All The Truths - Rina Kent Page 0,53
I loved her. You know what she said?”
Fuck. Fuck!
“Come here and tell me, Ari, okay?”
She shakes her head, her leg pushing back. I freeze an arm’s length away from her.
“She laughed, Gray.” A sob rattles in the air as tears fall down her neck and soak the hem of her dress. “She laughed at me and asked if I was serious. She said my brother and I are so fucking delusional and made fun of me. Why did she make fun of me?”
Reina did that?
Fucking hell. That’s the speech she reserves for her haters, not for Ari.
When this is over, I’m going to deal with her. She of all people knows how fragile Ari is. She should’ve rejected her softly, not been a bitch about it.
“I’ll talk to her,” I tell Ari. “We’ll fix this.”
“Don’t lie to me, Gray!” she yells, her neck straining with tension. “You can’t fix it. You’re fucking in love with her. I can see it in your eyes no matter how much you try to hide it. How do you expect me to live with someone who made fun of my feelings while my brother is in love with her?”
“I…” I clear my throat. “I won’t be anymore. I promise, Ari. I fucking promise, so come down.”
“Really?” She sniffles. “You’ll really hate her?”
“I will. Anything for you, Ari.”
I’ll cut my heart to pieces and stomp on it if I get to keep Ari. She’s the only thing I have, the only person I can call family.
I did everything to take care of her. If I lose her after Mom, I don’t know what will be left of my life.
She’s so young and deserves another chance at life.
She deserves the world.
“Anything?” she asks hopefully.
I give a sharp nod.
“Then don’t forget this, Gray.” Her face turns stone-cold as the tears and sniffles and sobbing disappear. “Make Reina pay for my death.”
And then she opens her arms wide and jumps backward, her dress flying behind her.
“Nooooo!” I roar as I close my hands, but all I catch is air.
I run to the edge, staring down.
The world pauses then.
Everything fucking disappears as I’m slowly gutted by the sight below.
Ari lies on the ground, her head smashed, blood flowing beside her and down her white dress as her vacant eyes stare at nothing.
A roar rips from me as I drop to my knees. “Noooo.”
As I kneel there, I realize something.
Ari isn’t the only one who died. Today, I died with her.
Present
I’m trembling, my limbs, my fingers, and even my lips.
Silent tears stream down my cheeks as I listen to Asher’s retelling of Arianna’s death.
He’s been standing in front of me the entire time, but he hasn’t once looked at me, as if I’m invisible.
As if I don’t exist.
His entire attention is on the edge where I stood and threatened to throw myself off not long ago. It’s like he can see his sister, as if she’s still there and he can catch her.
Or at least I assume that from the way his hands clench and unclench on either side of him.
His bare chest muscles contract, rippling and never once relaxing. My hands itch to reach out for him, to hold him, to tell him it wasn’t his fault.
But that’ll only backfire.
No wonder he’s hated me all this time. No wonder he planned to kill me. Arianna and her destructive lies have turned him into a killing machine, a hollow existence without a heart or a core.
That doesn’t mean what he did to me is acceptable, but I can’t leave him drowning with no way out.
Asher might have held a grudge against me all this time, but I don’t think I ever felt any hate toward him.
If anything, my feelings have only intensified, turning hotter, brighter, and scarier.
And for that, I need to fix his misconceptions, even though it’ll destroy everything he knew about his sister, the person he considered his only family.
“Do you see now? Do you see how you fucking ended mine and my sister’s lives?” He speaks low and threatening, almost like he’s on the verge of acting on his destructive emotions.
That’s the thing about Asher. Since Arianna’s death, he’s only survived on the thought that one day he’ll bring her justice by eliminating me.
But he hasn’t.
For three years, he hasn’t managed to act on his promise.
“Why haven’t you killed me yet?” I murmur.
“Death is too lenient for you.” He glares down at me so harshly I feel it to my bones. “You have to suffer.”
“I think I’ve