Huh. Even after all these years, I didn’t know the extent of our father’s reach. It seemed what people said really was true: you learned something new every day, and I’d just learned that the DeLucas had always sunk to the lows they still fell to today. Hiring an assassin. Come on. How pathetic was that? If you needed someone dead, you sent your own crew for the hit, not an outsider.
“Weston gave up his place as the head of the family a while back. Someone else is in charge now, but when I explained who I was, he knew me. Hence sending their family doctor to us. I fear they are the only ones we can trust right now.” My father ground his teeth, not looking too happy.
None of us were happy, though. This was all such a mess. And Lola… she was out there, somewhere, by herself. Maybe with the DeLucas. God, the things they could be doing to her… I didn’t want to imagine them. If they hurt her, I would make sure their deaths would not pass quickly. They would be long and tortuous and full of agony.
“They’re fucking strangers to us,” Maddox spoke, getting to his feet. He stood on two steps, his knees spread, looking like he wanted to bolt. “We can’t trust anyone. Isn’t that obvious by now?” He scoffed, “And you say I’m the stupid one of the family.” Instead of running away, as he always did when faced with something he didn’t know how to process, he stormed up the steps, past our father and me, and pushed into the house. The door slammed behind him.
It was a while before my father whispered, “Nothing we do is without risk. Everything is calculated. I’m only bringing him here to try to save Mike, otherwise… otherwise I fear it will be all out war, and that’s something I’ve tried to avoid all these years.”
“Even after Angelina?” Maddox’s mother, my father’s wife. Angelina DeLuca.
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Don’t get me wrong. I’ve dreamed of destroying that family for years, but to act in cold vengeance is to dig your own grave. Everything must be considered. You know this, Sylvester.”
I looked away. I did know it. Still, after everything the DeLucas had done to us, it was time for vengeance, whether it was calculated or not. They were used to the Lucianos sitting back and waiting for things to fall apart, but no more. Even if it meant going against my father, I would go back to that city, find Lola, and destroy as many of them as I could. The streets would run red with blood.
“Maybe I’m just a stupid old man now,” he muttered bitterly. “Full of idiotic ideologies and useless knowledge. Maybe I was never cut out to be the head of the family.”
I’d never heard him talk like that, and I whipped my head around, blinking in shock. “Don’t say that.” Comforting my father… never thought I’d see the day. He’d always looked and sounded so strong and certain of himself. I looked up to him all my life, wanting to be like him, but maybe I was wrong to want that.
His love was dead. He had closed himself off from the world, refusing to make those responsible pay. If something ever happened to Lola, I’d make damned sure the city crumbled to its knees. I wouldn’t become my father.
“When Angelina and I got married against both our parents’ wishes, we were so close to running away. I can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if we would’ve gone…” He stopped himself, realizing what he was saying and who he was saying it to, turning those dark eyes to me. “But then I wouldn’t have found you.”
There was so much more I could’ve said to him, but the longer we spoke about this, the more I wondered if my father was ever the man I used to think he was. He didn’t sound as strong as I’d thought, didn’t come off as tough or as menacing. He just sounded so tired, like life had given him one too many blows.
Thankfully, my father pushed off the railing, saying, “I’m going to go check on Roman and the others.” He said nothing else as he headed off the porch, walking in the direction of the cabin next door.
I watched him go, a strange feeling in my chest. He would never agree with going back and wreaking vengeance, but my brother would. Maddox would be all for it. As much as I hated to think it, as much as it was bizarre to imagine it, maybe it was time Maddox and I took the reins of this family. Maybe it was time we showed the DeLucas we weren’t going to sit back and let them attack us until we were nothing but dust.
No, whether my father approved of it or not, we would go back, and we would make them pay for what they’d done, and the only currency we would accept was blood. Wet, warm, messy blood.
The hours passed ungodly slowly, and eventually I went into town and bought us new clothes. The town was a little thing; it had one main street with a supermarket that I’d never heard of before, along with a single gas station and a few small-town eateries. So not what I was used to. I couldn’t imagine staying here for longer than we had to.
