Little Liar: A Dark Taboo Romance (The Web of Silence Duet Book 2)
Little Liar: Chapter 17

My phone dings while I reply to an email about a court hearing for a new adoption. I’m so badly behind, Mom had to ask her other assistant to take some of my workload before she went into her meeting. I’m waiting patiently for her to come for me.

She’ll yell. I don’t doubt that at all.

I pause my fingers and glance over at the screen to see the text. Since Malachi reconnected his phone, he sends me messages all the time, even when I’m right beside him. Right now, he’s obviously just bored.

I roll my eyes and type back a response.

My smile drops. Even though we already agreed not to have kids when he offered to get me pregnant, it still stings for some reason when he says stuff like that. You’d think someone who never wants to become a parent would use a condom all the time, but he loves the thought of his cum inside me. He does, however, obsess over my birth control pill.

Oh…

Wow.

I wonder how I should respond to that. There’s a small, lonely part of me that secretly loves the idea of a tiny human by my side, but I’d never force that upon him.

His final reply makes me smile.

Holding my breath, I switch chat boxes to the one that’s been burning a hole in my phone since I received the first message four days ago.

And the most recent one this morning. Malachi nearly saw it while I was doing my makeup in the mirror.

The main reason I’m keeping these messages from Malachi is not only because I’m worried about his current state of mind, but also because we’ve been good. We’ve been having fun. We’ve been in our bubble—Xander throwing threats at us will cause him to react, and I don’t want that at all.

It’s wrong of me to hide this, but Malachi can’t control his anger, and he’ll either whisk me away where no one can replace me, or he’ll do something unhinged.

I’m terrified he’ll get himself into trouble again. He’ll definitely do something to Xander if he replaces out, and a huge part of me wants him to.

That part needs to shut up.

In my peripheral vision, I can see someone marching towards my office through the glass of my door. I take a deep breath, tucking my phone into my bag and awaiting the storm that’s crashing in three… two… one…

“What do you think you’re playing at, young lady?”

My eyes close, and I take another deep breath in through my nose and release it from my mouth. “Morning, Mom.”

“I’ve had the Reznikovs on the phone to me every hour for the last week!” The door slams, and she stands in front of my desk, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. “Where were you?”

“You know where I was,” I reply calmly, dragging my eyes to my computer screen and pretending to click on things to calm my nerves. “I have quite a lot of work to do. Can we discuss this later?”

“No,” she grits out. “Do you know how much you embarrassed Xander? You left him at the altar in front of his friends and family.”

“He’s made his embarrassment very clear in all of his threatening messages.”

“What do you expect? You left him at the altar!”

She’s so deluded that she’s completely ignored the fact he’s threatening me. I honestly didn’t think she’d help me anyway.

“I don’t care,” I reply, typing nothing. “Did you forward any important emails on to me?”

Her glare makes me want to shrink in my chair, but I roll my shoulders and try to remain calm.

Anxiety bubbles all over my body, and the bad butterflies are going wild—Mom rarely yells at me, so when she does, I always shy away and automatically apologize.

However, I won’t give in this time. I won’t marry Xander, no matter how much she shouts at me for turning my back on her. It’s the first time I’ve made my own decision, and I’m dreading the backlash. If his family can get over it and move on, maybe my mom will too.

Xander’s anger tells me he’ll struggle to get over it. But maybe if I keep ignoring him, he’ll vanish and go to someone else.

Mom is scowling at me.

She was the perfect mother growing up. The mom I always wanted. Needed. But when she first mentioned to me that it was perfectly normal for rich families to marry other rich families to combine their wealth, she told me I’d be marrying a prince, and I’d be treated like a princess.

Obviously, I was initially excited. I was sixteen and being told I’d be spoiled and loved forever, without needing to go through the process of falling for someone, was so attractive.

Until Mom told me I had to have sex with them—she even talked me through it all and how it would be sore my first time, that I’d bleed, but I couldn’t tell a soul, not even Malachi or my dad. She told me that they’d be mad and think I was dirty, a disgrace to the Vize name. I’d be looked at differently, and my brother wouldn’t be my friend anymore.

The night I lost my virginity, I lay in bed with Malachi while he held heat packs to my body. I wanted to tell him. I was dying inside having to keep the grooming to myself, but I had no choice.

Parker wasn’t gentle. He didn’t even look at me while he did it.

But Mom was proud of me when I walked out of the room. She smiled and hugged me, then said she was certain he was the one.

I was already falling for Malachi—though being told I had to marry someone else safeguarded those emotions, because it’s not as if I would’ve ever had the chance to marry him and be happy. Mom and Dad fully adopted us both. They were legally our parents.

At the time, I had no idea how that worked with adopted siblings, but I knew it was wrong on so many levels.

We had no chance from the moment I got my first good butterfly from him. Even when I realized he had an interest in me beyond possessiveness, I did everything I could to hold him as far away from my heart as I could, but it was impossible.

