Page 47 of Blood and Lies (A Twisted Duet 1)

There was a long pause, the deadly silence doing nothing to tame my wildly beating heart…or the heat that pooled between my legs.

Castello didn’t leave. I could feel him watching me, feel the crackle of electricity buzzing around us.

“Why are you doing this to me?” I whispered, still staring at the ceiling. “All I did was fall for a man who lied to me about everything.”

“Unfortunately for you, that man was my brother.”

I sat up, not caring that I was naked. Modesty was no longer a concern of mine.

“I didn’t know.”

Dark eyes kept my gaze for two seconds longer before he turned toward the door. “Then tell me, Tatum,” he started without turning back, “do you still believe knowledge is power?”

Just like that, he turned my own words against me. I couldn’t answer him, and he didn’t wait for an answer either. The door closed, and I was left alone inside the room, my body naked, my mind feeling more broken than ever before.

When I first woke up in this room surrounded by fear and the unknown, I had all these nightmarish ideas of what Castello would do to me. But never did it cross my mind that I would actually want him to do the unthinkable, that my body would crave it.

Even now, with him gone, I could still feel him touching me between my legs. My body still wanted him. He might look like Carlo, but he was nothing like his twin brother. Carlo’s touch was warm, but it didn’t set me on fire like Castello’s. And no matter how hard I tried to fight the feelings that were starting to consume me, turning my soul into nothing but rotten desires, it was no use.

Castello was turning me against myself, ruining me by making my mind and body mortal enemies. Was this part of his game? Was this his plan all along, to seduce me then bury me in my own shame?

Tugging the towel back around my naked body, I crawled onto the bed, cradling my legs against my chest. There were no threatening tears or dark, foreboding feelings running rampant inside my gut. For the first time since this nightmare started, I felt empty, blank, void of any emotion. And it felt good not to feel. For the first time in months, I didn’t feel a thing. No pain of a broken heart, shame of a tainted soul, or fear of the monster holding me captive. There were no frightening thoughts of what the new future held for me, whether my parents would find me in time. Nothing. My mind consisted of nothing.

The lights went off, casting complete darkness over me. It didn’t frighten me. I didn’t fear the dark anymore. In fact, I was starting to embrace it, to acknowledge the darkness that thickened inside me every time Castello’s touch set my body on fire.

I didn’t know what to think, what to feel. He showed mercy by stopping Vico from beating me. Then concern when he wanted me to shower in order to ease the pain on my back. And then there was desire, the lust that consumed us both, where he showed no mercy as he turned my own body against me, only to lower his guard by letting me witness the pleasure that wracked through him when he let himself go by pulsing his release on my stomach.

Tonight was a night of many revelations.

His mother’s deep-rooted hate for me.

A united family’s need for revenge.

A psychological battle between brothers.

The many, deeply hidden layers of my captor, and the sordid levels of exposure finally showing me that I had a tainted attraction toward the darkness.

Chapter 16

CASTELLO

The door locked in place behind me. I switched on the monitor and saw her huddling on the bed, curling herself into a tiny ball. It was working. I was busy breaking her. The only problem was I was breaking alongside her. She was clawing her way in, trying to expose what I so desperately wanted to keep hidden. The role that was now mine to play within this family demanded a hard, ruthless leader, which was what I was determined to be.

But the woman who started out being the prey now turned into the threat. I had to try harder. If I let her in, allowed her to dig deeper, she would ultimately destroy me before I could destroy her. My body wanted her, my soul screamed for her, and my monster demanded to have her. But I couldn’t allow it. I couldn’t let that happen, because once I let the monster have her, he—I wouldn’t ever let her go.

I pressed the button on the keyboard, and the lights went out. With a heavy sigh, I exited the room, closed the door, and pressed in the security code, locking her safely behind two doors.

“Here you are.”

I jerked around to find Nicollo standing behind me, his hands tucked casually in his pants pockets.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was looking for you. You were gone so long and missing one hell of a party.”

“Well, you found me.”

Nicollo remained stoic, but his eyes spoke volumes of malice and spite.

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