Hidden Truths (Truths and Lies Duet Book 1)

by Nikki Ash

  Kostas flinches. “She killed herself. How is that protecting her children?”

  “Didn’t you hear everything she said, Kostas?” I take his hand in mine and he lets me. “Her warnings and apologies? It might’ve not been right the way she went about it, but it was her way of putting you first. All she wanted was for you to fall in love and be happy. While she wanted more for you than this life, mine was handing me over to it.”

  “This life is all I know, Talia. You understand that, right?” Kostas’s eyes plead with me to understand. “What my mother said. It’s not going to happen. I will live and die in this life, and now as my wife you will too.”

  The burning in his eyes tells me what he says is the truth. And at one time, this life would’ve scared me, but now, I’ve accepted my fate. “I’m okay with that,” I tell him honestly. “I just…I’m just trying to find out who I am in this life. Before you, I was Talia, the college student in Italy. During the week, I attended classes and studied. On the weekends, I attended parties and shows and visited art museums. I just don’t know where I fit in, in this world. Your world.” I raise my barely drunk glass. “I’m not a girl who drinks at ten in the morning.”

  Kostas stares at me for a long moment before he takes my glass out of my hand and sets it down on a table. “Come with me,” he commands. Pulling me down the sidewalk, we end up in front of an area of the hotel I haven’t been to yet. It’s quieter over here. The pool isn’t open. The rooms look as if they’re all empty. “Come.” He unlocks a door to the building, and just like the outside, it’s quiet on the inside. Empty.

  “Before my mother died, we were expanding. She handled all of the interior design. The rooms are just about done, but the restaurant isn’t yet. We were planning to open in the fall, but we’ll need everything to be finished before we do.”

  Confused as to why he’s brought me here, I ask, “What does this have to do with me?”

  “You’re an art major, right?” he asks. “You know style, and you’re educated about Greek mythology. You said you’re bored. I’m giving you something to do.” When my brows rise, still needing further clarification, Kostas adds, “I want you to finish what my mother started. The restaurant. You can design it however you want. Money is no object.”

  My heart expands at his words. Finish what his mother started. Sure, he could hire someone to finish it, but he listened to me. I told him I needed a purpose and he gave me a solution. I turn in a circle, taking the massive empty space in. It’s filled with so much potential. I can make it anything I want. I can spend my summer creating a masterpiece.

  “So,” he prompts. “What do you say?”

  “Yes.” I nod emphatically. “I’ll do it.”

  “Good.” He threads his fingers into mine and walks us back out, locking the door behind us. “I have time before my meeting, so we can quickly go over the details.”

  When we get back to the main hotel, he stops in front of his office but doesn’t go in. Instead, he makes a left and…walks into Aris’s office. Oh my God. Why are we going in there? It’s been over a week since I’ve last seen him. I’ve done a stellar job at avoiding him since we’ve been back.

  “Aris,” Kostas greets his brother, gesturing for me to have a seat.

  “What can I do for you?” Aris asks, tilting his head to the side in annoyance. “I’m busy…working.”

  “As I am.” Kostas grins. “Meet our new interior designer. Talia has agreed to finish the restaurant Mamá had started. The unfinished expansion on the west side that’s due to open in the fall.”

  Aris glances from Kostas to me, a sly grin splaying upon his lips, and my heart sinks. What does Aris have to do with the expansion? The only time the guy leaves his office is to go to the bar near his villa.

  As if Kostas can hear my thoughts, he says, “Aris is in charge of the money.”

  “I thought you said I don’t have a budget,” I choke out as all the pieces slowly come together.

  “You don’t, but Aris is who you will get all your money from. He also knows who all the vendors are. Anything you need to get the restaurant done, just ask him and he’ll be able to help you.” In other words, I’m going to be forced to go to Aris every time I need money. And I can’t change my mind now because that will raise a red flag.

  “Okay, will do,” I say. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to head home to think about what I would like to do with the restaurant, and then I’ll meet with you.”

  “I look forward to it,” Aris says with a knowing smirk tugging on the corner of his lips.

  “Can you see yourself back, Talia? I have some things to discuss with my brother. I’ll meet you at home.”

