Tangled Promise (Sinful Truths Book 4)
Tangled Promise
Sinful Truths Book 4
Ella Miles
Copyright © 2020 by Ella Miles
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Ella@ellamiles.com
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Contents
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Truth or Lies World
Prologue
1. Siren
2. Zeke
3. Siren
4. Zeke
5. Siren
6. Zeke
7. Siren
8. Zeke
9. Siren
10. Zeke
11. Siren
12. Zeke
13. Siren
14. Zeke
15. Siren
16. Zeke
17. Siren
18. Zeke
19. Siren
20. Zeke
21. Siren
22. Kai
23. Enzo
24. Zeke
25. Siren
26. Zeke
27. Siren
28. Zeke
29. Siren
30. Zeke
31. Siren
32. Zeke
33. Siren
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Truth or Lies World
TRUTH OR LIES SERIES:
Taken by Lies #1
Betrayed by Truths #2
Trapped by Lies #3
Stolen by Truths #4
Possessed by Lies #5
Consumed by Truths #6
SINFUL TRUTHS SERIES:
Sinful Truth #1
Twisted Vow #2
Reckless Fall #3
Tangled Promise #4
Fallen Love #5
Broken Anchor #6
Prologue
Zeke
Promises are meant to be broken.
Not to me—I don’t break promises.
Ever.
I keep my word.
I’m loyal, honest, and keep my promises—no matter what. It’s all I have: my vows, my truth, my devotion. I may be a criminal in most people’s eyes. I’ve watched hundreds of men take their last breaths at my hands, slitting their throats, or firing a bullet between their eyes.
I’ve tortured men. I’ve stolen, cheated, murdered.
But my one redeeming quality is that I don’t break my promises. When I make a vow to someone, I keep it. I’m loyal. Enzo Black, my boss and best friend, has never had to question my loyalties; I’ve always given him everything. Langston, Liesel, and Kai, all of my friends, never had to wonder if they should trust me or not. They just did because I never gave them a reason not to.
They are my family. I don’t get more loyal than with family. They aren’t my blood, but it doesn’t matter. Each of them would take a bullet for me, and I would for them.
I’m good at making sacrifices. I’ve stayed away from them for so long, trying to protect them. But one mistake changed everything. One moment of weakness brought my friends back into my world. One choice changed the future of my family.
I’ve never been one to regret things, but I regret this. I regret it. I’m not going to be able to keep all of my promises.
I’ve made three crucial promises in my life.
Three.
All made in love. The woman I loved as a best friend, the woman I loved as a sister, and the woman I loved as everything.
My best friend.
My sister.
And my everything.
Three promises to three strong, beautiful, powerful women.
I thought I could keep them all. I thought I had good reasons to keep all of my promises.
I never thought I’d have to choose. There was no way to know these three women would cross paths. No way to know these women would not just intersect, but their fates would become tangled with one another. No way to know the danger I put them all in by making a promise to each of them.
I can’t choose between the three most important women in my life. Even if I could put one above the other, it’s going to kill me to break my promises. I can only choose one. I can only keep one woman in my life forever.
When I choose whose promise to keep, that woman is the only one who will stay in my life. The others will hate me. Or end up dead.
Save one.
Destroy the rest.
An impossible choice, but a choice I’m stuck with.
This is why I don’t let women into my life. This is why I want simple, uncomplicated days. This is why I’m better as the muscle, the brute, the security force in a team of people. I can protect anyone when it’s just me and my muscle and my gun.
But no amount of muscle, weapons, or trickery is going to get me out of this situation.
I’m fucked.
Three pairs of eyes stare back at me, deep into my soul, begging to be the one I choose—the promise I keep.
Choose.
Choose which of these incredible women gets to live. Choose which die.
I could no sooner choose a favorite testicle.
My heart is shattered. My heart is broken in three. No matter who I choose, I’m only keeping one tiny part of my heart. That’s not enough to sustain me. It’s not enough to give to the woman I save.
Choose.
Break two of my promises.
Choose the woman who remains in my life. Choose the woman who lives.
1
Siren
One Week Ago
“Do you love him?” Bishop, the man who owns me, asks.
Owns—he can think he owns me all he wants, but no man owns me.
Bishop’s eyes pierce mine as I stand barefoot, in jeans and T-shirt, in his kitchen. If anyone walked in on us, they would think we are just having a domestic conversation—not that he thinks of me as his prisoner and I think of him as scum that I’m about to wipe from this earth.