He crashed his way into my love for him, and he’s still there.

From the moment he asked me to teach him how to kiss, I was doomed. I knew I wouldn’t ever get over him, and the fact I was forced to date just made knowing it worse. Call me selfish, but I jumped at the opportunity to have any closeness with my brother—it was only going to be for a short time anyway.

Those eight years he was locked up, I hated myself. I should’ve taken Dad to hospital and run with Malachi. Or even better, I should have sat down with him when I overheard the girls in the locker room and got the truth from him.

I shouldn’t have silenced him. He’s been silenced his entire life. Maybe I deserve Xander’s threats. Karma really is a bitch.

Mom’s still standing in front of my desk, tapping her foot like I’m some insolent, misbehaved child in trouble for pulling someone’s hair. I want to ask her for help—Malachi isn’t doing well, and I need her or my dad to tell me what to do, but I can’t ask her.

It’ll have to be Dad.

I’m scrolling through my emails—one came in five minutes ago from him, asking to arrange dinner since I haven’t replied to any of his messages. That could be my opener to get some information about Malachi and how they handled him when he was spiraling.

Plus, I haven’t seen my dad since the wedding. He was going to try to get me out of it—maybe he’s found a way?

Usually, I help Dad out with Molly. When Mom is too busy, I like to care for him—he needs a lot of help with some things, and he has physiotherapy three times a week. My little sister is learning, so she’s been helping while I’ve been gone.

I glance up at Mom. “Did you take Dad for his appointments last week?”

“He’s capable of going himself.”

Flattening my lips, I look back to my screen. “How’s Molly? Did she do her math test on Tuesday?”

“Don’t change the subject. I’ll arrange a meeting with Xander and his parents as soon as they get back from their business trip. You will apologize for being immature about the situation, and no legal action will be taken. You will marry Xander by the end of this month. And then you’ll move to Canada with him like you’re supposed to!”

Sighing, I press my forefingers to my temples, rubbing them clockwise. “No.”

“No?”

“No. I’m not marrying Xander. And I’m not moving to Canada.”

Her hands rest on my desk as she leans down and sneers her next words. “You signed an agreement, Olivia. You agreed to marry him. You said yes and put your signature on the dotted line to become Olivia Reznikov by a set date. Don’t embarrass me a third time.”

My head tilts with confusion. “A third time?”

“The first was when Malachi announced to the world during his trial that you were sleeping together.” She looks disgusted. “The second was when you ran away from your own wedding in front of everyone! There won’t be a third. You will cut ties with Malachi, and you will fulfill your role in this family.”

“You literally nodded at me at the wedding to leave.”

Her teeth grit again, the line between her brows getting deeper. “I had a lapse of judgment and forgot the implications of you breaking the agreement.”

“No, you remembered for one little second that I’m supposed to be your daughter and you knew forcing me into that family would be suicide. You were human, but then you fell right back into your controlling ways and reminded yourself that you adopted me for money.”

She has the audacity to look shocked. “Excuse me?”

“I won’t marry him. Have my dad terminate the agreement. Xander has no reason to pursue me. The man made it very clear he had no attraction to me when he told me to go on a diet and dye my hair.” I tug at my brown hair, at the flashes of blonde still showing through the box dye. “He can marry someone else who comes from money.”

“No.”

“He’s threatening me.” I grab my phone, open his message about ripping me apart, and shove it in her face, but she doesn’t look at the screen; instead, anger radiates from every inch of her.

“You’re acting like a child.”

“You’re trying to force me into an abusive marriage,” I say, dropping my phone onto my desk when she turns away from me. “I won’t do it.”

Shaking her head, Mom paces the office. “Why are you fighting me on this? I have trained you since you were young for this exact moment! After everything I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me? I gave you a life, Olivia!”

Shoving myself to my feet, I glare at her. “You took me from one abusive home and put me into another!”

Her eyes go wide, choking on her next word. “Abusive? The only abuse you went through was from your brother.”

“I was sixteen,” I say, trying to stay as calm as possible. My body is shaking. I don’t want to hurt her feelings. She’s done so much for me. Gave me a better life, but this I cannot do. “I was sixteen when you started forcing me to sleep with people who were older than me. You would do my hair and put makeup on me, tell me to shave. When I got my period, you were excited, not because I was becoming a woman, but because you saw dollar signs. You could finally marry me off.”

Her face falls, but she stays silent.

“When I was forced to sleep with Parker, I cried to you that I was sore and that I couldn’t do it again. You told me I’d get used to it. You forced me to watch videos of blowjobs so I’d know what to do because Parker demanded one. Do you remember telling me to eat less and exercise more to maintain my figure, so I’d stay appealing to men? Will I keep going? There are millions of moments you’ve destroyed for me. You ruined relationships for me, Mom. I didn’t even get to have a normal childhood. Why couldn’t you just let me be normal? Malachi was allowed to do whatever he wanted, but I was on a damn leash.”

