I only meant to stay a few moments, but as I stared out over the lake, watching birds soaring above and flitting around in the trees, I got lost in thought, analyzing all the pros and cons of staying with Lucien. Would he let me go if I wanted him to? He told me he’d only give me that choice once, but would he really force me to stay if I said I wanted out? Did I want out? My stomach churned as I tried to answer that question. I realized I’d been outside longer than I meant to be, so I reached for my phone to find out how long I’d been gone and realized it must have fallen out of my pocket when I’d been lying on Lucien’s bed. I would just have to hope no one had tried to call me. I could only imagine how badly Lucien would punish me for leaving without it.
As I turned to head back to the house, I heard something. It wasn’t exactly a shout, more like a groan followed by a thud and the crunch of leaves.
I shivered. Something was wrong. I was sure of it. Lucien had warned me that I’d continue to be a target. Why had I left the house? How could I have been stupid enough to walk this far without telling anyone where I was? I had no phone and nothing to use for a weapon, not that I’d know how to shoot a gun if I had one. Anyone coming after me was sure to be well armed themselves.
I wasn’t just going to stand there, though. I needed to see if I could figure out what was going on. Maybe I’d imagined the sound, or maybe it was just squirrels playing in the leaves. I needed to be sure.
I slowly walked back down the trail, pausing several times to listen carefully. When I rounded a curve about halfway back, I saw two men. I stepped behind a tree, not sure if they’d seen me. Then I realized the man on the ground was Lucien. I recognized the other man. It was Stefan, one of Lucien’s allies, but why was he here, gun in hand? He grabbed him, yanking him to his feet. Lucien struggled for a moment, then he went limp, slumping in the man’s hold. The man picked him up in a fireman’s carry and began walking away.
I didn’t freeze like I had when my parents were attacked. This time, I was able to think rationally. If I screamed or chased after them, I wouldn’t stand a chance against Stefan. My best hope for helping Lucien was to get back to the house.
Why hadn’t I remembered my phone? If I had it, I could call for help. Stefan headed down a side trail. I had no idea where it led, but hopefully, Angelo and Devil would.
I walked carefully until Stefan and Lucien were out of sight, then I began to run.
28
Lucien
Stefan delivered another kick to my abdomen. I tried to move away, but my hands and feet were tied, and my brain was still foggy from whatever he’d used to knock me out. I nearly bit through my lip, trying to hold in a shout. He took hold of my hair and dragged me up. “Ready to talk?” I tried to spit on him, but my mouth was so dry it was ineffective. He slapped me, making my head ring and my vision blur.
Had he really told me this was all because of Ash? He’d known Ash and I were together, but he’d waited fifteen years to do something about it? No way. “What the fuck are you doing with this bastard?” I gestured toward Damian Ricci who sat on a chair in the corner of the cell where they’d placed me.
“Getting long awaited revenge. You’ve always thought you were better than everyone else. Always thought you could have whatever you wanted, even my fucking brother. Our family finally has a chance to take you down. My father was too weak to do it, so I’m making my own choices.”
I’d never hurt Ash, and I sure as hell hadn’t turned him gay, but I didn’t owe this bastard an explanation. “Did you bother to ask Ash what he wants?”
“Don’t say his fucking name,” Stefan yelled.
“Enough.” Damian banged his cane on the floor.
I tried to focus on the old man, but I had to blink several times to make my eyes work properly. As much as I wanted to goad him and Stefan, I needed to survive this interrogation and figure out how to escape. I had no intention of dying here.
“Mr. Marchesi, nice of you to allow yourself to be captured so easily,” Damian said.
“Fuck off.” Okay, so much for making this easier on myself.
Stefan kicked me again, and I barely managed to keep the contents of my stomach down.
I opened my eyes to see Damian, standing now and glaring down at me. “Show some respect when you’re in my house.”
House? Surely I wasn’t in town. I must be at his estate. I glanced around as if I hadn’t a care in the world besides assessing the decor of the damp, cinder block cell.
“Nice basement. I guess it’s convenient to keep prisoners here so you can enjoy beating them on your weekends off.”
He glared at me. “I didn’t say which home. You could be anywhere.”
He had several other properties I was aware of, but I couldn’t have been taken far before I woke up.
What if he dosed you again?
No, I was sure he hadn’t. I was groggy but not like I would be if they’d kept me out for hours or days. Devil had been kept like that once, and it had taken days for him to seem like himself again.
I wasn’t about to give away any of my analysis, though, so I just shrugged. It hurt like hell where my ribs were bruised—or possibly broken—from Stefan’s kicks, but I didn’t let that show on my face. “It doesn’t matter where I am. What matters is figuring out what you want and how you think you’re going to get it.”
“I will get it, because if I don’t, I’m going to keep bringing in the people you love and killing them in front of you.”
“Don’t you think my family will have stepped up security now that they know you’ve taken me?”
“They didn’t help you the night one of my men took your precious Peter. You had to rescue him yourself. If your security force was any good, they wouldn’t have let you out of their sight today.”
