Twisted Lies (Twisted, #4)

by Ana Huang

“Get in the car, Stella.” I got in the car.

If my thoughts were chaos, she was my anchor.

“Touch Stella again, and you’ll no longer have a fiancée.”

Christian’s presence dominated the sidewalk, soaking into the shadows and rendering the air around us invincible. So quiet and lethal even the darkness didn’t dare touch him.

“Once is chance, twice is coincidence.” I turned my head. “What’s three times, Mr. Harper?” First, the car ride home. Second, the Delamonte dinner. I didn’t count our lobby run-in earlier that night since we lived in the same building, but overall, I’d bumped into Christian a suspicious number of times over the past two weeks. “Fate.”

It was all so cordial I wanted to shoot someone just to liven things up.

She thought her rent at the Mirage was low? That was nothing compared to how she lived rent-free in my fucking head.

“What they said was bullshit. It’s not your fault. Millions of people post every fucking thing they do on social media every day. It doesn’t mean they’re inviting people to harass them. Would you blame a woman for being assaulted if she was wearing a short skirt?” She flinched. “Of course not.”

Our moral compasses pointed in different directions, but we both wore masks to shield our true natures from the world. The only difference was our motives behind the deception and the lies we told ourselves.

A dozen unspoken words consumed that single breath, and I wanted to keep every one of them for myself, to hoard them close to my chest the way a dragon guarded its treasure.

Trying to stay away from her was like the ocean trying to stay away from the shore. Impossible.

Kage gawked at me as I yanked open the door. I never walked out of a briefing, ever. I liked to know everything that was happening in my business, even if it was boring as shit. “Where are you—” “Briefing’s over.” I slammed the door behind me, cutting him off midsentence.

Sometimes, I truly despised people.

I didn’t know how the hell I ended up drawing a bath for someone else like a damn nineteenth-century attendant, but at least there were no witnesses to my indignity. If anyone saw me like this, I would never live it down.

Stella didn’t protest when I returned to the guest room and carried her into my bathroom along with her toiletries. I set her down on the cushioned bench near the tub and tilted my chin at the eucalyptus-scented bath.

I washed her hair, cleaning each strand with painstaking meticulousness and massaging her scalp with firm, deep strokes until she sank against the side of the tub with her eyes closed.

It was my first time touching Stella for such an extended length of time, and I was going to savor every second.

“If you saw yourself the way other people see you,” he said quietly, “you’d never doubt again.” Curiosity and something infinitely sweeter and more dangerous fluttered to life in my heart. “How do other people see me?” Christian’s eyes didn’t leave mine. “Like you’re the most beautiful, most remarkable thing they’ve ever seen.”

“I’m giving it back. It’s too much,” I said firmly. “This is a diamond watch, Christian. It must be worth tens of thousands of dollars.” “Ninety-two thousand, six hundred.”

“It’s because you haven’t looked me in the eye since New York. Because you’re all I can fucking think about no matter where I am or who I’m with, and the thought of you hurt or upset makes me want to raze this city to the ground.” Soft, almost desperate viciousness coated his voice. “I’ve never wanted someone more, and I’ve never hated myself more for it.”

I wanted to wrap her hair in my hand and tug her head back until those eyes were on mine. To mark that perfect skin with my teeth and claim her mouth in a kiss so fucking deep it would erase the notion that we were just housemates

“Yet I didn’t touch them. I didn’t want to. Not one tiny fucking bit.” I lowered my head, my chest on fire from how close she was. Every breath brought her deeper into my orbit, but I would’ve traded all of them if it meant I could have her, all of her, for just one moment. “Perhaps I should’ve. Perhaps then, you’d understand how I feel.”

“I’m not a jealous man, Stella. I have never envied someone for what they have or who they’re with, and yet…” My fingers glided down to her wrist. “I’m jealous of every person you smile at.” A brush over her fingers. “Every laugh I don’t hear.” My touch dipped to her knee and made a slow, languorous journey up her thigh. “Every breeze that touches your skin and every sound that pours through your lips. It. Is. Maddening.”

Stella had seared so deep into my consciousness that she was all I could smell. All I could feel. And even when I closed my eyes, all I could see.

Because when I claimed Stella as mine, I would do it so fucking thoroughly there wouldn’t be a shred of doubt in either of our minds as to who she belonged to…or who I belonged to in return.