“You know the tradition of being a Vize.”

My mouth falls open. She’s so damn cold and careless. Not a single tear falls from her eyes, but mine are soaked, and I can’t stop.

“It’s also tradition for me to be pure, but you cut corners by selling me to Parker because he pretended not to be interested in me, so he could be paid for an easy fuck to mark off his list and go blow it all on drugs. All you had to do was say no, that you had rules to follow.”

“Paying him was a mistake,” she replies. “My biggest mistake.”

“You made me sleep with Adam too.” I drop back into my chair and shake my head. “We both begged you not to make us. Was that a mistake too?”

“Stop being difficult about this,” she snaps. “It’s not like you can be with your brother. Do your duty to this family.”

“Why is it a tradition at all, Mom?”

Her shoulders rise. “It’s always been one. For generations.”

“Were you forced to marry my dad?”

“That was different. I was already dating your father in school before the Vize family came to mine and brought up the marriage agreement. My parents were secretly struggling for money—that contract saved us.”

“Would you have married my dad if you hated him? If you didn’t know him? If he told you to lose weight and change your hair and style of clothes? If he threatened you? Did your mother force you to sleep with older people the same way you did to me?”

Her silence is my answer. I can’t stop the words from spilling out. “And did Dad have a clause that you weren’t allowed birth control? Or did you replace another loophole when he brought mine and Malachi’s cases to you?”

Her head lowers on a sigh, her shoulders dropping. “We had the clause too. But we tried and tried for years, and I couldn’t fall pregnant. I’m infertile. We didn’t know before we got married. I wanted to adopt because I’ve always wanted a family. He thought bringing me you and your brother’s cases would make me happy even though he hated the idea of having children not biologically his.”

My breathing grows heavy, my chest suddenly aching. “Dad didn’t want to adopt?”

“Not initially, no,” she replies, breaking my heart some more. “But he loved you and your brother regardless. He still does.”

A tear slides down my cheek. “You wanted to adopt so you could manipulate me into making you more money? Is that all you see me as? Another income after you marry me off to your highest-earning suitor? Dad didn’t even want me, and you just saw me as being able to fulfill another generational tradition.”

Adam was an agreement because Malachi attacked him, and Parker was her choice when I was younger, but neither of them have the same wealth as the Reznikovs. Xander’s family are borderline billionaires. It makes no sense for them to even want to collaborate with the Vizes. It’s like Xander’s being told no and he refuses to accept it.

Xander doesn’t even think I’m pretty; his reaction when he first saw me was evidence of that. He was unimpressed and said I needed a nose job and that he’d arrange for me to get breast enlargement surgery, then took a picture of me and sent it to his friends. His social-media posts show him and his brother partying with girls who look nothing like me.

As soon as my mother tells him the wedding will no longer be going ahead, he’ll send me more threats, but ultimately, he’ll move on to the next girl on his list. Mom just needs to accept this isn’t happening, but going by the way she’s looking at me, she’s not going down without a fight.

“What if I ask for some changes to the agreement?”

Huffing, I lean back in my computer chair and cross my ankles. “Why can’t you give up on this? I’ve been forced into this my entire life—why can’t I make my own choices now? I’m about to turn twenty-seven.”

“Because your choice is to be with your brother! It’s sick!”

“The term that I’m not allowed to use birth control will mess everything up for you. I’ll fall pregnant, and I won’t know who the father is because I won’t leave Malachi, and I’m assuming Xander will force himself on me.”

I’d rather die than go anywhere near him.

“This is ridiculous. Why can’t you see how ridiculous this is? Malachi is your brother. You are siblings. He is my son, and you are my daughter! We raised you both. You were brought up together in the same house, and you acted like brother and sister. You played together. Ran around the house with toys and laughed like all brothers and sisters do! If it wasn’t for Malachi manipulating you, you wouldn’t even care about him.”

I let out a laugh. “Every time you took away one of my choices, I needed him, and he was always there for me. You pushed me closer to him. You’re the reason we’re together.”

As soon as the traitorous words leave my mouth, every drop of blood drains from my body, my veins running ice cold. My heart snaps in two, because although I was just trying to throw it in her face…

It might be true.

I stand, piling my files together and grabbing my bag. “I need to go.”

“Don’t you dare walk away from me, Olivia.” She follows me to the door, and even as I swing it open so everyone in the office can hear, she yells after me, “I’ll be arranging a meeting with the Reznikovs regardless!”

Malachi is supposed to pick me up. My shift doesn’t finish for another few hours, but I don’t stop running until I reach the apartment I’ve left empty for the last week.

My shoulder hits a few people on the way, but I keep going.

I slam the door shut behind me, throw my things on the ground, and run to my bedroom before I allow the screaming cries to release into my pillow.