Page 92 of Thorns of Lust
It wasn’t until the end that I saw it. A reflection against the glass. A reflection of Adrian as he reached for the camera and slid the tape out.
“I’m erasing all the traces of our visit,” he told Sasha. Yet, it was playing right here in front of me. He never erased anything. If he had, I would have never seen this.
Disappointment and anger washed over me. Adrian had put my family at risk by keeping these videos. He might be dead but he left a clusterfuck for me to clean up in its wake.
I turned around and met my gaze in the mirror.
“My brothers,” I rasped to my reflection in the mirror. I stared at it blankly, wondering if there was anything I really knew about Adrian. Did I know my husband at all?
My heart hardened. No, not hardened, just numbed. But that was good. I didn’t want to feel Adrian’s betrayal. It was like I had just lost him all over again.
He knew how much I loved my brothers. My family. They were all I had. Why would he do that?
My shuddering breath fogged the mirror. The wounds that started to heal cracked back up. Silence echoed all around me, the sound of my heart bleeding almost an actual sound.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The vise around my heart squeezed. The lump in my throat grew, until it hurt to do such a simple act as breathe. And betrayal burned the backs of my eyes.
“I need a drink,” I said to my own reflection, but before I turned around, my eyes landed on that piece of tile that Adrian and I argued about. He hated it, I liked it. He threatened to remove it. I threatened to tear into his computers.
But then abruptly, one day I got home to find him fixing that same tile in our bathroom.
“What are you doing?” I questioned him suspiciously. “You better not touch my accent tile or I’ll touch your accent laptop. Roughly.”
Adrian shook his head, one of those rare smiles playing around his lips. My chest warmed and I fought the urge to just hug him.
“Pipsqueak, you’ve got to relax.”
I rolled my eyes and groaned. I hated that nickname.
“I just came back from the spa. I’m relaxed,” I snapped sharply. I wanted a sweet, lovable nickname. Like he called me that first night in the gazebo.Moya luna. Now, that was a nickname for your wife. Not fucking pipsqueak. “Stop calling me pipsqueak,” I demanded, glaring at him with my hands on my hips. “Why don’t you ever call me moya luna?”
He gave me a blank look. Oh no, he didn’t! Did the fucker really forget?
Now that really got my temper flaring. It was our first time together. The hottest night of my life. He fucked me in the gazebo while the party went on inside the manor and he acted like it was just another night.
“You touch that tile and I’ll go ballistic.” I whirled around on my heel, when his voice stopped me.
“Come on, Tatiana,” he drawled. “You were right and I was wrong. The tile grew on me. I’m making sure it’s cemented properly.”
I didn’t think much of it, but why would he cement it? It was tiled. Unless—
My breath caught in my lungs. Unless he dug it out then put something inside it. Without delay, I rushed through the penthouse in search of a hammer. I found a small box of construction tools and grabbed a hammer. Returning to the bathroom, I swung the hammer into the air. A heartbeat later and I brought it down onto the single tile.
It instantly cracked. So I did it again. And again. I lowered to my knees, my hands digging through the mess. I cracked the surrounding tile too. The debris was everywhere. I scooped up the pieces and shoved them aside.
A glittering shine of metal caught my eye. My fingers sifted through the dirt until I found it.
A tiny key.
Another clue but no answers.
* * *
Hours later, I entered Vasili’s building. With each step nearing my big brother’s office, his deep accented voice vibrated through the walls. It was the first indication he was pissed off. His accent became thicker when he was mad.
I found another clue but personally, I had a setback. Disappointment tasted bitter. Like Bacardi vodka without the fruity flavor. My senses dulled and so did the self-disappointment, but I knew in the corner of my mind that it would come back tenfold.
