Page 75 of Twisted Kings

“You’re too good at this game,” Thea joked, but it was half-hearted at best. When Verity got up to use the bathroom, she glared at me. “Stop staring. It’s giving me the creeps,” she snapped while packing away the board game.

“I wasn’t staring.”

“Yeah, you were.”

I dropped the book and focused on her. In a house this size, the guys were never far away, which meant time alone with Thea was in short supply.

“What are you hiding,cara?”

Her face blanched. “Hiding? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She spun away to place the game back on the shelf. From the way she looked at the door, I could tell she was about to disappear to avoid a conversation she didn’t want to have.

I leaped up and snatched her around the waist before she could flee.

“Yes, you do. So tell me, what are you hiding?” A sharp elbow hit me in the abs, making me grunt, but I refused to let her go. Not until she told me what was wrong.

“Fucking let me go,stronzo,” she hissed in a low voice.

“No. I’m worried about you. There’s something wrong.”

She exhaled, some of the fight leaving her. “There’s always something wrong in my life. You of all people should know that, Dar. I’ve been in the shit since the day my father raped my mother and she got pregnant with me.”

I recoiled in shock. “What the fuck?” I’d never met her mother, but my dad had told me she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met, full of light and life. At least until Francesco got his claws into her. “How do you know this?”

She tried to push my arm away again, but I held firm. I liked the feeling of her body against mine. It had been too long. Toomany days, weeks, and years of spinning out of control without her to ground me.

I missed her so damn much.

The years without her in my life had taken their toll, letting the darkness bleed into my soul. She was my light, and I needed her to keep the shadows away. I wasn’t sure she’d ever forgive me for my sins against her, but I had to keep trying.

The coconut scent of her shampoo filled my nose and set my body on fire. I wanted her so damn badly. All of her, not just the crumbs she threw my way these days. I hated the fact the others had touched her, tasted her, fucked her while I’d been cast out into the dark.

Yes, it was my fault, but I was trying, dammit, to make things right.

“He told me. Described how she screamed and cried when he raped her on their wedding night.”

“He’s a sick bastard,” I breathed in disgust. What kind of father told their daughter such a thing?

She made a noise that sounded like amusement. “I think we both know he’s that and more.” We stood in silence while I soaked in the pleasure of her slim body pressed against mine. “He said her father had promised her to him as a virgin bride, but Mom had slept with some other guy first. He never told me who, but I got the impression he hated this man.”

“Knowing Francesco, he probably hunted him down and killed him.”

“Yeah, probably. Mom tried hard to shelter me from Dad, so I don’t know if the guy was her one true love or not. I kinda hope so.” Her voice trailed off as she got lost in her thoughts.

I loosened my grip and spun her round, sucking in a sharp breath when I saw tears.

“Cara, don’t cry. Your mama is free of him now.”

“I know,” she sniffed. “I just wish…”

“You miss her,” I surmised. God knew I missed my mama every single day.

“I hardly remember her, but I think I miss the idea of her, of having a mother to look after me, and be there for Verity. We needed a mother growing up in that fucked-up house.”

“You’re free of him now,cara. Both of you are safe here, so why don’t you tell me what’s wrong? Maybe I can help?”

She stiffened at the question and pulled away, causing my heart to fracture in my chest.

“There’s nothing wrong, Dar,” she said in a clipped voice, which told me the intimacy we’d just shared was now over. Her walls had come down for a moment, but with Thea, it was a case of one step forward and ten steps back. She hadn’t forgiven me yet, and I was beginning to think she never would. “Stop digging. You lost the right to my secrets when you leaked a sex tape starring me. Thanks to you, the world thinks I’m the slut who broke up Cassian’s star-crossed romance.”

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