This place wasn’t for us. We weren’t built for a small town like this. This was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, and a new face brought curiosity and questions. I’d deflected quite a few as I bought the clothes from some tiny shop on the main street. The gossiping ladies behind the counter figured I owned the land on the far side of town, the cabins that never seemed to be occupied.
They were right, of course, in that my family owned it and not me specifically, but all I did was smile and shrug off their incessant questions.
Driving back, with all the bags loaded into the trunk and backseat, I let myself get lost in the silence of the car. There were some radio stations, but they played some God-awful music that frankly sounded worse than nails on a chalkboard. A place like this… fuck no, I could never live here, and I had no idea how this many people already did. It made a nice place in the middle of nowhere to hide out for a while, but live the rest of my life here? No. Hell no. I was city born and raised, and I itched to get back to the paved paradise.
The driveway to the cabins was a long one, and it wound through the trees. The trees were so thick and numerous I couldn’t see the cabins until I was right on top of them, and once I got to the clearing where the cabins were, I slammed on the breaks.
There were two cars. Two. There shouldn’t be, since I’d taken one to go to town.
I inched closer, and when I saw what was printed on the plate, I could not get out of my car quick enough. Fang was here. Maybe he’d discovered something while back at the house. Maybe he’d heard something. Fuck. I was going crazy not knowing.
Oh, I’d reamed into Carter pretty hard when he told me he left Lola at the Gilded Rose when he got the call from Roman. In the heat of the moment, I didn’t care about what happened to his girl; I only cared about what happened to mine.
Because she was, you know. Lola was mine, even if I had to share her with Maddox and Viper. I didn’t care. I’d gotten angry over seeing her and Viper together, but… I would give anything to have her here with me right now. Anything. It was amazing what a little loss could do to you.
I practically ran into the house, finding Maddox and my father standing in the living room with Fang. My father held onto a picture, the thing he’d sent Fang to fetch. Though I couldn’t see its face, I knew what the picture was: him and Angelina on their wedding day, back when they were happy and apparently thinking of running away.
How different things would’ve turned out for me. I might still be a street rat, or perhaps I’d be dead. You never knew.
It was as Fang turned to me and gave me a smile that I noticed my father didn’t look too happy. In fact, he looked downright ticked off—and only one person got him that ticked off. Well, other than the DeLucas, I mean.
Lola.
My heart beat with the possibility that she was here. But what were the odds? Fang was sent to the house, wasn’t he?
“Ah, there you are,” Fang spoke, his voice low. He cocked his head at me, flashing me the silver in his mouth. “You’ll never guess who I found in your house—”
“Lola,” I spoke.
Fang frowned. “Fine, I guess you could.”
My father shook his head, scowling. “Out of all the things y
ou could’ve brought back, her? Really? The bitch that killed my son—”
“From what I hear,” Fang spoke, unafraid of the boss man, “she’s also the bitch your other two sons are fucking, so.” He shrugged. “You win some, you lose some.” Spoken so matter-of-factly, he made even Maddox chuckle, and Maddox hardly ever laughed.
Turning his dark stare to Maddox, our father glared hard. “You think shacking up with your brother’s killer is funny?”
As his laughter faded, Maddox spoke seriously, “I don’t think you’d believe me if I said no.”
I watched as our father stormed out of the house, swearing under his breath, leaving me alone with Fang and Maddox. It amazed me right then, how quickly things had changed. That was not something that would’ve happened weeks ago. My father warned if he ever saw her, he’d kill her, and Maddox had hated her with his entire being—and now he was laughing.
Fang craned his neck to watch our father leave the cabin, slow to bring his grey stare to me. “Well, on that note, I think I’m out of here. I imagine you two will want to welcome your girl back with your dicks, and believe it or not, I’d rather not witness that—even if she’s got a nice ass.” He tapped the side of his head, giving me a salute before walking out of the house.
Wait, her ass? Did that mean Fang checked out her ass?
