Page 66 of Split

My lungs seize, ears ringing as I snap my head back and forth between the two of them, the newly-arrived Roman striding over to claim the chair on Magnus’ other side, opposite his clone.

“My brother, Knox,” the one beside me sighs as the other takes his seat.

Brother?

More like his identicalfuckingtwin.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been toying with this one, too?” Magnus groans, scrubbing an exasperated hand down his face. “Didn’t you boys learn your lesson after that mess with Alina?”

“She was weak-minded. Eliza isn’t,” new Roman replies flatly, then turns a devilish grin on me. “Are you, pet?”

My mind is spinning so fast that it feels as if it may implode at any moment, nausea roiling in my gut.

“N-nox,” I stammer, starting to hyperventilate. “Like Roman’s dog?”

“Ourdog, and no. My name has a K in front of it.” He lifts his chin haughtily as he reaches for his glass of wine, my eyes catching on the bandage wrapped around his hand.The hand that bled on me.As he brings the glass to his smirking lips and tosses the wine back like a shot of liquor, the pieces start slotting together in my brain, everything suddenly coming together with startling clarity.

The cut.

The mood swings.

Red and black.

Cherie’s remark about the dog’s name.

“I told you it was weird to name him that,” Roman grumbles.

“Thought I’d make things easy on you, since you tend to forget names,” Knox replies, giving his brother a pointed look.

Roman frowns. “That wasonetime. When are you-”

I slap my palms loudly against the dark wood tabletop, rudely interrupting the bickering siblings. “Is someone gonna tell me what the hell is going on here?” I demand, throwing all sense of decorum out the window.

Roman turns to meet my eyes, calm and controlled as always. “I think you already know,” he replies coolly.

He’s right; Ido. All this time, there weren’t two sides to Roman. There were two ofthem, Roman and Knox. I’ve been living with both. Dining with both.Fuckingboth.

“We weren’t planning on doing this so soon, but some things have come to light and it’s a necessary evil,” he continues, those intense green eyes boring into mine. “We need to bring you in on our plans involving your father.”

“My father?” I choke, suddenly horribly lightheaded.

“Yes. Do you remember when he rose in position?”

No.I can barely form a coherent thought right now– I just keep looking back and forth between the two men, my mind tripping over itself at the impossibility.

And yet it makes so much sense. I should’ve put it together sooner. But I never saw them in the same room, never considered that there could betwoof them. Of all the sick games my husband played with me, this one is by far the most inconceivable, demented…

“Great, now she’s just going to throw herself from the tower like the last one,” Magnus groans, flopping back in his chair with an exasperated sigh and stabbing his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair.

“NotEliza,” Knox snarls, pounding a fist against the table so hard that the silverware clatters. “She’s strong. She can handle this.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes shut as all three men continue to speculate about the chances of me offing myself. I open my mouth to tell them to stop but as soon as I do, bile rushes up my throat, my stomach twisting. I barely have time to fling my upper body sideways over the arm of the chair before vomit spews from my mouth, splashing against the pristinely polished mahogany floors.

Even though he’s seated furthest from me and thus well outside the splatter zone, Magnus recoils in disgust, the legs of his chair screeching against the hardwood as he jolts back with a grimace.

“I told you she wasn’t ready for this,” Roman admonishes angrily, shooting up to his feet and throwing his napkin down on the table. He sidesteps and pulls my chair back, grasping onto my bicep to help me out of it.

“Come, let’s get you back home,” he murmurs, brushing my hair behind my shoulder and sending goosebumps skittering across my exposed skin. His touch is both familiar and foreign. As much as I want to shrink away from it, there’s something soothing in the way he presses a hand firmly against the small of my back, taking control of the situation.

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