All The Truths (Lies & Truths Duet #2) by Rina Kent

Her steps are heavy and slow as she takes the stairs, clutching the railings for balance.

I release the tie with a jerk.

Since waking up in the hospital, this is the first time Reina hasn’t acknowledged my existence. She’d usually sense me a mile away and lock gazes with me with defiance and spikiness that makes my cock hard.

She’d light this thing inside me, a fire, an inkling, a fucking connection I thought I’d never feel to a human being again.

The Reina from today is different. She’s so fucking similar to her old self.

But isn’t that what I want? Old Reina is someone I can deal with, someone I can torture and kill. She’d deserve it. That’s why I demanded she go back to her old ways.

Now that I’m getting what I wished for, I want to grip her by the throat and fuck that old bitch out of her.

Is the new Reina dead?





I stay in my room for two days—or that’s what I’ve determined based on counting the number of meals Izzy has brought me.

That gloomy cloud hovers over my head like imminent doom.

I fought it, you know—I tried to, anyway.

I tried not to let it occupy my thoughts, but at some point, it just did.

For the first time, I had no appetite for the food Izzy left in front of the door. I didn’t even shower or change clothes. I didn’t sleep or do anything.

For two days, I curled up under the covers in the dark and allowed those black thoughts to seep in.

They keep whispering and murmuring in hushed voices as if no one else should hear them. They’re only meant for me, after all.

Why don’t you just let go?

Why are you holding on to a life that means nothing to you?

No one would notice you’re missing, you know.

No fucking one.

Tingles assault my nose and pressure builds behind my eyes, but I don’t cry. It’s like I can’t. I don’t have the right to.

I don’t have the right to anything.

I’ve been resisting the cloud’s whispers and murmurs, but why should I? What is there to resist?

My life is a clusterfuck, and although I have nothing to lose, I have nothing to gain either.

If I go against Asher, if I make him pay for what he did to me, what good would it bring?

Will I feel liberated at the end? Would I find a new purpose for life?

He knocked on my door yesterday. I didn’t answer and he went away.

Good. I don’t want to see his face again, not ever.

I don’t want to think about how he played with my heart, body, and mind, how he allowed the gloomy cloud to sweep over me.

Or did he?

After all, the gloomy cloud is all in my head. I realize that, I do, but that doesn’t mean I can resist it.

My armor is still unable to rebuild after the shocks I’ve received.

A knock on the door startles me from my numb state. I don’t answer. If it’s Izzy, she’ll leave the plate in front of the door then return to take it back as it is.

“Reina.”

The heart I thought was long dead pulses back to life at that voice, the deep voice with slight huskiness, the voice that brought me happiness right before he shattered it and left me in the clutches of this gloomy cloud.

The doorknob rattles then snaps back into place due to the lock. “Open up.”

Why? So he can call me a monster and dig the knife deeper? So I’ll look at his face and realize he was never mine and I’ve been a fool all along?

No, thanks.

Besides, he’s after my life. He won’t stop until he drains the last breath out of me. A full-body shudder snakes under my skin at the thought.

“Open the fucking door or I will smash it to the ground.” His voice loses all patience, pulsing with pent-up rage.

I have no doubt he’ll break the thing if he chooses to.

Do I care? No.

He can do whatever he wants, but if he expects me to be the one who opens that door for him, he’ll be disappointed. It won’t be happening.

Villains shouldn’t be allowed inside under any circumstances. I made that mistake once, and look where it lead me.

“Reina.” He growls my name in that deep masculine way that still makes my toes curl.

When will he stop getting to me? Next week? Next month? How about next year?

“Hide while you can,” he says before his presence disappears from in front of the door.

I don’t know how I feel he’s no longer there, but I just do.

He’s gone. For now.

I throw the covers off. Somehow, his visit has raised my body temperature and sweat has broken out on my brows and temples.

He has that effect, Asher. He gets under your skin, and before you know it, he’s trapping you, tying you up on a roof, suffocating you, and planning to kill you.

God, this is so fucked up.

The room is dark and smells of my breaths and the residual scent of Asher on the sheets: sandalwood and citrus, warmth and coldness.

I didn’t change the sheets we fucked on. I probably should’ve, but I couldn’t be bothered.

With the thick curtains drawn over the window, I don’t even know if it’s night or day.

I retrieve my phone to check the time. I put it on airplane mode and haven’t paid it attention since.

It’s five in the evening.

As soon as I turn off airplane mode, my phone buzzes with endless messages, emails, and missed calls from the squad. Lucy and Naomi sent me shouty texts about where I’ve been.