A Truth and a Lie

by V. Sousa

  She gave me one last squeeze before she let go. “I know you like to be alone, so I called Tommy to pick me up, but don’t think I didn’t hear you say something about being obligated to marry him. You owe me quite the explanation.”

  Tommy’s car drove up the driveway, and she started walking away but stopped a few feet from the car and turned around. “I love you, Rose. Tell Sammy I said hi.”

  I gave her a slight nod and waved as they drove away.

  When they were out of sight, I finally let the tears I’d been holding in fall and started my walk to the cemetery.

  It was easier to love the dead. They couldn’t be taken away from you a second time.

  Six

  Emmett

  After leaving Rosie’s house, I drove around the block and parked against the sidewalk. I didn’t want to drive all the way home just in case Rose left to visit Sammy.

  I turned on the interior lights to look at my knuckles, and sure enough, they were all split open, but it was all worth it. I wasn’t about to let that piece of shit get off easy for touching what was mine.

  At first, when I saw them dancing, I’d thought she was into it, so I forced myself to watch for a little bit because I deserved to feel the pain that came with seeing her with another guy. But when he grabbed her ass, I couldn’t take it anymore. I usually tried not to be a violent person because I knew what I was capable of, and I didn’t want to end up like my father, but I saw red.

  I wanted so badly to grab her and show everyone she was mine, but the guilt of what I’d done to her stopped me from kissing her in front of hundreds of people. I was fueled by jealousy, and ready to stake my claim, but I couldn’t allow her to think I was anything but an asshole, so instead, I did what was expected of me. I talked down to her and treated her like shit.

  My thoughts were interrupted when I got a text from Lorenzo.

  Lorenzo: She’s at the cemetery.

  Emmett: Be right there. I’d like a word with you also.

  I threw the car into drive and headed toward the cemetery. It only took a minute because it was right down the street, but I had to park farther away, so she didn’t hear my car.

  I usually brought one of my others when I went to the cemetery, but I was riding in the Charger when I got a call from my bouncer at the club, saying Rosie was there and I didn’t have time to switch them out.

  Instead of going to my spot behind the tree, I walked up to Lorenzo first. “Why the fuck did you let her go into the club? And not only that, but you didn’t think to tell me? I thought we had a deal,” I barked at him.

  Lorenzo had always been a little soft when it came to Rosie. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he had a thing for her.

  “Look, I’m sorry, but you know how it is. I felt bad. She’d been so sad all day, and I just wanted her to have fun. I was going to tell you, but I knew you would be busting in there to yank her out right away, so I figured one of your employees would tell you.”

  I was annoyed because he was right. They’d told me right away, but I wished I’d known beforehand. I could’ve doubled on security or told the bouncer not to let as many people in.

  You couldn’t trust anyone in this life. The club was packed with people, and anyone could’ve hurt her trying to get to the Romanos. I didn’t know what I would’ve done if something had happened to her.

  “Next time, tell me,” I snapped at him and walked to my spot, leaving him standing there.

  I took a seat and leaned against the tree, listening to her words.

  Seven

  Rose

  Sixteen Years Old

  I’d been trying to talk to Emmett all day, and I was starting to freak out because he wasn’t answering me.

  He was sent to the office for hitting Evan Davenport, and I hadn’t seen or talked to him since.

  Not knowing what else to do, I put on my shoes and left my room, ready to walk over to his house, but I stopped when I saw light coming from Sammy’s bedroom.

  I didn’t know he was home. Maybe he knew where Emmett was.

  “Sammy?” I lightly knocked on his bedroom door. “Are you in there?”

  “Yeah, Bee, come in,” he said through the door.

  I walked in to see him sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. “Do you know where Emmett is? He hasn’t been answering my calls or texts.”

  Sammy looked up at me with a frown. “His mom was killed today. Tommy and I were just over there, but he told us to leave and that he wants to be alone. I don’t know what to do, Rosie. I’ve never seen him look so detached.”

  I didn’t respond. Instead, I ran down the stairs, out of the house, across the street, and I didn’t stop until I reached his door— which thankfully was unlocked.

  I searched the whole house looking for him when I finally found Emmet sitting on a couch in his mom’s library, staring at her chair.

  “We were fighting this morning, and the last thing I said to her was that she was being a bitch. The last thing I would ever say to my mother, and I called her a bitch.” He kicked the small table in front of him and put his head in his hands.

  I walked further into the room and wrapped my arms around him from behind, pressing him against the back of the couch.

  “He did it, you know.” He paused for a minute. “My dad. He did it. I walked into the house because I didn’t believe that she was actually gone, and I overheard him paying whoever it was that killed her.”

  I wished I could tell him that his father would never do such a thing, but Vincent Rossi was a disgusting human being, and I wouldn’t have put it past him.

  “I’ve been sitting here all day, hoping that it’s not true and that any minute now, she’s going to walk in and ask me about my day.”

  I pulled away, and when he still didn’t move to get up, I took a seat on one of the chairs beside him.

  I didn’t notice the glass he had between his legs until it was flying across the room and smashing against the wall. “What am I going to do, Rosie? What am I supposed to do without her? Live in this empty house and be reminded every day that I lost the most important person in my life?”

