My sister narrows her eyes. “One.”
Wrong.
“Correct.” I say.
Adelaide laughs softly. “So many lies between you Bellanti sisters.” She clicks her tongue.
Ophelia looks between us, confused.
“For fuck’s sake, Adelaide. Do stop talking.”
“You brought it up,” Adelaide replies mildly. “I’m just stating facts.”
Hunter exhales. “I’m surrounded by juvenile, narcissistic, self-absorbed people.”
Ophelia steps in before Adelaide can respond.
“One. I trust my sister with my life.”
That one stings.
“Two. I killed someone. Three. I have a puppy.”
I don’t look at her, but my throat tightens.
Fuck, I hope she actually has a puppy hidden somewhere I don’t know about, because if that is the lie—
“The lie is two,” Milo says with a laugh, unaware of the war raging in my head. “No way you killed someone. You couldn’t even swat a fucking mosquito. You’re vegan, you care about the planet, shall I keep going?”
She nods.
Fuck.
Why does it feel like everyone is telling the truth while the rest of us insist on calling it a lie? Some sort of fucked up confession hour.
Markev goes next.
“One. I am in love. Two. I would kill everyone in this room if it kept what’s mine safe. Three. I have entire notebooks filled with sketches of my gorgeous girl.”
“The lie is one,” Arlo says. “Because you think it’s love. I’d call it obsession.”
Hunter narrows his eyes. “I don’t know. By his standards, that is love. So I’d say he meant that one as the truth.”
“Ha,” Markev scoffs. “You’re all a bunch of idiots. I am in love with my woman. There’s no denying that.”
“They’re all true. And they all circle back to Octavia,” Isaak says.
His expression twists as his eyes stay on his cousin. “Is she all you breathe now?”
Markev smirks. “Why, of course it is.”
“That isn’t how the game works,” Adelaide says coolly. “It’s called two truths anda liefor a reason.”
“I don’t follow rules,” he replies, almost offended by the suggestion.
They keep bickering between themselves. I sit there watching, and I can’t help wondering if this is what our group might have looked like without all the trauma, revenge, and hate rotting inside us.
Chapter 40
