Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“He helped me cover up their bodies. We weighed them down and tossed them off my father's boat at sea. When I came home, they were pouring concrete, and they didn’t see my sister under the tarp which covered her body up. A week later, my father’s body washed up.
The police came to the house and found traces of DNA from my father in the kitchen and on the knife’s handle.
We bleached it, but they found blood when they pulled the handle apart.
They knew we’d covered it up. I was expecting to go to jail.
I was going to come clean. I figured if I were in prison, my brother wouldn’t be able to hurt me when he found out I wasn’t Isobella.
I was in my father's study being questioned when Brian walked in and said he’d done it.
He told them he found out our sister was being sold, and she took off, and he killed them, helping her escape, and I was his witness.
He said he was off his head on drugs, and I could vouch for what happened because I was there.
He said he’d threatened me to keep quiet. ”
“He took all the blame?”
“Yes. He said there was no point in both of us being locked up, that I should use our inheritance and get through school, and when he got out, he would find me. That I could help him get back on his feet. He did five years because he claimed mental health. He spent two years in prison until sentenced and then was placed in a mental health facility. He used what money we had left around the house to pay off the judge.”
“Why didn’t you run?”
“He would have found me. My brother always finds me. Even though my parents are dead, he still has connections. It wasn’t until after he got out that I realized my sister was the one being traded for the alliance.
Brian didn’t like that, so he and Dad convinced the man to take me instead.
For years, I pretended I couldn’t see the demon following me so he wouldn’t know.
Brian put it down to trauma since I was no longer the bubbly sister he wanted when he got out.
He asked where the money was from my family's estate. I told him I sold it, and there was nothing left, which angered him. My parents left everything to Isobella. They cut both Brian and me out of their will. Brian was never going to take over my father’s business.
Isobella was. He’s hated me ever since, but not enough to let me go. ”
“So you used the money to survive?”
“My parents had life insurance, plus money stashed everywhere in offshore accounts under Isobella’s name.
Brian took the offshore accounts and cleaned them out.
I wasn’t even aware they existed until I found the paperwork.
The house was left to Isobella also. I told Brian I’d sold it, but I still own it.
I never went back after he was arrested.
I went and stayed with my grandmother. She died just before Brian got out,” I explained.
“All this time, and Brian never figured it out?”
“No, we were identical twins, and he just thought I’d changed.
Not a far stretch considering everything.
He did say, though, that if he hadn’t kill Arabella, he would still sell her off.
That Luca still wanted her since he couldn’t have Isobella, and despite hating me, Brain could never hand me over.
Said he always loved me, and I was his.”
“I have one more question,” Latham asks. “You still own the house. And you pretended not to see the demon for years, right?”
I nod.
“Will you take me to your house?”
“I haven't been back there since I was fourteen,” I tell him, horrified by the idea.
“The demon was still with you right in that house?”
I nod.
“Yes, until a little after my nineteenth birthday. Then he disappeared.”
“Then his essence would have imprinted on it. We will be able to find him, Bella.”
“He hasn’t bothered me for years. I don't want to risk him coming back,” I tell him.
“That’s the bit I don’t get. He just stopped?” Blaine asks, and I shrug.
“I thought it was because I ignored him, just pretended he wasn’t there,” I tell them, and they both shake their heads.
“That’s not how it works, Bella. If this demon took a fancy to you, he won’t let you go until he owns you,” Latham says.
“I don’t understand.”
“There has to be a reason he got up and left. We locked onto you the moment we saw you. Your soul attached me to you in a sense. Even if you wanted nothing to do with me, I still wouldn’t be able to leave you.
I would hunt you; it's in my nature. I can’t help it, and I am not a creep,” he adds when I pull away from him.
I look at Blaine and Xavier.
“Guilty,” they both say, and Latham pulls me closer to the edge of the counter, his hands going back under the shirt.
Xavier’s eyes are on my legs as the shirt moves higher, exposing my lace underwear.
“So, you would always pursue me. What if I only wanted one of you?”
“Do you only want one of us?” Blaine purrs behind me, making goosebumps rise and my skin prickle.
My face flushes at his words. Is it greedy that I want all of them? Yet the idea also scares me.
“Your blush says enough. But if that were the case, they would pursue us until I marked your soul with mine.”
I gape at him. “So, is that what the demon would do? How do you do that?”
“Demons are different. Shifters and vampires mark their mates. Like Addie and Cyrus and Eli. Demons feed off emotion and energy. So I would have to sleep with you and feed off you until you climax and I feed you my energy to taint you. Otherwise, I would have to terrify you to the point where it would probably kill you while absorbing your energy and giving you mine. The first one sounds like the better option, though,” Latham explains, but I am still stuck on Addie and her boyfriends.
“My bosses and my friends are vampires?” I ask.
“You just told her you wanted to basically eat her soul, and all she got was that Eli is a werewolf and Addie and Cyrus are vampires,” Xavier says, shaking his head.
“Addie’s a vampire? Wait, Eli turns into a dog?”
“Her sister is a werewolf, too,” Blaine says casually.
I shake my head, trying to absorb that information.
“So you are cool with us eating part of your soul, then?” Blaine asks, and I look at him over my shoulder to find him smiling deviously.
“But can’t only one of you do it?”
“Well, that wasn’t a no!” Xavier chuckles.
“Not if we all do it at the same time?” Blaine growls behind me, making me jump.
“That’s impossible. There is only one of me,” I tell him, trying to work that out.
“You have more than one hole. I have no issue filling all of them,” Blaine says, his hand brushing my side.
“Nothing is going near my ass.”
“Don’t mock it until you try it,” Blaine taunts, and I scrunch my face up.
Looking at Latham, he is smiling. My face heats under his intense, smoldering gaze.
“She still didn’t say no!” Xavier says.
“Say no to what?” I ask him, finally able to pull away.
“To all of us making you ours,” Xavier says.
“Say yes, be ours,” Blaine whispers beside me as he leans closer. His tongue runs across my jaw to my ear, and I shiver. Yet fear of what they are asking makes me hesitate.
“When you say you want to eat my soul, does that mean I will die?” I ask.
Blaine's lips move down my neck before sucking my skin, leaving a hickey.
“No,” Xavier says, reaching for the hem of my shirt.
I swallow, wondering how much it would hurt.
Latham leans closer, his breath fanning my lips. “Say yes, Arabella.”
My heart races at his words. I have a feeling once it is done, there is no taking it back.
Xavier’s hands pull my shirt up, forcing Blaine to move so he can remove it, leaving me in just my panties.
Blaine’s lips go back to my skin, and I feel Xavier’s hands skimming up my sides to my breasts.
Latham growls, watching them touch me for a second, and my breathing becomes harsher as I lose my train of thought.
Too focused on their touch, Xavier kisses my shoulder blade.
Latham’s thumbs hook under the thin lace of my panties.
“Be ours, only ours, and we will be yours,” Latham says, pulling my panties down slightly.
“Say yes, Arabella,” Latham says, leaning closer.
My real name on his lips sounds so exotic. I love the way he said my name, or maybe it is because I feel like I could let go of restraint with them. They would allow me to be me.
“Yes,” I whisper, and his lips crash against mine.
His tongue delves into my mouth as he tastes every inch. The feel of his tongue playing with mine makes me moan. The smoky taste of his tongue fighting mine ignites a fire inside me and a hunger for them. They are sin, but usually, the best things are.