  “You won’t be alone. We’re moving in with you,” I heard from behind me.

  I jerked my head to the side and saw Tommy, Claire, Lorenzo, and Sammy at the doorway with a bunch of bags around them.

  I saw a bit of relief on Emmett’s face, and although he was still sad, his breath came out a little easier.

  That night, we laid blankets all over, and we all slept on the floor of Emmett’s mom’s library.

  A few days later, we all stood around Emmett at the funeral, and I swear the whole city showed up to pay their respects to Emilia Montgomery.

  I caught Emmett looking around a few times for his father, and my heart broke for him that Vincent hadn’t shown up.

  I knew a part of Emmett still craved his father’s love and hoped that he wasn’t the reason for Emilia’s death, but another part of him wasn’t surprised at all at what his father had done.

  I think that was the day Emmett finally gave up on his father.

  Eight

  Rose

  It had been a month and a half since my fight with Emmett.

  I hadn’t seen or spoken to him and tonight was our engagement party—funny how we were having an engagement party, and I didn’t even have a ring.

  I just wished I could sleep through this whole thing, but given that it was technically my party, my attendance was mandatory.

  I was touching up my hair when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” I shouted to whoever it was.

  My back was facing the door, so I looked up in the mirror and sighed in relief when I saw it was just Claire.

  “Your dad looks hot today,” Claire said with a smile and a wink.

  I burst out laughing at her random remark. She must have been nervous or something. She word vomited when she was.

  “Your hair looks good too,” she added when I stopped laughing.
>
  I had to admit my hair had come out really good. I used my small curling iron to make a bunch of small curls and put half of it into a high ponytail, leaving the rest down so I got the waterfall effect.

  “Wait until you see my dress,” I said as I walked into the closet to grab it.

  It was a short white lace dress with a little slit on the thigh, definitely something Claire would’ve chosen herself.

  I took the dress into my bathroom and quickly changed, zipping the back up as much as possible, but my arms didn’t reach the whole way.

  “Claire, do you mind coming in here and helping me zip it up?” I yelled from the bathroom.

  She didn’t answer, so I walked out of the bathroom with my head down and my hands behind me, still attempting to do it myself. “I can’t get it the rest of the way up.”

  I hopped up and down, thinking it would help get the zipper up when a man’s voice reached my ears, and I froze.

  “Rose.” Emmett’s voice was so deep that hearing it instead of Claire’s soft voice scared the fuck out of me. I damn near broke my neck from looking up so quick. I didn’t even hear him knock.

  “Emmett, you can’t do that,” I scolded him. “You scared the shit out of me. I literally almost peed.”

  “I brought you a ring to wear,” he said sharply.

  I looked down and saw a blue ring box with a bow wrapped around it in his hands.

  I opened my hand to accept it, but he just placed it on the vanity and walked away like it wasn’t a big deal.

  How romantic. I hope he knew that he was justifying why I didn’t want to do this.

  I opened the ring box and almost fell over at what was inside. It was a white gold two karat cushion cut diamond ring with diamonds going around the band.

  I wasn’t surprised that he remembered the ring I’d always dreamed of having. It just pissed me off that he did this thoughtful thing and acted like he couldn’t care less about me, not to mention he couldn’t even be bothered to stick around and put it on my finger.

  Looking at the time, I cursed when I saw it was 7:19. The party started at seven, and my father didn’t care for tardiness.

  I slipped the ring onto my finger and grabbed a metal hanger to help me zip the dress the rest of the way up.

  I double-checked in the mirror to make sure I looked okay, and when I was satisfied, I started making my way downstairs to the party.

  Walking down the steps, the first things I noticed were all the beautiful decorations and the table setups.

  I wondered who planned this. It had to have been Claire since she knew what I liked, and this is exactly how I would want my engagement party to look. All white with succulents for centerpieces and greenery all around.

  My father was at the bottom of the stairs, staring at me, looking impatient as ever, so I hurried down the rest of the steps before he could yell at me even more for my tardiness.

  He grabbed my hand when I reached the bottom and pulled me in. “You’re late,” he said with annoyance. “I have many people to introduce to you, Rose. Where’s Emmett?”

  “I don’t know. I figured he was down here,” I responded with a shrug.

  I saw someone walk by with a tray of champagne and quickly grabbed two glasses. I downed the first one and placed it back on the tray before she even walked away.

  “When did you start drinking?” my father asked.

  “Ever since you sold me to one of your enemies like a prized goat,” I retorted with a mocking smile.

  I felt him tense beside me, but he quickly shook it off and continued to pull me toward a group of men, some young, some old.

  When we approached them, my father cleared his throat loudly. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet my daughter, Rose.”

  My father quickly introduced me to everyone and seeing as I was awful with names, they were quickly forgotten—not to mention they all looked the same to me. They must have been related or something, maybe a family from a different territory.

  One of the men moved to my father’s side and started whispering something in his ear, and my father nodded at him before turning to me. “I’ll be right back. I just have to handle something really quickly.”

  Great.