Stella and I were different. I didn’t love her, but I wanted her with an intensity that left the flimsy, overused concept of love in the dust. It wasn’t sweet or saccharine. There were no rainbows or unicorns, only desire edged with roughness and darkness. Hot June days. Secret smiles. Turquoise. I’d waited a long time. Eventually, I would catch her, and once I did, I was never letting her go.

“Stella Rosalie Alonso, if you do not apologize to your mother this instant, I will—” “I suggest you don’t finish that sentence.”

“If you’re wondering why your daughter would keep things from you, look in the mirror,” I said. “Look at how you reacted. Instead of supporting her, you attacked her. Instead of being proud of her drive and passion, you force her into a box she doesn’t belong in. Stella is one of the most selfless, creative, and brilliant people I know, yet you belittle her for not conforming to your limited definitions of success.

“I don’t care about unfounded rumors or what you think you know about him. Here’s what I know from firsthand experience: he’s been nothing but helpful since we met. He encouraged me to follow my dreams and believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. He’s been more supportive of me in the few months I’ve known him than you’ve been of me my entire life, and I won’t let you insult him for standing up for me.”

I’ve always been the quiet, obedient daughter. The one who did everything my parents asked, who apologized even when I didn’t need to, and who bent over backward to make sure everyone was happy. But every person has a limit, and I’ve reached mine. I’m pretty sure nothing I do will be good enough for my family, so why even try? I might as well tell them the truth about how I feel. I should’ve done it a long time ago.

You should take more vacations, or at least connect with nature every once in a while. It’s good for the soul.” “It’s too late for my soul, Stella.”

Moonlight cut a silvery swath through the darkness as I laid her on the bed.

I hated cuddling after sex and cuddling without sex even more, but instead of pushing Stella away, I brushed a lock of hair out of her face and examined her in the moonlight peeking through the curtains.

My hand drifted from her hair and onto the elegant curve of her cheekbone. I traced it down to her chin, keeping my touch featherlight so as not to wake her. I wanted to etch every detail of her into my mind until I could close my eyes and picture her as vividly as if she were standing in front of me.

My flickering conscience recoiled at the unseen smears of red against her skin while a twisted, possessive part of me thrilled at the sight. But if there was one thing both sides agreed on, it was that she was mine. And now that she was in my life, there was no letting her go.

Half-naked models were de rigueur in the fashion world, but that didn’t stop me from suddenly wanting to gouge out the eyes of the only male member of the crew—one who was staring a bit too appreciatively at Stella.

Seventy thousand dollars for one moment alone with her. It was worth it.

“Drop your arms for me, sweetheart. I want to see you.”

I didn’t take my eyes off her face until she stood with her arms at her sides and had a ruddy flush beneath her tan. Only then did I allow my gaze to slide down and bask in the sight before me.

My cock turned to stone while a beast stirred in my chest, snarling at me to take her and mark her until it was clear to every single person who she belonged to. Me.

Of course, I knew she must’ve been naked in front of other men before—just as I knew I wanted to peel the skin off said men’s flesh and leave them to rot beneath the hot sun for daring to lay their eyes on her. No one would ever be worthy of her.

The beast in my chest was fully awake now, and it wanted to press further. Demand the name of every fucking man who’d touched her so I could pay them a nice follow-up visit.

I may not be her first, but I would damn well be her last. Because once I took her, I would never let her go.

I would never make it to heaven, but that didn’t matter as long as she ruled beside me in hell. Stella was made to be my queen.

“Do you like this, hmm? Being spread wide and finger fucked where anyone can see you?” No one would. And if they did, I would kill them before they could leave with memories of her naked form embedded in their brain. Stella was mine and mine alone.

“Do you like being finger fucked out in the open like a good little slut?”

“I didn’t realize you noticed what I was wearing.” “I notice everything about you.”

“You look beautiful.” My heart skipped a beat. I turned my head, and my doubts retreated into the shadows once again when I saw Christian leaning against the doorframe, watching me get ready.

“Because love is ordinary. Mundane. And you, Stella…” The soft rasp of the zipper filled the air as he dragged it up my spine in one exquisitely, torturously slow glide. My breath left my lungs at both the sensuality of the movement and the raw intimacy of his next words. “You’re extraordinary.”

“Tell me.” The tiny glide of his finger over my hip was enough to send my pulse into overdrive. “Do you want sex, or do you want to be fucked?”