Page 117 of High Stakes and Soulmates
Cyrus tries jerking away, but Louis is too strong, and he simply shoves him down to his knees.
“Here’s the thing, Ezio. I’ve had a lot of fun with all of this. Even waited years until you two fell in love. But now… I have such a hard decision. Which of you two do I kill? I love ruining your life, Ezio, but I also love my sweet little brother.”
“Kill me,” I beg. “Please. Just let him go.”
Cyrus looks at me in shock. “Ezio, no!”
“Your groveling annoys me, but maybe it annoys me enough to kill you. I suppose I’ve grown tired of you. Go ahead. Get on your knees. Drop that tiny little knife and get on your knees,” Louis says.
I drop the knife and hit down on my knees as Cyrus looks horrified. “NO! No, no, please! Please don’t hurt him. Please. I’m begging you. All of that… everything can’t be a lie, right? If you actually cared about me, you wouldn’t hurt him.”
“That’s the problem, isn’t it? I cared about you too much, and all you do is leave me again and again. It doesn’t even matter how many times we try this.”
Louis throws Cyrus to the ground before appearing behind me. I don’t move as he grabs my hair.
“If I let you kill me, how will I know you’ll keep your promise?” I ask.
“That’s the funny thing. You won’t,” he says before leaning down to me.
“Please!” Cyrus begs.
“Stay where you are or I’ll kill him,” Louis snarls, and Cyrus stumbles to a stop. Louis tips my head back, displaying my throat. “What drew you to him? After hundreds of years, what made you decide Cyrus was the one you loved? I’ve watched you, Ezio. I’ve watched you for years, hoping you’d fall in love with another so I could tear you apart, but you waited so long I almost got bored. But Cyrus… you love him, don’t you?”
“I do. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he’s safe.”
“Why him? I want to hear what makes him worth dying for.”
“He makes me feel like I’m someone worth loving.”
“That’s so sweet!” Louis says with a mocking tone. “But do you love him more than you loved Arturo? You left him that day; you left Arturo who you loved so much. You hear this, Cyrus? He left the man he loved bleeding and broken. And now he’s movedon! I didn’t know it was so easy to claim you love someone and then leave them.”
I shake my head, refusing to believe his words. “You killed him.”
“No, I didn’t. Oh no! Did you think he was dead when you left him? That’s heartbreaking. And hecriedfor you. I took him back home where he begged for you. He wanted death over living with me, and then eventually, he just stopped. He was a husk of his former self.”
“You lie,” I snarl.
Louis laughs. “I don’t think I do.”
My chest is constricting. “He was dead. I saw him die.”
“And as he fell apart day by day, wanting a man who was never going to return to him, you moved on with your life. How funny.”
“You’re lying. He died on that ship.”
“Oh, you’re right. A huge part of him died that day when the man he loved left him there.”
He’s getting in my head. He’s fucking with me. I remember that day so vividly. I remember every moment of it better than I remember anything else. “No, no, you’re lying,” I yell, panic eating at me. He was cold… he wasn’t breathing. He’d been stabbed through the heart… but I was in so much pain, I was near death myself. Could I have missed something?
Louis jerks my head back so I’m staring at Cyrus as his lips hover close to my ear. “If he died that day, then who is standing in front of you?”
I feel like he’s punched me in the stomach. “You’re lying.”
“Am I? Do you not even recognize the man you love? Did you even love him at all? I mean… you must not have if you left him in my care for so many years. You abandoned him to the very man he risked his life to flee from.”
“You’re lying, you’re lying. You lying piece of shit.”
Cyrus is just staring at us, unsure of what to do or say.
