Chapter 80

Trying to stay calm, I gathered the soapy washcloth to my chest and held it there, trying to preserve any sliver of modesty I had left. “Mario…”

“LOOK at me.” His tone had an edge that hadn’t been there before.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Panic rose within me until my hands and feet were numb with it, my heart beating so fast and hard I saw stars in front of my eyes and wished I hadn’t missed that last cardio appointment. Mario gripped my chin hard and forced my face up to his. The water from the shower sprayed the back of my head, smoothing down my wet hair and giving me nothing to hide behind. He stood in front of me without the grace of his younger brother, feet planted wide, blocking the entrance to the shower. I couldn’t get around him. With nowhere to go and no way to stop what was about to happen, I opened my eyes, and held my breath as I waited to see how he would react.

He stared at my gray eyes for a long moment, and I knew what he was seeing. The color dull and murky compared to my sister’s bright baby blues, although they already felt a hell of a lot better without the contacts irritating them. There was no emotion on his face as he studied the rest of my features, his eyes resting on my nose, my mouth, before finally letting go of my chin to step back so he could take a good look at the rest of me. Shoving my arms back down to my sides, he focused on the beauty mark near the nipple of my left breast, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. What he was remembering. My sister’s breasts were flawless. His head tilted to the side. Slowly, he raised one hand, his fingertip sliding over the slightly raised, discolored bump with the softest of touches.

That simple touch scared me more than the violence I was expecting. By this point, my entire body was trembling so uncontrollably my muscles ached from it. I’d never been so afraid for my life before. Not even when Luca was pointing a gun straight at me.

“What the fuck is this?”

I watched him. Saw the moment it all started to click.

One side of his mouth lifted in a knowing smirk. “I have to admit, for a split second there, my brother had me fooled into thinking my big-mouthed fiancée had risen from the dead.” His finger slid from the beauty mark to trace a path around my areola. He smiled when my nipple stiffened from the touch, despite my shudder of revulsion. “I thought, how the fuck could this be? I shot the bitch myself. Right in the fucking head. I mean, for a minute there, I thought I was seeing my first actual ghost.” He paused, seeming to reflect back on the night in the parking lot. “Either that, or somehow the bitch had been way luckier than she deserved and she’d survived somehow. It’s not like she’d miss the brain function the bullet took out.”

My throat worked as I tried to force the words past my lips. “You…you really didn’t know…”

His dark eyes rose to my face, the expression on his face coldly amused. But there was pain there, too. Pain and disappointment. “I wanted to believe you were her.” He leaned in close to me, one hand wrapping around my throat and squeezing. Not hard enough to block the airflow, but just enough to let me know he could if he wanted to. Still, I dropped the washcloth to the tiles at my feet and wrapped my hands around his wrist. “But something was just…off, ya know? And even after I figured it out, there was still hope in my heart that my Nicole had somehow survived. And now that she knew to keep her fucking mouth shut, we could start over. Wanna know what ruined it for you?”

I managed a tiny nod.

“Because Nicole was never afraid of me. But not because she was brave.” He shook his head. “No. You’ve got way bigger balls than she ever did. I can see that. It’s because she was too fucking stupid. All that hair dye must’ve soaked into her brain or something. I don’t know. But I knew, I knew it from the moment I got you back to this house and watched you walk around here like some poor little beaten bird, terrified to so much as look at me.” All of this was said almost conversationally as he casually gripped my throat. “Nah, Nicole was never scared of me. She liked the danger. It was exciting to her. But you, you’re smarter than your sister. And I assume you two were sisters. Twins, by how much you look like her. Am I right?”

I managed to nod again. The game was up. There was no use pretending anymore. “Funny she didn’t mention me.”

His brow furrowed. “You know, I think she might have. Once. Back when we were first dating. Of course, at the time, I was more interested in getting her out of the ridiculous outfit she was wearing. If for no other reason than that I just couldn’t stand to look at it anymore. But after I found out that mouth of hers was good for something other than blabbering all the time, and I felt how tight her sweet pussy hugged my cock, eh”—he shrugged —“I decided I could deal with the outfits. Hell, her pussy was so good I was even willing to marry her so no other guy could have it. But I should’ve known it wouldn’t last. She was too much of a public figure, and that big mouth of hers outed me the first chance she got. Told everyone I was back around.” His expression turned dark, the chatty demeanor gone as fast as it had come. “You have the same mouth as your sister, and I bet it would look just as good wrapped around my cock.”

No. No. No no no no…