“I chose to go out alone because I’m not afraid of pieces of shit like you.”
Stefan moved like he was going to hit me again, but Damian shook his head. “I’ll let you deal with his insults after I’m done talking to him. I need him lucid right now so he fully understands what I’m telling him.”
I fully understood that this man was going to die and Stefan along with him. I would find a way out of this. I needed to know if they had Peter or anyone else who was under my protection.
“So, you’ve got a plan? Something that’s going to make me… what? Turn over my kingdom to you?”
“I do. People think you’re cold and hard, but you have weaknesses. Your brother, your cousin, and the pretty boy you’re quite taken with.”
He was right, and I hated it, but I was used to pretending I didn’t care about anyone or anything.
“My brother and my cousin are useful to me. And Peter has been quite entertaining, but you have weaknesses too, like your beautiful young wife and those precious children.”
He slammed his fist against the wall. “Where are they?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. They could have been taken anywhere while you’ve had me here.”
“You know where they would be taken because you give the orders.”
“Not when I’m unconscious. My brother or my father make decisions in my absence. My father is back, you know, and he’s not pleased with your behavior.” Damian and my father had clashed numerous times, and my father had easily come out on top every time.
“I’m not scared of him. He’s old, he’s got a bad heart, and I have more allies now than I’ve ever had because of things you and your father have done.”
I hated that he was right about that too. He’d done an excellent job of pulling in people my family had pissed off, including Stefan, apparently. The cleanup from this was going to take a damn long time. But first I had to get out of here, kill Damian, and then we could proceed from there.
“Are you ready to cooperate?”
“And by that, you mean…”
“Hand over your businesses to me.”
“After which you’ll kill me anyway.”
“There have to be some s
acrifices in a war. You know that as well as anyone. I can’t leave you alive to go back and help your family attempt to rise to power again.”
I tugged at the ropes that bound my hands. It was going to hurt like hell, but I could get out of them. I just needed to make them leave the room so I could.
“I’m not telling you a fucking thing.”
He smiled, the fucking bastard. “I think I’ll bring your aunt Sabrina to you first. Maybe I’ll entertain myself with her before I kill her.”
I kept my face stoic. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of a reaction. Years ago, he’d asked Sabrina out. When she’d refused, he’d gotten aggressive, and she’d quickly put him in his place. If she got her hands on him now, she’d tear him apart. As much as I wanted to kill Damian myself, the thought of him dying by a woman’s hand made me have to fight back a smile.
Damian was clearly displeased with my lack of concern for my aunt. “I could start with Peter. You’ve really fallen under his spell, haven’t you?”
I refused to respond.
“Are you so sure he’s loyal to you? What if I told you he’s been feeding me information? How do you think we found you so easily today? Maybe I should order him to end you, rather than having you watch him die. That might be the best entertainment I’ve had in years.”
For just a moment, I began to doubt myself. What if I were wrong about Peter? I’d been wrong about Stefan and Marco. Maybe my instincts weren’t any good anymore. Then I thought about Peter telling me not to risk myself to save him. I thought about him petting Clover. I was not wrong about him. Damian was trying to manipulate me. I’d been on the other side of this game plenty of times. Peter was not working for him, but the thought of him being told to kill me, knowing whether he did it or not he would die, made me long to be able to rip through my bindings and choke the life out of Damian.
Damian’s phone chimed. He glanced at it, then slid it back into his pocket. “I have a dinner engagement. Think about what I’ve said. Imagine the rest of your family dying in front of you while you wait for your little traitor to slice your throat. When I return, that will be your last chance to save them.”
“I’m going to think about how satisfying it will be to watch you die.”
He didn’t acknowledge my comment. “Stefan, teach him the importance of respecting me, but remember, we need him alive.”
I braced myself for more pain.
29
Peter
Angelo was headed my way as I ran toward the house.
“Did you see Lucien?”
I nodded, trying to catch my breath enough to speak. “Stefan took him.”
“Took him where?”
“No… Stefan must be working for the Riccis. He had a gun, he… Lucien was on the ground.”
“Wait, are you saying…?”
“I don’t know how hurt Lucien is, but Stefan has him. He carried him off.”
“That motherfucking sack of shit. He’s dead. He’s so fucking dead. And all along I thought it was Marco, and that weaselly son of a bitch was betraying us.”
“I’m so sorry I didn’t do more. I wanted to chase after them, but I didn’t have a gun, and I can’t—”
Angelo laid a hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. If you’d done that, you’d be dead.”
“I just want Lucien to be all right.”
He nodded. “He will. They won’t kill him until they get what they want from us. Come on.”
He called Devil as we raced back to the house.
I was shocked they let me join them as we all congregated in the kitchen to make a plan to get Lucien back. “It’s my fault,” Devil said. “Stefan called me, asking when the next step of the plan would be implemented. I told him I was out of town for a few days. He must have guessed I meant here.”
“It’s not your fault,” Sabrina assured him.
“I’m also the one who pushed him to think Marco was the fucking snitch.”