No, let it be, and focus on the fact that she was here, safe.
I still couldn’t believe it. I brought my gaze to my brother, who was lounging on the hideous couch that decorated the living room. “Where is she?”
“She went straight to Viper once she heard about Mike,” Maddox said. “As much as I want to, as Fang said, welcome her back with my cock, I figured I’d give her some time with him, since…” He couldn’t finish the sentence, and I felt the faint stab of pain in my heart.
Mike might not make it, and that felt wrong.
I was slow to sit beside my brother, glancing at him. I must’ve worn a strange expression, for he quickly asked, “What?”
“It’s just… normally you’re the one who thinks with your dick, not any other body part.” To let Lola see Mike first, that was Maddox showing restraint. A shocker, definitely. He was acting a little too thoughtful. Where was my brother and what did this alien do with him?
Maddox punched my arm, saying, “Stop looking at me like that. I don’t… everything is fucked up right now. I don’t know what to think.” He came off sounding so ridiculously concerned, and the situation merited it, for sure. I guess it just went to show how serious this was.
I wanted to talk to him about my plan, which wasn’t so much a plan as it was just an idea to go back home and storm the fucking city, killing every DeLuca loyal we could get our hands on, but I kept it to myself for now. Though I wanted to go off the rails, we needed a better plan than that. Our father wouldn’t agree to it, but that was fine. We were adults. We could make our own decisions, and I say those motherfuckers were going to pay for what they did to us.
There would be no coming back from this. The DeLuca attack had initiated the final countdown.
Chapter Four – Lola
I stood beside the bed, staring down at the big body taking it up. It felt so weird to be the one on my feet, the one watching, when Mike had always been there doing the same. His long brown hair was greasy, not in any ponytail to keep it together. The eyes that I knew were a pretty, vibrant hazel were shut, and beneath the eyelids, they were still. He hardly moved, save for the faint rising and falling of his thick, wide chest.
A chest that had a bandage on it, and beneath that, a bullet hole, just like his arm and his stomach.
Shot three times, and not quite dead yet. He was strong, but as I stared at him, I wondered how much strength he had left. How much fight remained in his body. As big as it was, as impressive as he was normally, here and now he just looked so forlorn, so weak and sad. It hurt me to see him like this.
Just because he and I were never intimately involved didn’t mean I didn’t care about the big lug. He was a good guy, nice and gentle unless you prodded the bear.
Viper sat in a wooden chair on the other side of the bed. He looked like he was sleeping; I hadn’t made much noise when I entered the room. Honestly, I’d wanted to get away from Richard’s glare as quickly as I could once I heard Sylvester wasn’t here. I’d nearly run to Maddox, but he didn’t seem like a hugger, and that was fine.
Right now, it was all about Mike. Poor, poor Mike.
Carefully, I sat on the edge of the bed. It was a queen, I think, so there was plenty of room for me to sit beside him. The more I stared at him, the more the thing in my chest hurt. It ached with the knowledge that this attack had all been to hurt the Lucianos while getting to me.
Don’t get me wrong, I was relieved to see Viper was okay, but that didn’t lessen how I felt about Mike’s injuries.
“I’m sorry, big guy,” I whispered, wanting to touch him, to tell him that everything would be okay, but he was unconscious, and I dared not wake him up just so he could be in pain. “I feel like this is all my fault.”
I’d thought I was speaking quietly, but I must not have been quiet enough, for in the next moment, Viper started to stir, and when those eyes—a beautiful hazel, just like Mike’s—opened and saw me, he nearly fell out of his chair.
He got to his feet, rushing around the bed, and I barely had time to get up so the bed would be undisturbed before his arms were thrown around me and he pulled me close to his chest. He smelled of sweat and musk, and I closed my eyes and let him hug me.
A tender gesture, something between lovers, because that’s what we were, as messed-up and broken as we each were. Some more so than others.
“I’m sorry about your brother,” I whispered to his chest, and I felt his arms tighten around me harder. Being in Viper’s arms came with a certain sense of relief, for I’d imagined so many different possibilities after what Tony had said last night.
