Violent Heart: A Dark Reverse Harem (A Death So Sweet Book 3)

by Candace Wondrak

  “What?” Carter spoke, his wide shoulders going up and down once. “I’m just saying.”

  “Huh,” I said, and I said nothing else, gazing down into my lap. Somehow knowing Roman and Carter would kill Lake if given the chance did not make me feel any better about my own situation with Maddox, Sylvester, and Viper. Would it always be the same with them? Would the two Luciano brothers always be at Viper’s throat because they didn’t see him as an equal?

  I… I didn’t think I wanted that. Maybe it was wrong of me, but I wanted us to be one big, happy, fucked-up family. Family didn’t try to murder each other; my shitty family notwithstanding.

  “Why so curious?” Zoey spoke. “Don’t tell me you’re involved with those other guys.” When I met her stare, she instantly knew. “Shit. You are. I mean, go you, if that’s what you want, but it isn’t easy, and most of the world still thinks a family is a man and a woman, no more, no less.”

  “I’m not interested in easy,” I said, running a hand through my blonde hair, letting out a short sigh. “Nothing in my life has ever been simple or easy.”

  “I hear that,” Zoey mumbled. “My parents would flip if they knew I had three boyfriends, but my sister? She’d be jealous, probably.” She said something under her breath, something that sounded like a swear word, and I had the feeling there was more to the story she wasn’t saying, but she and I weren’t friends. I didn’t need to know every detail of her life.

  “My parents would die,” I said, picturing their faces, their blank, loveless eyes. “So I guess it’s a good thing they’re already dead.”

  Lake laughed at me, thinking I was making a joke or something, but a quick glance in Carter’s direction, followed up by a glimpse at me and my serious face, told him everything he needed to know. “You’re… you’re not joking, are you?”

  “I killed them,” I said, figuring there was no point in trying to pretend I was like either of them. I was more like Carter than anything, only worse because I killed on my own, not because someone told me to.

  “Shit,” Lake muttered, and Zoey’s eyes widened.

  “I, uh, I hope they had it coming” was all she was able to say.

  “They were terrible people, so I’d say so.” Talking about my parents was not something I wanted to prolong, so I glanced down at the cards between them. “What are you playing?”

  “Uh, Go Fish,” Lake started. “Zoey here doesn’t know how to play anything else. Apparently if you come from a rich family, you don’t know how to play rummy or poker.”

  Ah, so Zoey came from money? I sized her up in a new light, suddenly understanding her a whole lot better. She might look innocent, but it’s because she was good at hiding her true self. People who were born with money usually were.

  “Can I play?” I asked, figuring it’d be a good distraction. This whole thing, if I was honest with myself, was a giant distraction. There were still some things I never told the others, things I never wanted to say. Things I didn’t want to face. So here we were, here I was, begging to play Go Fish with two strangers.

  “Sure,” Zoey said. “We’ll start a new game.” Her blue eyes, a lighter color than mine, turned to Carter, who sat on the couch, still kind of broody. “Carter, come on down and join us.”

  “Fuck that,” Carter muttered.

  A leveled, extended glare from Zoey managed to change his mind, and within five minutes, we were all sitting in a circle on the rug, Lake dishing out new hands to all of us. We made a motley crew, that’s for sure, but playing such a simple card game with them was actually fun.

  Lake could not hold back his witty remarks every time Carter lost a card to someone else. Zoey used her feminine wiles to cheat and see Carter’s hand, which then caused Lake and I to band together to defeat them.

  It was such a silly game, but it was fun. It was fun, and I found myself laughing. Like, genuinely laughing at other people, finding amusement in them. For a while there, I forgot who I was and what I was good at.

  That was murder, by the way, in case you forgot.

  We played a few games, and the leaders with the most wins were, unsurprisingly, Zoey and me. The two poor fools beside us were no more than pawns on our paths to victory. She could be a cutthroat gal in a competition, which I respected. Even though Zoey and I were two very different people, I realized I liked her. She wasn’t so bad. Not what I was expecting at all, but in a good way.

  I didn’t know how much time passed, but sometime later there was a knock on the door, and we paused in our current game of Go Fish to see Sylvester popping his head in. The look in his eyes told me he needed to speak with me, so I gave the others a smile—well, Zoey and Lake a smile, anyway. Carter got nothing because he was Carter and still kind of grumpy because he kept losing.

  After setting my cards down, I got up and went to him. We stood on the front porch, nothing but the crisp, clean air of nature around us. Afternoon was here, and I was exhausted. Felt like I hadn’t gotten sleep in ages, but that’s probably because it was true. Time. What the fuck was time?

  I leaned on the railing, staring out at the horizon. The driveway was nothing but packed dirt, and it wound through the trees, back to the road, which was a good half-mile away. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. It was kind of a nice change, after everything.

  “How’s he doing?” I asked. Now, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was praying or anything for Mike, but I was hoping really, really fucking hard. He was a good guy. He didn’t deserve to go out like this.

  Zoey should count herself lucky they only wanted Carter gone. They could’ve done much worse to her. She could be dead right now, and, in turn, I would be dead, too. Roman would’ve killed me, and none of the guys would’ve been able to stop him. When a monster was on a rampage, you either got out of the way until the rampage was over, or you succumbed to the violence. I didn’t blame Roman for putting it all on me.

  It was all for me, anyway.

  “He got the bullet out of his arm,” Sylvester said, leaning on the railing beside me. “Said the ones in his gut and chest will take a bit more time, since there’s more he has to dig through. He brought medicine and an IV, so at least the wounds shouldn’t get infected.”

  “That’s good.”

