Tempted by Deception (Deception Trilogy, #2)

by Rina Kent

“Learn some respect.” “Respect is earned, not learned.”

He’s the type of beauty one should only admire from afar.

“Are you going to be a good slut or a good girl,

“You called me a disaster, but this is the true disaster, Lia. You and me.”

“You asked when I’d be done. The answer is never. I’ll never be done with you, Lenochka.”

“Too late.” He stares at me with those unnerving eyes. “I already claimed you as mine and there’s no going back.”

I’m giving things their name.” “It changes nothing except offering you some sense of fragile justice.” “Justice is not fragile.” “Oh, but it is. Those who believe in it fail or are slapped in the face by harsh truths.”

“Patterns are a powerful tool that allow me to see the outcome before it happens.”

A rose shines brighter alone than when it’s in a field.” “Is that why you plucked me?” My voice lowers as I stare at the bowl of salad. “Possibly.” “Just so you know, the prettiest roses have the deadliest thorns.”

It’s why I’m too scared to live and too scared to die.

Lia isn’t the other woman. She’s the woman. And I’m not my fucking father.

It’s where love proves what it truly is, a masochistic feeling where you want the best for the one you love despite what they’ve done to you. Bullshit.

It’d be easy enough to finish everything, for me not to feel numb and desensitized. One step. One breath. And it’ll be all over. I’ll be free.

Circumstances shape you, but they don’t dictate your fate.”

“It might feel like you can’t take it, like it would be better to die, but that’s not true. It’ll heal, maybe not right away or in the near future, and it might not heal completely, but the wound will close and you will look back on this day as the moment you changed.”

“Scars mean you are alive and strong enough to survive.” He kisses the top of my head. “I’ll worship each of your scars until you’re able to face them, Lenochka.”

I meant it when I said that I don’t believe in justice, but I do believe in an eye for an eye. Blood for fucking blood.

He brought his guards to the ceremony. Isn’t that romantic?

“If you wanted an obedient pet, you should’ve gotten a different wife.”

You’ll bow to me, wife.” Not in this life, husband.

you don’t think I’m broken?” “So what if you are. It’s what makes you who you are.” My lips part. It’s like he’s saying he likes me just as I am. Broken and all.

lie by omission is still a lie, and I’m still not over that.

I’ll burn the world if anyone so much as gets near him or his mother.

I slide to the floor, joining the broken pieces of my heart that are lying there. I slam a hand on my chest as if that will stop the slow disintegration of my heart. As if it will heal the gaping wound Adrian just left in my soul.

A sob tears from my throat, because I know, I just know that I lost a part of Adrian tonight. The part I fell in love with.

“Understand this, Lia. I might not hurt you, might not fucking kill you, even though you deserve it, but I’ll find that bastard, and when I do, I’ll fuck you in front of him before I slice his fucking throat. Then I’ll fuck you again in the pool of his blood.” I release her neck and she sucks in deep breaths, tears sliding down her cheeks. “Protect him while you can.”

“Have you ever loved me, Adrian?” He pauses as if the question is alien to him, but he doesn’t reply. Fresh tears stream harder at the answer he indirectly gives me. He hasn’t. Or, more accurately, he doesn’t know what love means. Never has and never will. “Because I loved you.” I lay a palm over my heart and fist the material of my dress. “And it’s killing me every day.”