  Now I was stuck awkwardly standing here. I was about to give them an excuse and walk away when one of them—I think his name was Dimitri or something with a D—started to talk to me.

  “So, you’re Emmett Rossi’s future bride, correct?” he asked.

  I wanted to roll my eyes so bad because he obviously already knew that, but I’d promised I would be on my best behavior, so I settled for an eye twitch instead.

  “Yes, I am. Our wedding is set for mid-November,” I said with a polite smile.

  I spotted Claire and Tommy standing in a corner, talking to Lorenzo and a girl who I assumed was Tommy’s date. I was about to excuse myself to go to them when he cleared his throat.

  “I wish I had known a pretty young thing such as yourself was up for grabs. I would’ve snatched you up.” He moved to grab my wrist for added effect, but he’d barely gotten his hands on me before he was being thrown back a few feet.

  Well, I’d found Emmett.

  I didn’t understand how he kept popping up out of nowhere and tossing people. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he had perfect timing, but these mixed signals were giving me whiplash.

  “If you try to touch my fiancée again, Demarco, I promise you it will be the last time you will be able to use your hands.”

  Demarco, that’s what it was.

  Ugh, see? Even his name sounded pushy.

  Demarco quickly got up and straightened his suit, glaring at Emmett. Thankfully, all these people worked for my father. Otherwise, we could’ve had a serious fight on our hands.

  Emmett grabbed me around my waist and pulled me away.

  Normally, I wouldn’t allow him to touch me, but considering how mad he looked, I’d rather not poke the bear.

  He led me into a quiet corner and started whisper-yelling at me. “I can’t leave you alone for five seconds without you getting into something.” He managed to say all that and still kept his scowl in place. I’d be amazed at his ability to do that if it weren’t for the fact that he was being annoying.

  He acted as if I’d asked for this.

  “It’s not my fault. He came onto me, and I would’ve told him off if you hadn’t thrown him first.”

  He just continued to stare at me with his scowl, so I let out an exasperated breath. “Look, I just want to get this party over with, so if you want to argue, we can do it later.”

  He gave me a tight nod and pulled me back toward the crowds of people.

  Was this what my life had come to? Scheduled arguments?

  I’d probably met over a hundred people tonight. I knew my house was big, but I had no idea it could even fit this many people comfortably.

  I must admit, after meeting mostly everyone, a part of me was grateful to be marrying Emmett and not one of these guys. Most of them were extreme assholes and treated women like garbage.

  Don’t get me wrong, I knew Emmett was also an asshole but better the asshole you knew than the one you didn’t.

  For the most part, though, everyone else was being extremely friendly in congratulating Emmett and me on our engagement, so it wasn’t as torturous as I would have thought.

  Once my nerves settled, I found it actually felt kind of nice to have the gang back together so casually like this again, even though Sammy wasn’t with us. I wasn’t as sad as I’d thought I would be to be around everyone again without him. It felt almost peaceful in a way, but where there was peace, there was always chaos just waiting to be set free.

  Emmett and I had been sitting at one of the tables talking to Claire, Tommy, and Tommy’s date when I spotted Emmett’s high school fling, Victoria Diego, coming toward us.

  I guess somebody had let the chaos free.

  I tugged on Emmett’s arm to get his attention, and when he looked at me, I gave him the
meanest glare and pointed in her direction.

  “What the fuck is she doing here?”

  His eyes followed my finger, and I heard him mutter a curse under his breath.

  She walked up to our table and pulled up a chair to sit next to Emmett. If she sat any closer, she would have been on his lap.

  I got a strong whiff of alcohol when she sat down, and Claire must have smelled it, too, because she started waving her hand in front of her nose.

  By the looks of it, I was almost positive she’d gotten work done in the past couple of years. That nose was absolutely not real, and those tits definitely were not hers either. She was also wearing the shortest dress I’d ever seen. One sneeze, and her whole boob would be popping out.

  “Emmett, why haven’t you been answering any of my calls.” She pouted at him.

  You had to be kidding me.

  Her?

  Of all the people he could’ve been fucking, it had to be her? I’d be lying if I said this didn’t sting a little. She gave me a lot of shit in high school, and he knew that. Even though I wasn’t a meek little fifteen-year-old anymore, I still felt bad for young Rose, who went through daily verbal torture.

  Looking around the table, I saw that everyone’s jaws had dropped, even Tommy’s date, who didn’t know us from a hole in the wall. I watched as they all shifted their gazes to Emmett, waiting for his response, but Emmett had this annoying thing about him where if he didn’t like your question, he just wouldn’t answer. So, I guess I would just answer for him.

  “Victoria,” I said with the sweetest voice I could conjure, “I don’t recall inviting you to Emmett’s and my engagement party.”

  She looked away from Emmett and now noticed us all at the table, and after a few seconds, she smirked. “Well, if it isn’t Claire, Tommy, and Rose. The gang’s all here, but it looks like you’re missing one, isn’t that right, Rose? But who could it be? Oh, wait, I remember. Your brother! Didn’t someone kill him? Well, it’s for the best, really. I can’t stand one of you, let alone two.”