  I nod my understanding. Just as I’m about to exit Aris’s office, I’m gently tugged into Kostas’s arms. He cups my cheeks in his strong hands, and his mouth, oh so gently, presses against mine. “I’ll be home in a little bit, and then we can spend the afternoon together…in bed.” He sucks my lower lip into his mouth and bites down, not enough to cause any pain, but enough to send shivers down my spine, momentarily making me forget we’re standing in front of Aris.

  And then a throat clears, reminding me that we are in fact in Aris’s office. I will my eyes not to glance over at Aris, but I can’t help it, and when I do, I see he’s staring at us, his jaw clenching, his smirk wiped clean off his face. I need to get out of here, away from him.

  Pulling out of Kostas’s arms, I give him one last chaste kiss before I turn around and leave. I practically run the entire way home. Only slowing down once I’m safely back in our villa, with the door locked. I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this, but I can’t work with Aris. I can’t sit in his office and have meetings with him. I have to find a way around this.

  As I climb into bed, curling up into a fetal position, I think about everything Aris has said to me. It’s clear he’s jealous of his brother. He wants what Kostas has. Kostas is closer to his father. He runs the majority of their business. He was chosen to marry me. And the entire time, for the most part, Aris keeps his mouth shut. He didn’t threaten to tell Kostas that we, according to him, slept together. No, he agreed to keep it a secret. And then it hits me. Even if Kostas believed Aris didn’t rape me, and what happened between us was consensual, Kostas would kill his brother for having sex with me. Aris knew we were supposed to marry. We were engaged. And yet he still went behind his brother’s back and had sex with his now-wife.

  And now, every time I see him, he gets off on my being scared of him. Of Kostas finding out. Well, fuck that, and fuck him. I’m not going to let him victimize me. We both know what he did, and if I told Kostas, sure, he might not believe me, but regardless he would end Aris’s life. Which is why Aris will never tell him himself.

  I’m going to design that restaurant, and I’m going to go to those meetings with my head held high, knowing Aris is a piece of shit, coward rapist. And I’m going to turn the table on him. He wants to threaten me, well, two can play this game.

  No more scared Talia. I’m the wife of Kostas Demetriou, the biggest mobster in Greece, and it’s time I start acting like it.

  The door opens and in walks Kostas. Once he’s in our bedroom, he sheds each article of clothing from his body until he’s naked. His beautiful, masculine body completely on display. “I see you’re waiting in bed for me, zoí mou.” Kostas grins devilishly as he stalks over to the bed, his thick cock bobbing between his muscular legs. I find myself salivating like Pavlov’s dog at the sight of him. “I don’t have a lot of time before my meeting, but we have just enough for me to make you come a couple of times.”

  And with his words, all thoughts of Aris are pushed out of my head. I’m back in the warm, safe waters with my husband, right where I want to be.

  Kostas

  “I’m coming with you.”

  I stare at my wife with her mussed up blond hair and swollen lips. I thought I could distract her into staying, but I should have known better. She looks good in my bed. Sated
, just-fucked, relaxed. Her tits are on full display, proudly showing off the red and purple marks I left on her with my mouth.

  Claimed.

  She looks claimed and owned.

  The possessive animal within me roars with pride. It also wants to chain her to the bed and leave her there until I’m ready for her again.

  But Talia has an animal of her own and it hates to be caged. Her animal likes to prowl about trying to see what sort of trouble she can drum up. If she’s going to be out of my bed, then she may as well be with me.

  “It could get messy,” I challenge with a hard glare. No matter how much she thinks she wants to watch her father suffer, it’s always different when it comes down to it. My methods are brutal and unconventional. I won’t go easy on him.

  “I’ve seen messy,” she huffs out as she climbs from the bed.

  My dick jumps in my slacks at seeing her naked body prancing in front of me like a little treat just begging to be devoured.

  “You’ve seen messy with work shit. But you haven’t seen messy from personal shit,” I grind out, my eyes fixated on her ass as she bends to pull underwear from her drawer. Red marks from my fingertips still dot her tanned skin at her hips where I held on tight as I fucked her hard.

