Page 45 of Loving the Liar

I scroll down and look at the pictures. It’s the two guys who harassed me at the party. I never realized that had happened.

“Holy…fuck,” I whisper to myself.

My thoughts keep oscillating from the Silent Circle, the invitation I didn’t get, to Chris’s violence, to tie up everything in a nice bow when I think of Megan.

Chris is not a perfect, peace-and-love type of man, but he doesn’t often use violence as an answer. He’s been in fights, but it was reluctantly, for the people around him. Mainly, his foster siblings. Jake had a tendency to get into trouble. Rose had an ego that was dangerous for everyone.

When it comes to me, though…I know he’s different. I saw it again at the party with those two guys. Something triggers him, and the Chris everyone knows disappears within a blink.

He once punched my Halloween ball date. The guy had been a little too touchy, and I couldn’t take Chris to the ball since we were hiding from Luke. That’s what everyone knows of it, but later on, he cornered him too. Threatened him, his family, said things I had never imagined would come out of his mouth. And he didn’t even know I could hear.

A bat to the knee.

That’s too far.

I startle when someone knocks on our front door. I’m in bed, but I kept my bedroom door open to hear what’s going on in the house. Being alone as the night is about to fall when the Silent Circle could be planning anything against my family isn’t exactly the most reassuring situation.

I press pause on the recorded Bluebeard ballet I had put on in the background and strain my ear to make sure I didn’t imagine anything. The knock resonates again, and I huff, getting out of bed hesitantly.

Can’t a girl scroll on her phone, fear for her life, and watch ballet in peace?

I jog down, messy bun bobbing on the top of my head.

“Hello?” I call from behind, before slightly pushing the curtain that hides the squares of windows by the door.

“Delivery for Ella Baker.” a flat voice calls back. I catch a man holding a golden box in his hand. There’s a black silk bow wrapped around it and a gold envelope that has my name in cursive.

Ugh. Couldn’t he have gotten the wrong house?

“Just leave it on the porch,” I say. And I wait until he’s gone to wrench the door open, grab the box, and slam it back, my heart racing.

With quick steps, I walk to our kitchen and put it all on the counter.

I know this kind of box. They usually hold beautiful designer dresses. But I haven’t had anything made.

I slide my thumb in the envelope, ripping it open to find a card. My heartbeat accelerates as I pull it out with a trembling hand.

Ella Baker,

After careful consideration, I have decided to personally invite you to the Dionysian Mysteries.

Under my command, you are to present yourself at the structure designed by Daedalus.

You will drink Circe’s wine and turn into who you truly are.

Find a husband, and you will become the patron goddess of lawful marriage.

Get caught by a god, and you will serve us as a goddess of lust.

The festival starts at sundown. You may not be late.

Yours,

Hades.

Hades? Who the hell is Hades? Could it be a nickname they use? Is that what Reeves is called within the Silent Circle?

I undo the silk bow and open the box to find exactly what I expected. A dress. But it’s not a designer dress. It’s a simple Greek-mythology style white dress. And as I pull it out to see its ankle-length, I also notice how see-through it is.

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