Page 63 of Until Retribution Burns (Beauty in Lies 3)

“I agree,” Odina said. “Risking your happy marriage when your wife is pregnant is the epitome of a low point. I can’t imagine what Isa must feel knowing that her husband would fuck her sister.”

“Get out,” Isa said, her voice quiet and deadly. If Odina had been the slightest bit smarter, she would have run from the room at the empty stare Isa turned her way.

Instead, she dug her heels in stubbornly and tried to stick to the story she’d concocted in a pathetic attempt to hurt Isa. “What? You thought you were special?” she asked, huffing a laugh. “I’m you, Isa. Just more fun. A man likeRafaelknows that I will give him things you would never even think exist.” My name was a dramatic purr on her lips, and I clenched my teeth together to allow Isa to determine how the rest of the evening went.

If she gave me the word, I would slit her sister’s throat for touching what belonged tomi reina.

“I said get the fuck out,” Isa growled, the first hint of malice leaking out of her vivid eyes. They seemed to glow with the rage burning inside them, and she took a single step toward her sister. My body hummed in response, feeling the pure rage in the motion as she tilted her head and Odina took a step back. “Do not make me say it again.”

Odina paused, watching her sister for a moment before she laughed uncomfortably and threw up her hands. “Fine. Stay with the asshole that would fuck anything that bent over for him.” She retreated from the office, leaving me staring at the back of Isa’s head as her back heaved with the deep breaths she drew into her lungs.

“Would you like to explain to me what you’re doing in a room alone with my sister, with your shirt open?” she asked, a cool detachment in her voice as she spun to stare at me with those rage-filled eyes looking too big on her pale, empty face.

“Your father was worried about my name on your neck. I showed him your name on my chest,” I said, watching her as she stepped toward me like a caged animal.

“You expect me to believe that? When I walked in and found her lips on you?”

“Yes, I expect you to trust that I would never fuck your goddamn sister,mi reina.What use would I have of her when I have you?” I asked, reaching out a hand to touch her cheek. She slapped it away, her glare intensifying as her cheek twitched.

“You wouldn’t be the first boyfriend to screw my sister,” she said, moving further into the room and staring up at the ceiling.

“I’m not your fucking boyfriend,” I reminded her, my anger rising in response to her lack of trust and the dismissal of me as her husband.

“You’re right. You’re my husband, and that makes this even worse,” she said. A trace of the emotion lying beneath her anger slipped free, making her shake her head as she hung her head and her old insecurities surfaced. She glared at the exposed skin of my chest, her eyes lifting to my face as she searched for other places where her sister’s lips might have touched me.

I’d never have allowed even the first touch if I’d been prepared for her to do something so ridiculously stupid.

“Mi reina,” I said, dropping my voice low to the command that she responded to so thoroughly. Her skin pebbled with goosebumps, but she shook her head to reject it.

“I can’t do this right now,” she said, shaking her head again and slipping out the door to the office. Short of physically restraining her, she gave me no opportunity to stop her. I could have forced it, but if it came to that I wanted to do it after her family was the fuck out of my house.

Yelling came from the main room as I trailed behind her a moment later, picking up my pace and hurrying to find the source. “He tried to force himself on me!” Odina yelled, pointing her finger in my direction as I stepped into the room.

I huffed a laugh, crossing my arms over my chest. “Why would I want you when I have the better version of you in my bed every night?” Isa spun to gasp at me, her glare settling on my face.

I supposed talking about her in my bed with her family in the room was slightly inappropriate. I’d give her that.

“He forced himself on you?” Isa asked, cocking her hip to the side as her head tilted.

“Yes. Is that so hard to believe? Look at what he’s done to you! I can’t imagine you were willing for that!” Odina said, touching a hand to her own neck as she swallowed like she couldn’t stomach the thought of my blade carving through her flesh.

She’d be dead by the time I finished with her.

Isa hung her head forward, her chest spasming as laughter bubbled up her throat. “God, you almost had me.” Odina furrowed her brow at her sister as the rest of their family watched in confusion. “If you hadn’t made up the ridiculous lie about him attempting to rape you, I would have believed your bullshit. So fucking stupid to believe anything where you’re involved.”

“What are you talking about?” her grandmother asked, settling Odina with a glare and turning patient eyes to Isa.

“When I walked into the office, Odina had her lips on him. Does that sound like a rape attempt to you?” Isa’s grandmother’s jaw clenched, her glare hardening on her other granddaughter in fury.

Isa turned her eyes to where her mother held Odina close despite the condemning evidence that Odina was lying, and I knew before her mother spoke who she would believe. “You would lie for him. You’ve made it very clear that he’s more important to you than your sister,” her mother said, her gaze softening as she turned her attention down to Odina.

Isa’s breath left her in a rush, the shock of that betrayal hitting her straight in the chest. She’d always perceived herself to be her mother’s favorite, the well-behaved child who she could control and who did as she was told, even if she didn’t realize that was exactly why she preferred her. “One of these days, you’ll remember why she’s not worth your defense,” Isa said, turning her back on her mother. She hugged her grandmother and her father where he watched the drama unfold. I didn’t doubt that the two of them believed Isa’s story of what she’d seen; they weren’t blinded to Odina’s toxicity in the same way Leonora was. “Don’t come back until you see her for what she is. I have no place for either you or Odina in my child’s life.”

Isa went for the stairs, retreating up them and leaving her mother gaping after her. “I believe that means the two of you can kindly get the fuck out,” I growled, my lips twisting into a snarl as I locked eyes with Odina. “There’s a special place in Hell for men who rape women, but there’s a spot right next to them for the women who accuse innocent men of the same crime. Believe me when I say, I know a thing or two about the Hell that’s waiting for you if you don’t stay the fuck away from my wife.”

Leonora guided her out the door, her father nodding to me hesitantly as if to say he would try to talk some sense into his wife.

I just worried it would be too little, too late formi reina.

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