Bitter Truths: A Twisted Arranged Marriage Romance (Crimson Falls Duet Book 2) by Dani René (best fiction novels to read .txt) 📗

memories of what I’ve lost in my life. I don’t care what my brother does, but if he hurts Scarlett, I’ll torture him for weeks before I end him. He’s stolen from me, which needs to be rectified.

When he last took from me, I vowed to never let it happen again.

And now, it has.

This time though, I’ll kill him.

I will spill my brother’s blood and I won’t think twice.

9

Darius

“He’s on his way,” Howler informs me with a grin. We planned this perfectly. Lycan is coming here, and soon enough, we’ll come face to face. I want to tell him my plan. Once I learned my mother wasn’t Grace Bardot, something struck within me. There’s no shadow of a doubt that Lycan hates Horatio, which will leverage him on my side.

Taking that asshole’s money was part of the plan.

The other part was breaking the bastard down, until he admits to the crimes his parents committed. The truth is they killed my father, and if Lycan will sit down and listen, I can show him the proof. For years I’ve been searching. Grace and her husband were nothing more than ruthless fucking criminals.

Yes, Grace may have loved my father once, but the moment she said ‘I do’ to someone else, she broke her promises to Dad and the Shaw name.

Lycan has to believe me, there’s no other way. If we stand together for once, nothing will tear us apart. At least, that’s what I hope.

“Make sure you keep tracking the car. The moment he’s a couple of miles out, I want everything locked down. He has to request access.” Even though I’m giving the order, my brother will have a team of men with him, and he’ll be wanting his wife back.

“Will do,” Howler informs me with a grin.

Although, taking Scarlett was a highlight. Feeling her tremble against me only brought back memories of when Lycan and I shared her. The one woman who broke me. No other female had ever come close enough to do what she did to us. Lycan never recovered, and neither did I.

Pushing from the chair, I head up the stairs toward my bedroom. The compound is my home, the place I found myself after leaving Crimson Falls behind for good. Having a beautiful woman here, even if she belongs to my brother, unnerves me.

Usually, when I’m with a woman for the night, I go to their place, not wanting someone to spend the night at mine. Even the club whores know that I don’t kiss and cuddle afterward. Once the deed is done, you’re out on your ass.

When I push my bedroom door open, Scarlett’s asleep. Curled up on the mattress, the blanket haphazardly covers her body. Glimpses of flesh peek at me, and my cock thickens with need.

She’s not blood.

But she is my sister-in-law.

However, I’m not one to follow rules.

I step into the room, inhaling deeply, and I realize she must have showered because she smells of my soap. The spicy scent mingling with her natural feminine fragrance, which doesn’t ease the hardening of my dick.

I watch her sleep for a while. Her breathing is even, her dark red hair splaying across my pillows. The sight is foreign to me, but it’s also alarmingly breathtaking. This woman is nothing more than a siren sent to lure me to my death. Because if I touch her, if I were to claim her with my mouth, my fingers, or my cock, Lycan would kill me.

I’m almost certain he’s on his way with the cavalry to kill me. But what he doesn’t know is that I didn’t steal the pretty girl to hurt her, I took her to lure him out. To bring him into my space so I can be in control. I’m surprised my brother survived both gunshots, but I’m not shocked he’s walked out of the hospital without permission from the doctors. It’s just like Lycan to do what he pleases.

When I stepped into Shaw manor, it didn’t feel like home.

Now that I’m here, the comfort of the familiar calms me somewhat.

Scarlett awakens with a start, her wide eyes locking on mine in surprise. She shuffles up the mattress, her back hitting the headboard as she tugs the blanket over her body to cover what I’ve already had a good look at.

“What are you doing, creeper?” she bites out, rage dripping from her pretty, plump lips. I can’t help but grin at her fire. My brother chose well. Even though I’m sure he didn’t plan for her to be like this when he had Horatio sign the contract, he’s gotten lucky. Breaking her in the club would be a pleasure.

“I was enjoying the view,” I tell her innocently with a shrug of my shoulder. I move around the bed and make my way to the window. The sun is slowly setting. She’s slept most of the day away.

“Have you heard anything yet?” she asks, her voice breaking with worry over Lycan.

I don’t turn to look at her, because seeing the affection she holds for him will only anger me. Jealousy is not a good look on anyone. And on me, it makes me violent. Come to think of it, everything makes me violent. “He’s on his way here.”

“What?” She’s on her feet, her small, fragile body inches from mine, and her heat envelopes me. “What do you mean? How can he—?”

“Just what I said, little one. He’s making his way here with his army of men. He’s going to play the hero to save you,” I inform her with a smirk, thinking of just how foolish he is. This is my territory; he doesn’t know what could hurt him. Kahn has intel, that is clear, but he doesn’t realize I have hidden landmines all around the compound. One wrong step, and you’ll be in pieces just outside the property line.

Perhaps he does know.

Maybe he doesn’t care.

Scarlett possibly means more to him than his life.

It’s time to test my brother and see just how much