Bitter Truths: A Twisted Arranged Marriage Romance (Crimson Falls Duet Book 2) Dani René (cool books to read TXT) 📖

currently being held prisoner. He reaches his brother, they’re toe to toe, and if I thought there was violence in the air earlier, I had no fucking clue.

Darius lifts his hand from my shoulder, a smirk curling his lips as he challenges Lycan’s strength. Lycan’s still hurt. Still healing. He shouldn’t be fighting a battle while he could relapse at any moment.

“Leave them be,” Darius orders, and his men stand, the chairs screeching against the wooden paneled flooring, as they make their way out of the room. When it’s only Kahn, Lycan, and I, I release a breath I’ve been holding since Darius and Lycan were inches from each other.

“Are you okay?” Lycan questions, his hands on my shoulders ground me to the moment, and I allow more tears to fall. “Did he hurt you?”

“No,” I mumble. The guilt of kissing his brother eats away at me, and I want to confess, but I’m fearful of him leaving me with Darius. However, there is something else I don’t want to acknowledge—my feelings for the older Shaw brother.

11

Lycan

To say I’m angry would be an understatement. More like jealousy raging a war inside me. My brother and I have always vied for the same woman. It is just in our fucking genetics. But this time, I’ve laid a claim. There’s a ring that weighs heavily on her finger, which means she’s mine.

Seeing my woman, my fucking wife, be used as pawn doesn’t sit well with me. If she’s hurt, I’m the one to hurt her because with that she’ll also find pleasure. But then, I also know how Darius enjoys the humiliation, and that Scarlett may find pleasure in it too. Even if she doesn’t want to, her body and mind is synchronized to crave the darkness.

She said so herself.

“You should be in the hospital,” she murmurs, her lips against mine as she speaks the words, and it sends heat coursing through me. She’s right, but I don’t tell her that, instead I stare at her. I can’t stop looking at Scarlett Bardot.

How can I love the woman who’s my enemy’s daughter?

I’m not sure, but I do.

“I need to know what he did to you. I want the truth, little red,” I whisper, my tongue darting out to tease her lips, to taste her flavor that I’ve missed. Even though it hasn’t been that long, I still can’t believe how my body missed hers.

“He kissed me, just before you arrived,” she finally admits, a sigh tumbling from her lips. “I didn’t mean to… I couldn’t…” She shakes her head sadly, her eyes shimmering with tears, and I realize I don’t want to see them fall. Seeing her upset makes my chest tighten in a strange way, which I’ve never experienced before.

“Don’t,” I tell her, cupping her face, holding her steady so she doesn’t turn away from me. “Don’t think about it. You’re mine.” I pull her closer, my lips claiming hers, hoping that with the kiss, I’ll eliminate any doubt she’s had about Darius taking advantage.

I knew he would.

And I’m going to kill him for even thinking he can break us apart. I’m not falling for his bullshit tricks anymore. “Tell me what he wanted from you, from me,” I implore her. I could read the contract, but it will be filled with excuses as to why I should listen to him. Whereas Scarlett spoke to him, she’s obviously learned about Darius, or he would never have taken the chance and kissed her.

“He is your blood,” she finally confesses, but this is a truth I’m aware of, so I nod for her to continue. “He has proof that your father was murdered, not by who you think,” she tells me, her voice falling to nothing more than a whisper. My heart constricts in my chest.

But she doesn’t speak.

Tears form in her eyes once more, and when she blinks, they fall, trickling down her cheeks. She doesn’t meet my gaze, and my lungs give out. For a moment, I think I’m dying because I have a feeling I know what she’s going to say.

“The Bardots,” I finish her thoughts for her. “Your grandmother, her husband. The man who she married.” I won’t refer to him as Scarlett’s grandfather because he’s nothing like the woman before me. But then again, neither is Grace. Perhaps only in her fiery personality. But other than that, Grace is nothing more than a two-faced pawn in a game she thought she could win.

“I’m sorry.” Scarlett finally falls apart, and she does it in my arms as the door swings open and Darius walks in. His gaze lands on our embrace, and I can’t help but smile. Satisfaction courses through me, but deep down, just for a moment, I wonder what it would feel like for her to have us both.

Would I be jealous, or would pride surge through me at seeing my wife take my brother?

“I’m guessing our little one has confessed the truth about her family,” Darius says as he nears the table, settling in beside Scarlett. “What do you say, brother?” he asks, looking at me, and I can tell he’s fighting not to look at my wife.

She’s gotten under his skin. The tough exterior he portrays is nothing more than a façade. I see that, and so does he. For years I was convinced he hated me, but the truth of the matter is, Darius is the same teenage boy who ran away from home the moment he could.

He always hated the fact that there was a family business to run. He didn’t want to walk in Dad’s shoes, whereas I thought it was an honor. For a long time, we kept in touch, while I was becoming more like our father every day. Hell, we even had our fun at Heaven when it was nothing more than a one roomed club.

But then it happened.

The murder we never spoke about.

And the truth that hung over both our heads is what broke us apart.

“I’ll