All the Truths (Lies & Truths Duet, #2)

by Rina Kent

Then, they were both taken away.

My mom and my...

The only one I have left is my dad. If I want to be with him, I have to forget my lif...

A tear falls down my cheek as I whisper, “Reina. My nam...

She might be a monster, but there are degrees in those. Her level would never reach mine. Reina was bound to lose before we even got started.

I would pity her if she hadn’t already killed that part of me.

This isn’t revenge; this is fucking justice.

She’s running away and leaving Blackwood. Fuck no.

But she’ll find me in her hospital room as soon as she wakes up, and she’ll fucking tell me why she was escaping.

There was something changed about her. Something more exotic, raw, and…broken.

I was attracted to the broken side of her before I even knew what the fuck that was.

I lean my head over and suck her bottom lip into my mouth like I did at twelve when she was sleeping in our guest house. A shudder goes through her as I brush my lips against hers one last time. “You’ll never escape me, my ugly monster.”

Mom’s death. Reina’s sacrifice. The fact that I confiscated another person’s name.

I lived as Rai Sokolov for twelve years. That name resonated with me better, but I had to erase it. I had to become Reina to survive.

Just like that, I took her life and threw her into mine.

They’ll never take you away from me, Rai. Not as long as I breathe.

No, not Reina. Rai. I was always Rai. Reina was temporary. Her life was never mine to confiscate.

I force myself to look away as a potent feeling of disgust grips me by the throat.

The reality of what I’ve done—and can’t undo—slams against my face.

I fucked my sister’...

I lusted after him and clung to him as if I had every right to. Not only that, I also did something so unforgivable, h...

He’s not mine. He’s Reina’s.

That’s why Old Reina always kept him at arm’s length and pushed him away. I can understand her thought process more clearly now.

“Mac and cheese was your favorite when you were younger,”

“Not you.” He raises an eyebrow. “You used to feel peevy around it until I once dared you to eat it, and then you secretly fell in love.”

So it was me, not Reina. A strange sense of relief floods me.

I can’t look at him, not when he thinks I’m Reina. You’re an imposter. You should die.

“You’ll attempt to kill me like on the roof, in the classroom, or in the locker room? I know it was you. I heard what you said to Arianna on her death anniversary. I know you’ll make me pay for whatever the fuck I did. So stop pretending you care for me, whether I eat or starve, whether I lock myself in my room and die, or whether I disappear into the forest and never return. Just stop fucking pretending!”

Then he laughs. It’s long and humorless and shoots something akin to raw fear down my spine.

This is Asher uncut. This is Asher without an ounce of holding back.

“Well, wasn’t it?”

“You only pretended just to get closer to me and screw me over. You made me believe you were my savior when you were the villain all along.”

“Don’t give me that high-and-mighty Reina act. I’m not everyone else, so don’t you dare put up your walls with me, and drop your fucking arms when you’re talking to me.”

This is karma biting me in the ass for stealing Reina’s life and throwing her under the bus.

had to fall for her psycho fiancé just so he’d plan to kill me.

hop on the chair and then onto the table near the edge just as Asher stalks out after me.

I’m facing him, one leg planted on the railing’s edge and the other on the table. We’re at least thirty stories high. If I fall, I’ll die. Everything will fucking end.

“What the fuck are you doing, Reina?”

“That’s the thing, Ash. I was never Reina.”

“My name is Rai Sokolov and I’m Reina’s twin sister. I switched places with her when we were twelve. After Mom kidnapped her, we took each other’s identity. She went with the Russian ...

“I’m not from your world. I’m just a runaway, a nobody who couldn’t save her own sister. So if you want to kill me for whatever the fuck I did to you, stop playing games and do it alrea...

The whole time I’ve been talking, Asher has been slowly approaching me, gradually removing b...

“Come down from there, Reina.”

“I don’t give a fuck about your name. You’re the only Reina I know.”

“Come down. Now.” His face becomes closed off like he’s an entirely different person, almost as if he’s camouflaging something.

Then I recognize that somber look in his eyes.

Fear. Pure, r...

“If you don’t want me dead just yet, can you let me search for my sister first? I’ll do whatever you want once I find her.”

I land in the midst of strong arms. Steel limbs crush me to his chest, his embrace nearly suffocating and yet so…warm.

He places both hands on my cheeks and wrenches me away from his warmth to hold me at arm’s length.