over and over as I walk aimlessly down the hallway, having no idea where he is, but knowing I need my brother.

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