  She slides on the silky white panties that look virginal on her, and she frowns at me. “He put me in this situation and then paid to have me kidnapped. If you’re going to interrogate him, I want to come with. I have questions of my own.” Her chin lifts in a regal way that makes me want to kiss the fire out of her.

  “Fine, little badass. Get dressed and let’s go.” I cock my head to the side as I admire her marked flesh since it’s proudly being shown to me. “He won’t get any favors from me simply because he’s your dad. You do realize this.”

  She pulls on some yoga pants, still leaving her tits for me to salivate over. “Kostas, I know you. I know what you’re capable of. And I’m still going.”

  Sadly, she pulls on a bra and then a tank top. Her sexy curves are not hidden behind fabric. If I didn’t have this motherfucker waiting on me, I’d rip her clothes off again and fuck her until she passes out.

  “Stop looking at me like you’re going to eat me,” she grumbles. “My thighs are raw from your scruff. No more eating.”

  I snort and motion for the door. “That’s a promise I can’t make. When it comes to you, I’ll never get enough.”

  She slides on her tennis shoes and shakes her head at me before taking my hand. “You say that super sweetly, but it’s kind of psychotic if we’re being honest.”

  “What you see is what you get with me,” I remind her. “Psychopath and all. And if you’re not only married to me, but also enjoy getting fucked all hours of the day by said psychopath, what does that make you, hmmm?”

  “Dumb.”

  I let out a chuckle as we step outside. “It makes you a psychopath too, zoí mou. Own it. You’re not the same woman who stepped onto Crete.” I give her hand a squeeze. “You’re one of us now.”

  She doesn’t argue, simply rests her head against my arm as we walk.

  The drive to the groundskeeper’s house isn’t long, and soon we’re walking down into the cellar hand in hand. When we reach the bottom, anger bursts up inside me to find the chair empty and no one tied to it.

  “What the fuck?” I roar, my fury aimed at Basil.

  Basil scowls and points to the corner where Phoenix stands smoking a cigarette. “I said I had Nikolaides.”

  “You implied it was Niles,” I snarl. I yank my hand from Talia’s grip, eager to fuck someone up.

  “Good afternoon to you too, Kostas,” Phoenix says coldly, dropping his cigarette to his feet and stubbing it out with his shoe. “Talia. Good to see you. Do I get a hug?”

  Before I can forbid her to see him, she rushes over to him and hugs him. Jealousy lashes at me, which is fucking stupid. She’s his sister. They’re not long lost lovers finally reunited. Not one single thing about their hug should I be jealous about.

  And yet I am.

  I grit my teeth and level Basil with a hard glare. “You know better than this shit,” I growl at my family’s long-time bodyguard.

  Basil has the sense to look ashamed. “He wanted to talk to you and—”

  “You report to him now?” I demand, a tsunami of rage consuming me.

  “No,” Basil grits out.

  “He reports to me,” Aris says, clomping down the stairs. “I told him to keep it vague. We need answers, and you’d be pissed if you learned we didn’t have Niles. This conversation still needed to happen, and if you knew we didn’t have Niles, you would’ve stayed holed away doing your husbandly duties.” He smirks at the last part.

  Talia clings to her brother, frowning at me.

  “Then start fucking talking,” I bite out, my eyes on Phoenix. “Where’s your father?”

  Phoenix’s eyes flare with anger. “Underground.”

  “Where?” I seethe.

  “That, I don’t know,” Phoenix grumbles. “He won’t even tell me.”

  “Put him in the chair,” I bark at Basil.

  Basil starts for them, but Talia clings harder to Phoenix.

  “No, Kostas,” she begs. “He’s telling the truth!”

  Fucking woman.

  I knew I should have left her fine ass in bed where she fucking belongs.

  “He’s telling the truth,” Aris agrees. “Two of our guys have been tracking Phoenix’s activity and can confirm this.”

  “Then what the fuck is the point of this meeting?” I hiss, seconds away from yanking Talia from Phoenix so I can pummel his smug face just for the goddamn fun of it.

