“Stay out of this, Benedikt!” I snap.
“We have guests, man. Grow up!” Kaz grumbles, scrunching his nose.
Benedikt is walking toward us, so I grab Maria’s arm and drag her toward the door.
“Let me go!” she screams, trying to wiggle free of my steel grip.
“No, it’s not happening,” I huff, pulling her up the stairs to my bedroom where we can finish this conversation in private.
“What the fuck,” Joseph snaps, and I hear him and the others running after us. I pull her faster, dragging her until we reach my bedroom door. Pulling her in, I slam it behind us.
Benedikt and Kaz burst through the door first.
Maria and I are fighting so intensely that we don’t even glance at them.
“For fuck’s sake,” Benedikt grumbles.
“Let’s just lock them in here.”
“I don’t know. She might kill him,” Kaz chuckles dryly.
Maria shoves me, pushing her small hands against my chest. I grab her wrists and pull them upward. “What chance do you think you have against me, girl?” I snap bitterly.
“I think you have a lot to learn about how to treat people. I don’t know why you think you deserve any kind of respectwhen you never give it. You betrayed him. I’ll never forgive you for that!”
Her words cut into me.I betrayed him? Is she fucking kidding me right now?
I scoff, shaking my head.
She is such a brilliant little liar. Playing the part to perfection in front of everyone else.
Except when I glance at the door, there is no one else there anymore, and it’s closed. Good. They gave us some privacy for a change instead of trying to control every fucking little thing.
I turn back to Maria.
“There’s no one to be fake for anymore. Why don’t you cut the shit and be real for a while? It must be exhausting playing such a good little girl all the time,” I mock her heartlessly.
Maria’s brows knit, and she shakes her head in confusion.
“Why do you keep saying that stuff to me? Why are you so nasty?”
I scoff. She really is a piece of work.
Maria shakes her head and steps away from me.
“I can’t do this. I can’t try to reason with someone who has no heart and no reason,” she mutters to herself.
“Oh, I’m the one with no heart?” I snap.
She laughs coldly, then turns toward the door and storms away from me.
Chapter 17 - Maria
If I don’t get out of this room right now, I’m going to explode.
I don’t remember ever being this angry in my entire life. And he dared to drag me up here in the first place. And he dared to insult my brother after everything he did to him. I can’t believe this asshole still has the audacity to be talking to me, never mind looking in my direction.
I hate him, and I never want to see his face again.