“Who?” I ask as I stare out the window to the garden out back that is too beautiful to be owned by a man like him.
“Doesn’t matter who, you know who he is, do you love him?”
I pull out a knife from the stack on the counter and throw it at him. It hits the cabinet behind him.
He doesn’t flinch. This man has experienced pain. He knows when I’m aiming to kill or just threatening. He’s a lot like me in that way.
“Just because you own me, doesn’t mean I’ll answer your questions,” I say.
“I don’t own you,” he says.
“Oh, really? Then what was the contract you signed with Hugo? What about the chains, the dungeon I sleep in, the other women?”
“Those are all physical. Sure, for now, I own your body. But that’s not what I want.”
I frown.“What do you want?”
“To own you. Someday, I’ll truly own you. When you go to sleep at night, and I’m there. When you fuck your man, and I’m there. When you close your eyes, and I’m there. That’s when I’ll own you. When you can think of nothing else but me. When yo
u can think of nothing but my words ringing in your ear. When you only see me in the darkness. When you do exactly as I say, that’s when you are mine.”
I shake my head. “You’ll be waiting a long time.”
“Why? Because you are already owned by another man?” He smirks.
“Julian Reed, perhaps?”
My eyes widen. How does he know about Julian?
“Or perhaps your lover? Are you owned by him?”
“I’m owned by no man.”
He shakes his head. “I thought you couldn’t lie.”
“I can’t.”
“That sounds an awful lot like a lie, Siren.”
“It’s not,” I say, my throat tightening. I grab another knife and fling it, this time brushing the edge of his ear, causing the tiniest bit of blood.
Bishop still doesn’t move. The pain is nothing.
“You know, Siren, I’ve been in love before.”
Why is he telling me this?
I still, waiting for the trap he’s setting. With men like Bishop, there is always a trap waiting to be sprung.
“Love is the ultimate prize. It’s what everyone wants. Some claim they want money, fame, power. It’s all lies. All any person wants is to love and be loved.”
Who knew the man is a sap?
“What happened to the woman you loved?” I ask. Did she die? I hate Bishop, but I don’t want anyone to die because of their association with him. She probably didn’t even love him. How could a woman love a man like Bishop?
“She stopped loving me,” he says with pain in his eyes. His blue eyes have become clouds of gray and black. If he had any tears to shed, he would, but I can tell he’s long past tears. It wouldn’t matter that I’m here as his slave. He would cry. He would mourn his loss in front of me without shame. He just has nothing left to get out. No emotions left except for an empty, hollow shell.
His eyes glaze over for a minute as he thinks about the woman he loves. And then he snaps back to me.
“Do you love him?” he asks again.
I suck in a breath. Does it matter if I do? What is it going to hurt telling this man? He’s a kindred spirit. He knows what loving someone who doesn’t love you back does to a person. He can be my enemy and still understand how I feel.
“Yes,” I breathe, and it’s the truest word I’ve ever spoken. Yes, I love Zeke. I will always love Zeke until my dying breath, which, if Bishop has his way, will be sooner than later.
Bishop nods, already knowing it to be true.
“Then save him,” he says.
I frown, not understanding. “I already did.”
He shakes his head. “No, all you did was bring him to the fire. Right now, he’s standing on the edge, just breathing in fumes. One tiny push will launch him into the heart of the flames, and once he’s there, there is no going back. He’ll be engulfed.”
I have no idea what Bishop is talking about.
“He’s not in any danger. I made sure of that.”
Bishop grits his teeth. “He’s loved by you—a siren. There is nothing more dangerous than being loved by you.”
Present Day
Bishop’s words ring in my ear. There is nothing more dangerous than being loved by you.
The words that followed are burned into my brain forever.
You’re owned.
By a dangerous, ruthless, broken man.
Bishop is a man who has loved and lost. There is nothing more dangerous than a man who has lost everything. A man who has nothing to live for except to numb his pain—except for maybe a woman who has lost everything. That woman may be the most dangerous of all.
I stand in the entry of Zeke’s house. Staring at the door that I forced Zeke out of with one word—Lucy.
He loves her. He doesn’t love me.
He loves the mysterious woman at the ball. He doesn’t love me.
Even if he does—he had to leave. He can’t be with me. Bishop’s words are true. If Zeke stays, he’ll die, because of me.
Zeke had to leave, and I need to fix everything before he comes back. Zeke will come back. He always keeps his promises, even to evil men like Julian Reed.