  Aris scrubs his face in frustration. “We need him to draw out Niles. Something he’s agreed to do as long as he has contact with his sister.”

  The hairs on my arms rise. I don’t take fucking lightly to people making plans behind my back. Basil keeps his gaze averted to the ground. He fucked up and he knows it. I’ll let Adrian deal with his misstep.

  “I’m supposed to believe you’d sell your father out?” I demand, glowering at Phoenix.

  “I’m not selling him out,” Phoenix snaps. “I’m telling you I don’t know where he is and I’ll give whatever information I have, which isn’t much, so you can find him.”

  Anger rolls off me in waves hot enough to burn everyone in the room. “Why are you being so compliant?”

  “Jesus, Kostas,” Aris grumbles. “It’s right in your face.”

  Phoenix tightens his hold around his sister. “I don’t want to be cut off from Talia. I shouldn’t have to pay for the sins of my father and neither should she.”

  I crack my neck, desperate to relieve some tension. “They’re paying taxes to the Demetrious now?” I ask Aris. “Every penny plus interest?”

  Aris nods. “Now that Niles is gone, Phoenix has been doing damage control. The money is flowing in from Thessaloniki as it should be. Numbers look good now that Niles is no longer dipping his greedy fingers in the pot.”

  “No more games,” I growl, darting my eyes from Aris to Basil. Then, I land my eyes on Phoenix. “I want you to do whatever it takes to get Niles out of hiding.”

  “I will,” Phoenix agrees. “And I want to freely see my sister.”

  The fact that this Nikolaides thinks he can negotiate with my wife has me wanting to choke the life out of him.

  “Phoenix,” Talia finally says. “We can have dinner together or you can come swim every now and again. But ‘freely’ is a little overboard. Even before all this, we didn’t see much of each other.”

  Her brother grits his teeth. She hugs him, standing on her toes, and whispers something to him that has him relaxing. I want to rip them apart, but I keep my emotions in check.

  “I want him found,” I say coldly, not agreeing to his terms. “And until we find him, you can deal with me. I’ll collect the taxes.”

  Aris scowls at me. “I can handle it. You’ve got enough going on now that our father is out of commi
ssion.”

  I’m tired of him being the middle man. The power is going to his head. My brother isn’t cut out to sniff out lies and find hidden truths. I’ll do this shit my damn self.

  “This isn’t up for discussion,” I utter in a low tone.

  Once Talia realizes I’m not going to kill her beloved brother, she smiles at me and pulls from his embrace to walk over to me. I’m stiff when she hugs me, still thrumming with wild energy to make someone pay.

  “I’ll call you and we can make a date to do something,” Phoenix tells his sister as he makes his way to the stairs. “And I’ll let you know if I hear word on my father.”

  As soon as he’s gone, Aris opens his mouth, but I wave him on. “Not now. We can talk later.”

  Aris’s jaw flexes as he bites back his words and gives me a clipped nod. He storms up the stairs. I pull from Talia and walk over to Basil. When I poke him in the chest, he glares back at me.

  “Loyalty is everything,” I remind him.

  His brown eyes gleam fiercely. “I’m always loyal to you, Kostas.”

  Not my brother. Not my father. Not the Demetrious. Me.

  “That’s what I thought,” I grind out, dismissing him with a nod.

  Basil leaves without another word.

  “Kostas…” Talia’s hand clutches my shoulder from behind.

  I shake off her hold and turn to stare at her, my icy gaze freezing her where she stands.

  “You can’t undermine me like that,” I hiss, my anger still needing an outlet. I’d come here hoping to fuck up Niles. Instead, I made an alliance with his fucking son.

  Her plump pink lips part. “I wasn’t undermining you. I was protecting my brother.”

  “From your husband!” I roar, making her flinch. “You’re mine, not his!”

  She recovers from my outburst and bravely walks up to me. Her hands are warm over my dress shirt as she runs them up over my pecks. “I’m yours,” she breathes, her blue eyes glimmering with conviction. “I took those vows, albeit against my better judgment, but I stand by them now. We weren’t meant to care about one another, but we do, Kostas. And because you care about me, you’ll protect the ones I care about too.”