“Me, too,” he whispered back, and he was slow to release me, though he still kept his hands on my arms, as if he thought I would disappear again. “Where were you? What happened?” Two very important questions, and the answers to them I’d have to tell everyone.
“Let’s not worry about that right now,” I said, taking one of the heavily-tattooed hands on my arm and guiding him back to the chair he’d been sitting in. I let him sit, and then I took off my boots, unzipping them and kicking them aside before climbing onto his lap and curling into a ball.
Laying my head against his chest, I could hear his heart beating fast. My heart probably beat just as fast, but not for the same reason. I was excited to see him again, to know he was alive and well, hurt that Mike had gotten caught in the crossfire, but beyond that, there was more.
My heart beat fast because I, as stupid as it sounded, didn’t want to tell anyone what happened, even though I knew I had to. There was no way in hell I could keep everything to myself, and yet, when I closed my eyes and pictured my brother’s face, I couldn’t help it. Telling them what had happened to me for years as I was growing up versus knowing Aiden was here… they were two totally different things.
I mean, he wasn’t here here, which was good. There were hours between us now, but he wasn’t going to leave unless I went with him, and no way in hell was that ever going to happen. Oh, Aiden would leave, but he’d do it in a body bag. Or in pieces in the river. Or… or something along those lines. It wasn’t like there was anyone to claim his body, since our parents were dead. He would rot in obscurity.
Good. Because that’s what he deserved.
Fuck. I didn’t want to tell anyone. It was like, now that Aiden was around, now that he’d shown his face and claimed I’d contacted him, my weakness was revealed. I wasn’t as strong as I claimed to be. A fake, a phony. Ugh.
I didn’t know how long we sat there, but it was a good long while. It was almost enough to help calm me down, but internally, I was still screaming when a blonde head appeared in the doorway, attached to a suit I knew he’d
worn yesterday.
Sylvester.
I lifted my head off Viper, slowly sliding off his lap. I glanced between them, not wanting them to fight or bicker about anything right now, especially me. Trust me, there was enough of Lola to go around. Plenty. More than enough, really. Some might even go so far as to say there was too much Lola.
Those people would be assholes.
But, anyway, I was frozen beneath those blue eyes, and I would’ve remained that way, had Viper not nodded and said, “Go. It’s okay.” I didn’t exactly need permission, but hearing him say that, it made me feel a little better about leaving Viper’s lap and going to the suit-wearing blonde in the hall.
“Hey,” I spoke quietly, unable to say anything else because Sylvester wove a hand in my hair and pulled me close, his lips crashing down on mine in a heated display of passion and longing. The damned dude stole the very breath from my lungs, and he did it unapologetically.
His mouth pulled off mine enough to say, “I was worried about you.” With each word, his lips brushed against my own, and immediately I was drowning in him, in everything he was. How easy it was for me to lose myself in this man, in all of them, really.
It didn’t make sense. Someone as broken as me, finding a group of guys I fit in with so perfectly. They accepted my wildness, they liked my bloodthirstiness. Why didn’t I stumble upon them before killing their brother? Things would be so different.
“You should never worry about me,” I told him, his face so close to mine I couldn’t focus on him, only on the feeling of his lips grazing against mine. “I’m a big girl, you know.”
He breathed out a shaky breath, hands dropping to my hips as he pulled my body closer to his. “Yes,” Sylvester agreed, “yes you are.” His mouth found mine once again, the hunger in him unsated by anything that wasn’t me. He swallowed my moans and nipped at my lips, backing us into a bedroom across the hall from where Viper and Mike were.
With strength I knew he had, he pushed me away, throwing me onto the bed. The look in his eyes told me everything: he was so very hungry for me, and he had to have me now. Having a man as strong and as powerful as Sylvester give you a look like that… it was panty-wetting, trust me.
Violent Heart: A Dark Reverse Harem (A Death So Sweet Book 3) Page 6
