by Cat Miller
All that was left of Everly’s resistance crumbled. Luc’s face was so open to her at that moment, and she could see his true capacity for love and devotion in those dark eyes. He’d lost the only family he’d ever known, so he built a new family here at the Inferno. He’d taken in veterans who couldn’t find work and gave them jobs in security. He employed a small army of single mothers working hard as waitresses to feed their children. He’d taken in prostitutes and given them a safe place to work. There was still a large part of Everly that had a hard time swallowing that part of his business, but the pastor was correct; Luc’s heart was in the right place. He wasn’t a pimp. He didn’t profit from those activities, only the drinking and gambling that went along with it. The fact that he gave a temporary home to so many desperate employees who would otherwise be on the street went a long way in redeeming that sin in her eyes. His grandmother had raised a truly good man.
“I bet your Gran was very proud of your achievements.” She caressed his cheek.
Luc’s face closed up again. Everly could have kicked herself. She should have kept quiet and let him talk.
“No, she wouldn’t. I can only hope my guardian angel is no longer watching over me. She would not approve of my use of the business degree she pushed me to obtain. She would not be happy that I hadn’t let go of my father and grandfather’s sins, as I promised her I would.”
He looked around the room again but Everly suspected he was seeing more than just the room they occupied. He was seeing his entire domain, all of The Inferno and Hell.
“Gran knew I held a grudge against the man who sired me. I won’t say he fathered me. He was never a father. She lectured me over and over. Gran liked to remind me that I was a better man than my father and it was his loss that he’d never known me. She made me promise I would let it go. She raised me in the church. Gran truly believed forgiveness was the key to a peaceful life. She passed away during my senior year of college.”
There was clearly more to the story. Everly prodded him one last time. They’d come this far. She wanted to know the whole story. This was the tale of Lucifer Christianson. It was what had made him the man he was today and she needed to hear all of it.
“I kept my promise to Gran, at least until I finished college. Then I was alone in this world, and I just couldn’t let it go.”
“You couldn’t let what go?” she asked quietly.
“What the bastard did to my mother, what he stole from my grandmother. He’d taken a very innocent young woman of deep faith and made her feel dirty. My Gran believed my mother’s mind was somehow broken by the experience. We don’t really know what happened to her here. We only know what little my mother told Gran before she disappeared, what she’d told the homeless woman she’d befriended on the streets, and what information the hospital and police gathered at my birth. The motherfucker stole my Gran’s only child. In creating me, he murdered my mother. I couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t.”
Everly understood that, even if Luc hadn’t known his mother. She would do anything for her family. She was doing something extreme to save them from ruin now. But it was nothing like what had happened to his birth mother. His mother had been manipulated by her father and violated by Luc’s father. She would go to the ends of the earth to avenge her family. He was also avenging his grandmother’s loss. The more she learned about this man, the more she loved him. She didn’t want to love him, she’d pretend it wasn’t happening anyway. She was falling hard and fast for her own fallen angel.
“I played a lot of cards in school and I was good at it. Card counting came naturally to me.” He smirked. “The blood will tell. They say my father was a master. Anyway, I came to Vegas after school and learned from the best. I played in tournaments. I won more money at an early age than I ever could have made using my business degree. One day someone linked my name to my father and it was all over town. The son of the legendary owner of The Inferno was taking over. The news got back to my father, as I knew it would.
He confronted me here, in this very casino. I’d avoided playing here until I felt I was ready. The time was right. Charlie Christianson’s pride had been pricked by the notion that this kid claiming to be his bastard son was a better player than him. There was a huge tournament and I won, of course.”
“Of course,” Everly agreed. She had to grin at his arrogance. “I’m confused. Wouldn’t it be somehow . . . unfair or against the rules for him to play in a tournament here at The Inferno?”
“Oh, he didn’t play in the tournament. He watched me play, though. I think it was an intimidation tactic. If he leaned over my shoulder in all of his glory, maybe I’d crack and lose. He might also have been curious about me, who knows? I don’t really care. All that mattered to me was that he was the aggressor. He approached me. He challenged me.”
Everly was watching his face when he’d insisted that he hadn’t been the aggressor. He didn’t believe his own story. Not completely. Luc had instigated his father into the challenge. He’d already admitted that he’d plotted to get the man’s attention. So why the subterfuge? Why was he trying to convince her, and himself if she was correct, that he’d been minding his own business?
“Do you really believe that?” Again, she poked the bear. He might get pissed and leave, but she felt like this was an important part of his story and Everly wanted to hear it all. She wanted to understand this lonely man that she was falling so hard for.
Luc’s faced whipped around to glare at her.
“Don’t give me that mean look. You’ve admitted to preparing for a confrontation. You said you wanted it, planned for it even. Why? I mean, I totally understand the need for revenge. I even agree with it. Your mother deserved retribution for what happened to her, as did your grandmother. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t come at him directly. I haven’t known you long but from what I’ve seen so far you don’t seem like the kind of man to look for a backdoor.”
“A backdoor?” Luc’s shoulders lost their tension.