“No, that was me too. I said my uncle overheard Jimmy use the name Marco but really my uncle wasn’t sure of the name, but he thought that was probably it.”
“Fuck. Could it have been Mario?” Angelo asked. “That’s Ricci’s son.”
“He and Stefan worked together running the Romano’s escort service for a while,” Devil said.
Lucien’s father nodded. “They sure did, the sons of bitches. Find them both.”
“We will, Pop,” Angelo assured him as his phone began to ring. He glanced at it. “It’s Marco.”
“Fucking answer it already,” his dad said.
“Angelo…No…Stefan has turned on us…Meet us in town in two hours…We’re making a move tonight…More details then but things have gotten serious.” He ended the call.
“We need to contact Vinnie unless there’s any reason to doubt his loyalty.”
No one spoke up.
“All right. We’ll trust him cautiously for now.” They continued to make plans to search for Lucien and pull their allies together to make a strike. Elena and her children were already on their way to a safehouse out of state.
Lucien’s father suggested Sabrina and I stay in Weston, but we both insisted on returning to town with everyone else. I spent the night alone in Lucien’s bed, burying my face in his pillow and breathing in his scent as I lay there, unable to sleep, thinking of all the horrible things that could be happening to him and praying he was still alive.
His family continued to insist Damian wouldn’t kill Lucien until either he had agreed to surrender the family’s position of power—which would never happen—or they used him to get Angelo or Devil to surrender. But how sure could they really be?
While I was thankful that no one suggested I’d set Lucien up—something I’d feared—Sabrina was the only one who would give me any information about what was happening, and the rest of them weren’t even telling her everything, something she’d ranted about at length. All I knew for sure was that Angelo had been given a place and time to meet Damian and surrender control of their empire in exchange for Lucien.
“Will Angelo and Devil go to the meet-up?”
Sabrina laughed. “If they do, it will be with a plan to kill Damian and all his allies.”
“But if they don’t—”
Sabrina frowned. “Damian will never let Lucien go. Our allies would never accept his authority if Lucien was still alive. The only way he’s going to survive is if we rescue him.”
My stomach flip-flopped. “D-do we know he’s alive now?”
Sabrina crossed herself as she shook her head. “All we can do is pray. Angelo has demanded proof, but so far he’s been ignored.”
I hugged her, and we clung to each other for several moments before she went in search of a drink.
The sun was beginning to go down as I paced on Lucien’s balcony. My phone rang, startling me. I didn’t recognize the number, but I couldn’t ignore it. If there was any chance it had to do with Lucien… “Hello?”
“Pete. It’s Jimmy.” His voice sounded strained and weak.
“What are you doing calling me?”
“I know I made a mistake.”
“A mistake? You’re working for people who want to kill me and—” I’d almost said “the man I love.”
“I know, but please, you’ve got to listen to me.” He coughed. The wheezing emanating from him didn’t sound good at all, but I couldn’t let myself feel sorry for him.
“I have no reason to listen to you. All you’ve done is lie to me.”
A few seconds of silence passed, then he said, “I got away.”
“What do you mean? Got away from who? Mario?”
“Yeah and… Stefan. They…” He paused and seemed to be trying to catch his breath. “They were never going to cut me in. Then I wouldn’t… They’re selling little girls, Pete. That’s what they wanted me to do. Can’t do that. They tried to kill me.”
At least he had some lines he wouldn’t cross. When would he learn to stop listening to fucking b
ullshit promises? “I’m glad you got away, but I’m done talking to you—”
“Don’t hang up. I know where Lucien is, and he’ll die if someone doesn’t find him.”
I couldn’t trust him, but I also couldn’t bring myself to hang up. “Where is he?”
“I have the key. Meet me, and I’ll give it to you.”
“No fucking way. You bring it here.”
He had another coughing fit. “Marchesi’s guards will kill me.”
“I’m not falling for more of your shit, Jimmy.”
“It’s not…” He paused to draw in a raspy breath. I could tell he was in pain, but that didn’t mean he was telling the truth about any of this. “I swear. I can help you.”
I sighed. If there was any chance he was serious, I had to follow through because there was one thing I was sure he wasn’t lying about. Damian was going to kill Lucien if we didn’t find him soon. “Where do you want to meet?”
“You know the warehouse where they took Damian’s men?”
“You mean where I was nearly captured?”
“Yeah. There’s a pawn shop down the street. Meet me there at ten tonight.” Was there any chance this wasn’t a trap?
“You know I can’t come alone, right?”
“You have to. None of Lucien’s men will let me live long enough to listen to me. I’m probably going to die anyway, but I want to save you and Lucien first.”
I’d never heard Jimmy sound so defeated, but I also knew he was really good at acting. All of it, even the weak voice, could be a ploy to make me feel sympathetic so he could lure me in. After what happened to Lucien, there was no way I was going to be able to walk out of there and go somewhere on my own. I was going to have to tell someone—probably Angelo—about Jimmy’s call, then convince them to go meet him with me. But what if they wouldn’t go?
Lucien Page 17
