Beautiful Liar

Beautiful LiarAbout the AuthorDedicationCopyright Information ©AcknowledgementChapter 1: EmilyChapter 2: LianChapter 3: EmilyChapter 4: LianChapter 5: EmilyChapter 6: LianChapter 7: EmilyChapter 8: LianChapter 9: EmilyChapter 10: LianChapter 11: EmilyChapter 12: LianChapter 13: EmilyChapter 14: LianChapter 15: EmilyChapter 16: LianChapter 17: EmilyChapter 18: LianChapter 19: EmilyChapter 20: LianChapter 21: EmilyChapter 22: LianChapter 23: Emily
 
 
 
 
 
 Beautiful Liar
 Scary Beautiful 2
 Elizabeth Speckman
 Austin Macauley Publishers
 2022-12-16
 
 About the Author
 Elizabeth has been writing stories since she was very young. She currently lives outside St. Louis where she continues to write any chance she gets.
 
 
 Dedication
 To Aunt Debbie. Thank you for showing me the movie and then handing me the book. I write because of you.
 
 
 Copyright Information ©
 Elizabeth Speckman 2023
 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.
 Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
 Ordering Information
 Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.
 Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
 Speckman, Elizabeth
 Beautiful Liar
 ISBN 9781638297888 (Paperback)
 ISBN 9781638297895 (Hardback)
 ISBN 9781638297901 (ePub e-book)
 Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921202
 www.austinmacauley.com/us
 First Published 2023
 Austin Macauley Publishers LLC
 40 Wall Street,33rd Floor, Suite 3302
 New York, NY 10005
 USA
 [email protected]
 +1 (646) 5125767
 
 
 Acknowledgement
 Thank you to everyone at Austin Macauley who made this second book possible. Thank you to Mom and Dad for their unwavering support. Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa who supported this endeavor. To everyone out there who bought, read, and reviewed Scary Beautiful, thank you so, so much! It means the world to me. Last, thank you Remy, even though you can’t read.
 
 
 Chapter 1
 
 Emily
 I stood up and glanced around. I had no idea who was screaming my name or why. I walked in a daze the rest of the way to the school. I got in my car and headed for home. My mind was sort of latched on to one thing at the moment and it wasn’t whoever wanted my help.
 I parked in front of the house when I saw Toby standing out by the curb looking at the house. I got out and stood beside him.
 “Whatcha doing?” I asked.
 “Thea dropped me off a few minutes ago,” he said softly. “I was headed inside, but the front door is…well…” he nodded his head at the door.
 You could tell from where we stood that it had been kicked in. There was a boot print right by the lock. It wasn’t wide open, but it was open enough.
 “Call Drew…and Mason…and Sam. Just call all the guys actually,” I stated.
 Toby pulled his cell out of his pocket and called Drew. I started to walk up the concrete path to the front porch.
 “Drew, you need to get home now,” I heard Toby say. “Someone broke in the house…EMILY! DON’T GO IN THERE!” he yelled. “Yes, she is. Hurry up and bring the rest of them with you. EMILY! STOP!”
 I didn’t pay any attention to him though. I was walking slowly toward the house. I tried to peer in the windows, but the inside of the house was too dark to make anything out.
 I heard tires squeal on the road just as I reached the front door. I pushed it open slowly with my foot and peered into the living room. It was destroyed. The couch had been sliced and the stuffing was everywhere. The coffee table was broken in half and the end tables were thrown over. Vases and other glass objects were shattered on the floor.
 I felt a hand on my back, but I didn’t react to it. I was too shocked. Drew appeared next to me.
 “Oh fuck,” he breathed. “KATE?” he yelled and took off down the other side of the stairs to where Kate’s room was. I knew the rest of the guys were behind me on the porch. I turned and Mason was standing there. “Can you check upstairs?”
 He nodded his head and walked past me and headed up the stairs to check things out. Sam was standing beside me. It was his hand on my back.
 Drew appeared a moment later. “She’s not here. Her car, purse, and keys are still here. Emily, what the hell happened?”
 “I…I don’t know. My best guess is Talyrians,” I muttered. Maybe Lian and Phoenix kidnapped Kate on their way back to the Talyrian stronghold.
 “I think those motherfuckers have taken enough from us,” he snapped.
 “Drew, we can’t stay here,” I said trying to get his mind off what happened and on to what we needed to do.
 “Where can we go, Em?” he asked as Mason made his way back downstairs.
 “The upstairs is untouched,” he said. “It seems like they came to get Kate was all.”
 “Toby, go pack some of your things. Drew, you too,” I said.
 “Where are we going, Emily?” Drew asked.
 “The lake house.” Both of my brothers looked at me. I think they actually forgot about it.
 Toby went upstairs, but the rest of us remained downstairs. “So, we move to the lake house temporarily, what then?” Drew asked.
 “You guys need any help?” Sam asked.
 “Not right now, Sam. Thanks though,”