One suggestive eyebrow quirked and he gave her that panty melting smile. Good thing she still wasn’t wearing panties, or anything else for that matter.
“We could talk about the backdoor if that’s your thing, baby.” He licked his lips and started to tug the sheet off of her body.
Everly gripped the sheet and swatted his hand.
“That isn’t going to work, Luc. Though I sincerely appreciate your stamina, I’d like to hear the answer . . . if you’re willing to tell me.”
Luc pouted. The man actually pouted and it was the cutest damn thing she’d ever seen. He flopped back on the bed and threw an arm over his eyes. She had to harden her resolve, because she was sure that disappointed look on his face could have her jumping through hoops to please him.
“I made a promise.”
“A promise? To who?” It was like pulling teeth, but Everly had the feeling Luc needed to tell this story more than she wanted to hear it.
“Gran.”
She waited for him to expand, and she’d just about given up when he explained.
“Gran knew I wanted to make my father pay. She knew one day I would go after him for what he’d done to my mother . . . and to me, I suppose. She didn’t want that. Gran was afraid of my father. She feared he would take me from her for years after I was born. Then she feared he’d hurt me if I went after him. People had been known to disappear after crossing my father. She made me promise that I wouldn’t go after the son of a bitch. She made me promise that I would never confront him. I kept my promise. I never approached him. I didn’t confront him. I didn’t even look his way when I knew he was in the room.”
“I see.” And she did see. He’d found a loophole to get around the promise to his grandmother. He didn’t approach his father but he made himself an irresistible lure. He put himself in the man’s path and waited. Luc was still carrying the guilt of indirectly disobeying his grandmother’s wishes. He could justify it all he liked, but the actions were a stain on his r
elationship with the only woman whose good opinion mattered. She was willing to bet his grandmother was the only woman Luc had ever loved.
“So he, my father, stopped me as I was leaving the table to collect my winnings. It was surreal, seeing him for the first time. I’d grown up with this mental image of an all-powerful demon who could destroy me with one word, but he was just a man. I look like him. I’d always kind of enjoyed my good looks until that day. I hate that I resemble him so closely. I understood then why people automatically knew who my father was when they looked at this face and then heard my last name.”
His eyes clouded over for a moment as if he was far away, back on that day when he met his father. He shook his head and continued.
“Anyway, people were just beginning to drift away, but he wanted an audience. He went for the throat, just to make it clear to the gossips that he wouldn’t be opening his arms to his forgotten son.
“He said, ‘I heard you’ve been bragging about being my kid. Just because I dumped a load in some chick doesn’t give you the right to claim to be the heir apparent, boy. You’re nothing. Nobody. I don’t care how many tournaments you win. You’ll never, ever be able to beat me.’
“It was all I could do not to knock his fucking teeth out. But I kept my cool. I realized then that not only did his colleagues comparing me to him sting his pride, but he also wanted me to know that I had no right to expect anything from him. Like a piece of his big ol’ illegal gambling pie, or the legal one for that matter. I wouldn’t inherit his business. I never imagined I would.”
“Where is your grandfather?” He’d never said what happened to the man who’d started it all.
“Who knows? He’s likely dead. I couldn’t find him and believe me, I searched. He was in deep with a lot of bad people. He’d gotten out of his debt here by offering up his daughter but that didn’t forgive the money he owed everyone else in town.”
That had Everly’s stomach tightening. She wondered how many more lenders would come looking for her father. Their only saving grace was that Mills would own their home and what was left of the cattle and land now. No one could take it from them. Her father’s safety was another thing altogether. What if Dean Parker disappeared, just like Luc’s grandfather had?
“So my loving father made sure that I understood I would never get my gold digging hands on his fortune, in public. It was perfect. I couldn’t have planned it better myself.”
A grin slowly spread across Luc’s beautiful face. It had nothing to do with joy and everything to do with revenge. She imagined that he looked very much like his namesake just then, an overpoweringly beautiful creature who could charm the soul right out of you. It was a little scary.
“I said, ‘Put your money where your mouth is, old man. You think you can beat me? Prove it.’”
“On the outside, I seemed cool and unimpressed. On the inside, I was a little afraid. I was about to bet everything I had on one game of cards. Just like my own grandfather had. I knew I could lose. Poker is a game of chance, and even with my ability to count cards fairly accurately without much effort, I could lose, but I didn’t want him to know I knew it. The cockier I appeared, the more confident he was that everyone was wrong, and I was just a smart-mouth kid, not a threat to his kingdom.”
Everly was a bit shocked that Luc would admit to fear of any kind. Was that a sign that he was feeling comfortable with her? She listened quietly, hoping he’d show her a little more of the real man.
“He was all about his image. He couldn’t resist what amounted to a dare in front of so many of his friends and rivals. It was the first and last time I ever bet what I couldn’t afford to lose. I’d made a lot of money. I was wealthy, but nowhere near Charlie’s level of wealth. He had no reason to accept the wager. He didn’t need my money, but he couldn’t reject it after his impassioned speech.”
