Page 55 of Beautiful Liar

“That sounds painful.”

He squeezed my shoulder, and a sharp pain followed. I bit back the groan that wanted to come out. “You are quite a pleasant addition to the school.”

I let out a relieved breath when he released me. Sweat beaded my brow. “Prison,” I corrected. “And I wish I wasn’t here.”

“You and me both, son.” He looked sad. “Maddox is here with his husband. The table near the wall.”

I almost choked at the word husband.

I found Maddox talking with Declan. The most relaxed I’d ever seen him. He even had a smile on his face. Putting us together, I could see the hint of similarity between us. The shape of our eyes, though his were green and mine were brown. The color and texture of our hair, the shape of our face. Now that I saw it, I couldn’t pull us apart.

My chest hurt too. “Husband?”

“Yes. If you’d but read your mail.”

I gave a sheepish shrug. I’d known Kieran had gone to the wedding, but he’d never mentioned it’d been a man Maddox had married. We had been hiding our relationship because Kieran believed he’d be shunned for being gay. That had been true when Cillian had been alive. But apparently, Tristan was more open about same sex relationships. Kieran hadn’t felt the need to share that part with me.

Another reason why Kieran and I would never have worked. His lies. A lie by omission was still a lie. Although I had told him I didn’t want to hear anything that had to do with Maddox, he could’ve told me this one thing that would’ve changed our own relationship. But he hadn’t. And it fucking hurt.

“Is his husband here?” I asked.

“Yes,” Dr. Casera answered with clear distaste in his voice.

“Who is he?”

“Alessandro Mancini,” Dr. Casera answered.

No. No. No.

“Enzo.”

Dr. Casera narrowed his eyes. A slight change in his demeanor he reserved just for me. “How do you know that name?”

I hadn’t realized I’d said it out loud. Dr. Casera knew everything. And me about to pass out in the middle of an event at the mention of Enzo being married to my half-brother, Maddox, who hated me and stuck me in this prison in the first place, made everything all the more unbearable. “Do you know?” I couldn’t hold back the fear and anger pouring out of my whisper. Dr. Casera’s expression deepened. “Do you know?”Do you know what he did to me?

Concern slipped into his eyes. The same concern I’d seen whenever he talked about Maddox. “If this has to do with Alessandro, you must be careful.”

I wasn’t sure why I was relieved that Casera didn’t know how fucked up Enzo had made me. “I’m not stupid.” Not really. But maybe I was.

“I know. You’re anything but stupid. I think you are the brightest person in this school. You don’t belong here because you are not like the rest of us. Which is why I’m giving you this advice. Play the long game.” He straightened his jacket. “And it would be most helpful if you opened your mail once in a while.” He gave me a curt nod and headed deeper into the hall, greeting people as he went. I lost Kieran in the crowd. I lost Kieran. That thought made my chest hurt because I needed him now more than ever. I needed him to protect me.

I felt sick. The hall felt too crowded. Too loud. I narrowed my focus to the restroom. I pushed the door open and headed for the sink. Running the water, I stuck my hand under the stream. Something about cold water on my hands always helped soothe my mind. The shock of it settled the raging inferno inside. Alessandro. Enzo. Married to Maddox and they were here. He was here. Maddox was here. Kieran was here. What if they found out? What if Enzo … I couldn’t think.

The stall behind me opened and I lifted my eyes just as the man stepped out. The onslaught of emotions flooding me made me dizzy. Enzo hadn’t changed since I last saw him. Tall, at least six-two. Lean but built so that you couldn’t tell his strength. Soft brown hair parted in the side, and a sharp angular jawline just as sharp as his dark eyes. He used the sink to my left, near the door, without looking at me.

I couldn’t move and could barely breathe.

Was this real? Was he here?

He turned off the water, wiped his hands with a papertowel and started for the door. The sound of the lock clicking into place loud in the silent space. I felt like trapped prey.

Tossing the paper towel in the garbage can, he turned around to face me. Something in my chest pushed forward. Fear, regret, hatred, love … I couldn’t settle on any one emotion.

He narrowed the gap between us, his footfalls and the running sink the only sound in the room. Close enough that he loomed over me, he cupped my face. I felt like that fourteen-year-old boy who wanted his father’s love. But Joaquin Moya only reserved that emotion for Nick. Enzo’s hands were warm and soft. I couldn’t move. My tongue got stuck to the roof of my mouth. My hands shook beside me.

He leaned in, his dark eyes half lidded, his lips close to mine. He inhaled, grazing the side of my mouth, my jaw, my ear. Cold air poured over me, making me break out in cold sweat and the hairs on my body stand on end. “Who hurt you?” he asked. “So I can kill them.”

He smelled of mint and lies. “No one,” I responded. The lie fell easily off my lips. It was one lie I could always get away with because no one truly cared who the fuck hurt me. “What are you going to do to me?”

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