Page 112 of The Psychopaths

Fear flashes in her eyes, but she doesn’t struggle, doesn’t try to pull away. “Don’t do this. I know what you’re thinking and it’s not true. We both know I didn’t mean to say his name.”

“But you did.” My grip tightens, fury building like a physical force beneath my skin. “How can you expect me to think otherwise when you spent years wanting him. Years building fantasies around thenoblestepbrother who kept you at a distance under the illusion of safety. Only to discover he’s not the person you thought he was. But you still want him. And that’s where I come in, right? You’ll settle for the less-than brother, the broken replacement, because we’re identical twins, so it feels like you’re still fulfilling that fantasy, right?”

“Stop it,” she says, voice stronger now despite the fear. “You’re not a copy of him. You’re not a replacement. You’re?—”

“What?” I demand, giving her a small shake. “Please tell me, what am I to you, Lilian? The monster you’ve decided to fuck because your golden boy turned out to be just as monstrous? The devil you know? The backup plan?”

“That’s not—” She’s scrambling for the right words to say, but there are none. There is only the truth, even if she doesn’t want to see it.

“You want to know why I’m pushing you away?” My control splinters further with each word. “Because I know every time you look at me, you see him. Every time you touch me, you’re imagining I’m him. Every. Single. Fucking. Time.”

“That’s not true,” she insists. Tears gather in her eyes, but don’t fall. Not yet. “I see you. I’ve always seen you. From the very beginning, I knew there was something different.”

“Liar.” It’s a bitter taste on my tongue to call her a liar because somehow I know she could tell I wasn’t Aries, but that doesn’t matter. Not right now. “If you know, if you can tell us apart so well, then why did you just call me by his name?”

Her lips part, and guilt fills her eyes. All I can do is shake my head, letting the disappointment and anger consume me. “After everything he did to you, the way he used you and discarded you.” Anger burns, threatening to suffocate me. “After everythingIdid for you. I had never cared for someone else, never given a shit about another human like that, and still, his name is the one on your lips!” I hate how raw and broken my voice sounds, but more than anything, I hate that I let her do this to me.

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional. I swear.”

Nothing she says is going to change how I feel. I don’t want to hear her voice right now. I don’t want to listen to her lies. A plan forms in my mind—not calculated, not strategic, nothing but pure animal rage driving me toward something I’ll regret. I start dragging her toward the door, my grip unrelenting despite her struggles and protests.

“What are you doing?” she asks in a rushed voice, not quite afraid but balancing on the edge of fear.

“Is it really so hard to tell the difference between us?” I ask in a barely contained growl while pulling her down the corridor. “I didn’t think so, but I suppose if you can’t tell yet, then maybe you haven’t spent enough time with your beloved hero.”

“Don’t!” She tries to dig her feet into the ground, but she’s half my size. Her efforts to stop me are futile at best.

“Oh, sweet Lilian. I tried to help you, tried to show you how different we are, but I should’ve realized sometimes the easiest way to learn something is to experience it firsthand.” I drag her down the stairs, my grip unyielding despite her attempts to break free.

“I didn’t mean it!” she protests, her voice echoing off the concrete.

I refuse to listen, refuse to accept her excuses. The rushing in my ears drowns out everything but the fury pulsing through my veins.

“Arson, stop!” she gasps as I yank her around the corner toward Aries’s cell. “You’re hurting me!”

“Good,” I snarl, beyond reason, beyond the careful control I’ve maintained for years. I want to hurt her; I want to make her feel the pain she’s making me feel right now. “Maybe you need to feel pain, experience it firsthand to be able to tell us apart.”

The security door beeps as I swipe the card, and hydraulics hiss when it opens to the holding area. Aries looks up from his cot, chains rattling as he moves to a standing position. A look of amusement crosses his features when he sees Lilian struggling in my grip. Even as monstrous as he is, I know the truth. I know he cares about her far more than he leads on.

With one hand at the back of her neck, I slam her against the observation window, forcing her face against the glass, and use my other hand to pin her hips against the wall. The position is deliberately reminiscent of how I took her days ago—a crude reminder of intimacy now twisted into punishment.

“Look at him,” I demand, voice tight with barely controlled rage. “Look at him and tell me we’re the same. Tell me you can’t tell us apart.”

“I never said—” she starts, her voice muffled against the glass.

“Say it.” I press her face against the glass a little harder, and she winces. “Say we’re different. Say my name.” Through the glass, Aries watches with predatory interest, head tilted at a slight angle, like he used to when we were kids—studying weaknesses, calculating advantages.

“Arson,” she speaks clearly, her breath fogging the glass. “You’re Arson. He is Aries. I know who you are.”

“Do you?” I lean closer, speaking directly into her ear while maintaining eye contact with Aries through the glass. “Then why the fuck is his name on your lips? Why does he have a place in your thoughts after treating you with so much disdain?”

Aries steps closer to the window, chains dragging across the concrete floor.

“Trouble in paradise already?” he calls, voice carrying clearly through the intercom I never switched off. “It’s a shame. I thought you two were so perfect together. The damaged girl and the psychopath.” His mockery only feeds the rage festering inside me.

Lilian squeaks as I sink my fingers deeper into her hips. I ignore the slight tremble of her body, the fear radiating off her.

“Tell him,” I demand. “Tell him how you called me by his name. How even after he used you and left you for dead, it’s still him you think about.”

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