“What was the wager?” she asked.
“I put down everything I owned . . . against everything he owned.”
It was quiet for a moment. Everly turned it over in her head. Luc was correct. His father had been a fool to accept such a bet. Even if Luc had money it wouldn’t be anything next to a money making machine in the heart of Vegas. Charlie believed he was going to humiliate Luc and send him packing, just like he had Luc’s grandfather.
“And he went for it out of sheer arrogance.” Everly shook her head.
“Yes. He bet what he couldn’t afford to lose as well. I knew about the illegal gambling club. So I insisted on a contract. That’s the one thing I did learn from dear old Dad. The business may be illegal, but he knew how to cover his tracks. All illegal wagers, anything for property or other business gains . . .”
“Like ranches and companies,” she interrupted.
“Yes, any of that. It’s all written up like its capital against a loan. I own a rather successful business that lends start-up money to new businesses with a solid plan and a good chance of making it. We also lend to legitimate businesses that have fallen on hard times,” he explained.
“So if the cops come knocking, you have legal documentation provided by a legitimate business to prove you own whatever you won, albeit in an illegal fashion.” She was beginning to understand. Before she just couldn’t grasp how her father could legally giveaway everything in a casino. She knew now that he hadn’t actually played against Luc. He’d borrowed money to play with and defaulted on the loan.
It’s unusual for this to happen. I know you think I run around pillaging family businesses every day. That’s just not true. But when a man comes to me willing to risk everything for a stupid game I’m not fool enough to take what I can get. If they deserved it, they wouldn’t be gambling it away.”
“Men like your grandfather?” she asked.
“Are going to psychoanalyze me now, Dr. Parker?”
He didn’t look happy about that prospect. Everly didn’t respond. She’d hit a nerve.
“I’m getting away from my story.” He cleared his throat. “Charlie added a condition to the wager. He wanted me to work for him. If I lost, I would agree to work in the casino as an hourly employee doing the job of his choice for a period of five years.”
Everly gasped. Charlie Christianson would have spent every day of those five years torturing Luc. He would have made his life hell.
“It was really more than I could afford to lose, don’t you agree?” he asked.
“I’d say,” she agreed.
“The paperwork was done quickly and I reviewed it closely. I had to name a dummy business. If I lost, my ‘loan’ would default, and Charlie would get everything I had. If he lost, my company would receive full payment for the massive default loan owned by Charlie. He couldn’t actually enforce the part about me working for him, but he’d made the addition publically. So I would be seen as a jilt if I didn’t follow though. My word would mean nothing.”
“And you won.”
The similarities between her wager and Luc’s were extremely vague, but he wouldn’t see it that way. This, combined with what had happened to his poor mother, was what was holding him back.
“I won.”
And that was his story. Everly felt like she understood Luc now. There was sorrow, guilt, and revenge built into the very fabric of his existence. Every day was a reminder of all he’d lost and all he’d done to avenge the loss. How could you live like that and not become hard and cold? You couldn’t. Luc was the proof.
TWELVE
Everly cuddled against Luc’s chest. She was exhausted and no wonder. Luc hadn’t been able to keep his hands off of that hot little body. He’d taken her over and over trying to rid himself of the need for more of her. It hadn’t worked. Even now with his cock sore from overuse and his body aching, when she pressed those beautiful pink tipped breasts against him, Luc wanted her again.
He pulled the sheet up over them both and settled in for a nap. A huge yawn escaped him. Everly grumbled in her sleep at the disturbance. She settled back down and began to snore softly. His arm
s tightened around her of their own volition. The feel of her slumbering in his arms as if she felt safe there made that caveman deep in his brain grunt with satisfaction.
This delicious woman was dangerous to his sanity. He’d told her everything. All of his filthy family secrets and she’d taken it with seeming ease. Either she didn’t see the obvious similarity between what was happening between the two of them and what his grandfather had done to his mother, or she didn’t care. He hoped it was the latter, because the more time he spent with her, the more he wanted to be with her. This was bad. Really bad. He should get up. He should leave her resting peacefully on the plush linen of the king-size bed in his guest suite. He needed to get to work. Yes, he should go, and he would in just a moment. He would. Soon.
* * *
Luc was in his office reviewing the proposal Devon Paige had sent him that morning. Devon wanted to expand Hell to another location. Devon’s version of Hell would be much like Luc’s with the obvious lack of loans to fund gamblers and willing ladies and men. Luc refused to think of them as prostitutes. He provided a safe place and a legal job as a waitress or waiter in designated areas of Hell. If both parties involved in a business transaction were consenting adults, it was no one else’s business what happens between them.
He would rather see people in a safe place than on the streets. His mother had lived on the streets. She’d nearly died on the streets, too. It wasn’t the same thing, and he knew it, but Luc wished someone had reached out a hand to his mother. She might have survived if she’d had a place to stay and basic medical care. If she’d had someone like Dr. Russell, she would have known there was a problem with her pregnancy before it was too late. Even if she hadn’t wanted to keep him, at least she would have lived and had a chance at the future she deserved.