Right now, I can’t think about any of that. Right now, I can’t even breathe.
I sob.
Tears fall hard and fast in streams over my red cheeks. If tears could burn, these would.
I feel myself shaking. My legs tremble, barely holding me up. My arms shake, and my heart breaks having just watched Zeke walk away from me. Watched him choose another woman. Watched him leave because I told him to.
He didn’t fight. He hardly questioned why. He just left.
It’s for the best.
Tell that to my broken heart.
My heart thumps slowly, then quickly, two thumps, then one, then three in quick succession. It no longer knows how to beat. Something so simple, something my body never had to think about, has become complicated. It can’t beat anymore. It’s too hard.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I keel over dead. Slowly, I fall to my knees as my legs collapse.
I can’t breathe, my chest constricts around my lungs, purposefully trying to suffocate me to stop the pain. My throat tightens, and air can barely make its way through the tears pouring down my cheeks over my nose and mouth.
My body wants to die. Maybe I’ll have a heart attack? Maybe this will be the end? Dying alone of heartbreak.
My heart skips a beat, as if to say not today. Today, I don’t die. Everything I’m doing is for love.
I’m strong.
I’m a fighter.
I won’t give up.
Not like this.
Just because I can’t be with the one I love doesn’t mean my love ends. It doesn’t mean my life is no longer worth living. I may never love again as I love Zeke, but I can love him from afar. I can protect him by keeping him away from me.
Someday, if I’m lucky, maybe I’ll be able to love someone, and they can love me back without fear of danger. Maybe I won’t be a siren anymore. Maybe I won’t be dangerous to every person I love.
Maybe I’ll go back to just being Aria Torres. Do I want to be Aria, when Zeke calls me Siren? When I’ve always been Siren to him? When the name I hear falling from Zeke’s lips is always Siren?
I hear footsteps coming up the drive.
Zeke?
My tears dry up immediately. My heart beats regularly again, if not faster than usual. I stand, my legs stronger than they’ve ever been.
He came back.
He’s not gone.
If he came back, that means he loves me. He doesn’t care about our fucked up past. He doesn’t care about the risk. Our love can conquer all. Right?
I hold my breath, knowing that I’m dreaming a little too much if I really think that is going to happen. I listen more carefully. The footsteps are too light to be Zeke. He’s not coming back, stupid heart, why don’t you listen to me? You’re the one who got us into this mess. I was just fine on my own until you got involved. I didn’t need to love.
The door opens—Nora.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
She sighs. “Just a feeling that my best friend needed me.”
I frown. “You’re a terrible liar.”
Nora walks over to me and holds open her arms.
I just shake my head. I can’t be hugged by her. Not because of the lie I told Zeke. Bishop didn’t ruin touch for me. Bishop ruined love for me.
I can’t be touched because if she hugs me, I’ll fall apart again.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, again.
Nora drops her arms. “I’m here to get you drunk.”
“How did you know I needed you?”
I follow Nora into Zeke’s kitchen, where she is already pouring us both drinks. “I can’t say.”
“Zeke?”
Nora blinks rapidly. Yes—Zeke texted her. I don’t know whether to feel touched or angry or emotional or what. Zeke didn’t care enough to fight, to stay, to figure
out why I pushed him away. But he cared enough to call Nora and tell her to come, that I needed her.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” I say.
Nora laughs. “Good, because I’m a terrible babysitter. Can you imagine me with kids? Eww, all that slobber and poopy diapers, no thank you.”
Kids…I imagine little babies walking around, babies with long dark hair, a sturdy frame, and Zeke’s rare smile. My heart clenches. Even if Zeke came back, I could never have kids with him. There is no way to bring kids into this world. It would be a death sentence for all of us.
“Oh, beautiful. I’m so sorry,” Nora says, and this time, she doesn’t ask permission. She hugs me, pulling me tight to her chest. I let her.
I’m expecting to fall apart in her arms. Instead, I feel stronger, absorbing some of Nora’s strength through the hug.
Strength I immediately need as there is another knock at the door.
Zeke!
Zeke wouldn’t knock. This is his own home. But that fact doesn’t stop my heart from pitter-pattering, hoping it’s him.
Nora looks at me as she continues to hold me in her arms.
She sighs at the expression on my face.
“It’s not him,” she says before even going to the door.
“I know,” I whisper back. But I don’t know. I’m full of hope for even a one percent chance that Zeke is behind that door.