Page 143 of Loving the Liar

“I’m okay,” she rasps as she gets up on shaky legs.

She sways on the spot, and I stabilize her from my position on my knees by putting my hands on her hips. Luke presses the gun harder against my head.

“Get your fucking hands off her.”

Ella’s wide, teary eyes are on her brother as she pushes my hands away. “Let go,” she murmurs to me. “Please, let go.”

I only do it because she’s in a state. She needs help calming down, and I don’t want to make it worse for her. I stand when she disappears out of my field of vision, walking behind me to join her brother. Turning around, I make sure to put my hands up so Luke doesn’t feel like I’m going to try anything.

“Did he hurt you?” he asks, wrapping his free arm around her shoulders, the gun still pointed at me. “Do you need?—”

“I’m fine. I need him gone. That’s it.”

She shrugs him off and disappears into her room, leaving me with my best friend.

“You betrayed me.” The fury in his voice covers the hurt, but I still hear it. “You didn’t stay away from her.” He clenches his teeth, barely able to articulate his thoughts. “You hid it from me.” His nostrils flare as he cracks his neck. “And I could have forgiven that. You’re my best friend. I could have looked past the backstabbing if she was happy.”

In true Baker style, like brother like sister, he runs his palm against his forehead, then pulls at the roots of his hair.

“But you hurt her, Chris.”

“She cuts herself,” I explain slowly, trying not to trigger a violent response from him.

My only goal is to get back to Ella. I don’t care what he thinks.

“I know that. See, I’m her big brother. I know her better than you ever will. I would have shot you on sight if I thought you were the one who made her bleed. I know she does it to herself. I’m the only one she ever told. But you did worse. You betrayed her trust. You initiated her into the Circle while lying to me about protecting her from it. You pretended to be on my side, only to betray me harder.”

I eye the gun still pointed at my face, then back at my best friend. “I’m not on the Circle’s side, Luke.”

“No,” he snorts. “You’re on your own side, aren’t you? You lie, you manipulate. When I came to you about my dad being an issue, all you saw was an opportunity to take control over my family.” For a split second, the anger disappears, replaced by pain. “You can ruin everything I trusted you with. I don’t care what happens to me, and I don’t care if I have to take on the Circle myself. But my sister, Chris? I trusted you with her safety.”

“I helped with your dad because it would keep her safe. I initiated her into the Circle because you know your mom would have married her to someone in there anyway. That was your dad’s plan too. If I kept her close, I could protect her. I’m at this college, assisting her class, because I can’t breathe when I’m not near her. The men who hurt her are gone. The people who got in her way regretted it. My only goal is her. And if it ruins our friendship…” I shake my head. I don’t want to lose him, but I will die if I lose her. “Then so be it.”

“You’re willing to sacrifice everything to have her, huh? Sacrifice everything for her?”

“I know what she needs, Luke. I know how happy she is when she’s with me.”

“I only have one question for you.”

He lowers his gun because he knows that’s not what he needs to control me. Stepping forward, he digs his baby-blue eyes into mine. They’re lifeless, the opposite of Ella’s, despite the identical color.

His face is a mask of ice-cold blankness. Luke can be a ruthless man. Just because he doesn’t like to be doesn’t mean he’s not capable of it. He learned business from heartless men, and any deal or transaction can be settled easily for him. He just needs a bit of time to figure out someone’s weakness. And now he knows mine.

And he decides to absolutely destroy me with it.

“Does she look happy to you?”

Time stops, and I feel like I’m being pulled backward by a force more powerful than anything I’ve ever felt. I can’t answer his question, feeling myself falling into a black hole.

Does she look happy to you?

Does she look happy to you?

The words resonate, bouncing around the walls of my skull. I take too long to answer, and it would have been useless anyway. We both just witnessed the massacre she made of herself. It doesn’t look like someone who is happy. And I did that.

“That’s what I thought,” he finally says. “Stay away from my sister. It’s my last warning.”

He turns around, about to exit. I know I’m going to regret these words, but if I can’t listen to his warning, I can at least tell him the truth.

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