  Sylvester nodded along with me, turning those dark, stormy blue eyes upon me. The color of the sea before a hurricane. Beautiful and ominous. “Are you okay, Lola? You’ve been acting… kind of off.”

  I managed to smile. “Don’t I always?” Hell, I was pretty fucking sure I never acted whatever the opposite of off was, since I never cared about what other people thought of me. I said what I wanted, I did what I wanted, with no regrets.

  At least, that’s what I told myself, anyway.

  He let out a loud breath, his expression hardening somewhat. “I mean more than usual. Did something else happen?” I said nothing for a while, which caused him to turn his body toward me, angling his head down. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  An annoyed breath came from my lungs. He thought he knew me so well, huh? He thought he had me all figured out just because we cared for each other. Loved each other. Whatever. He… fuck. He knew me better than anyone had in a long time. No one had ever come close to understanding me, accepting me, other than him and his brother.

  And Viper, whose brother was currently fighting for his life because of me.

  I stared at him for a while, but was unable to hold his gaze for long. It was like he wasn’t blinking, or something. Freaky. Or maybe it was all in my head, because he was right. There was something I wasn’t telling him, but there was a reason for that, clearly. I didn’t keep things to myself just for fun, you know; I kept them tucked away inside of myself because I knew how much it would hurt me to admit it all aloud.

  My heart did something weird in my chest: it beat a little faster in anticipation, and not the good kind. More like dread, fear, trepidation, whatever. Not a good feeling, and not something I was used to. Even after all this, I wo
rried Sylvester would look at me differently, like I was weak or something. Like my strength was a lie.

  “There is… something,” I started, feeling my palms start to sweat. “I didn’t want to tell you. I figured everything with the DeLucas would be enough for you to focus on. I didn’t want…” My gaze fell to the ground just beyond the porch. “I didn’t want you to do anything stupid. Right now, we need to focus on the DeLucas.”

  That’s what I told myself… and yet, it felt like a lie, because how could I ever focus on the DeLucas when my brother was out there, thinking I would return to him? Go home with him and act like everything was fine? What a delusional prick.

  “What? What is it? Lola, tell me,” Sylvester spoke, his jaw setting. “Now isn’t the time for games.”

  “My brother.”

  He blinked. “What?”

  “My brother is in town. I ran into him, after my meeting with Bianca. He said I tried to contact him, that he was here to take me home.” Simply speaking of him made my stomach sick and my body sweat, a nauseating feeling rising up inside of me.

  “Fuck,” he whispered. “Let me… let me go grab Maddox. Stay here, okay?” Without waiting for me to say anything, he hurried down the steps, and I watched him go to the other cabin, an uneasy feeling in my gut.

  That wasn’t the reaction I’d been expecting from him. He hadn’t sounded surprised at all, which would mean, what? That he was the one who contacted my brother? I wanted to laugh and deny the mere possibility, but I couldn’t, because him contacting Aiden sure made a lot more sense than me doing it, because I, not once in my life, ever thought of getting in touch with the sick fuck who was my baby brother.

  I heard the door to the cabin behind me open, and I glanced back to see that Roman had finally come out of his hiding place, wherever it was. His dark eyes lingered on me for only a few moments before they shifted out to the horizon, to the nature spreading before us for miles. The dangerous man seemed so out of place here, so unused to nature and its, uh, naturalness.

  Sorry, my brain wasn’t working like it should.

  He said nothing, his hands in his pant pockets, and for a few seconds, we stood there in silence.

  Because I was me, and because I couldn’t just let things be, I asked, “Don’t want to join in the Go Fish game inside?” My voice came out normal, but I knew it was a very thin line I danced near. Once I crossed it, once I lost it, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to come back. My brother made me crazy, go figure. Just thinking about him threatened to send me off the deep end.

  How the fuck could I focus on helping these guys take back the city when I had other unfinished business refusing to be ignored?

  “That game is for children,” Roman muttered, frowning.

  “Well, your girl’s playing it, and Carter, too,” I told him, although on the way out of the cabin, he must’ve seen them all. “Does that make them children? Are you in a relationship with a child, Roman?” I couldn’t say why, but egging him on seemed like fun. Like a great distraction from what was currently on my mind: Sylvester getting Maddox, the impending discussion about my brother.

  Yeah, wasn’t looking forward to that at all.

  A thunderous sound came from Roman’s chest, and I chuckled, grinning ear to ear. It was too easy to rile him up. Just too fucking easy. “You know,” I went on, leaning on the railings as I glanced to the other cabin across the way. Sylvester and Maddox hadn’t emerged yet. “I do wonder why, with you being so… you, you’re interested in a girl with such a backbone. I feel like you need control.” Bringing my gaze to Roman, I cocked my head. “Am I wrong, big guy?”

  Roman still looked like he wanted to strangle me; I think that was his usual expression anytime I was near, and I couldn’t blame the guy. Sometimes I wanted to strangle myself. “Sometimes,” he muttered, “the heart wants what it wants. I owe you no explanation for who I associate with.”

  Associate with. That was a new way of putting it. Let’s just say, if I ever heard any of my guys saying all they did was associate with me, I’d be ticked. I’d give them a piece of my mind. I might just hurt them to remind them that it was so much more than an association between us.

  “Hell,” I said, turning to lean on the railing with my back, my posture slouching, “I’m surprised you still let her work at the Dollhouse. I mean, doesn’t that mean other people see your girl take off her clothes and all that?”

  Roman hissed out, “While it’s true I want no other man to look upon her, she is adamant that she continues to work. I’ve given her the manager position though, which means—”

  “She keeps the place in order, counts the money, and doesn’t dance,” I finished for him. That last part was probably the most important part when it came to Roman and Zoey. He was so controlling, so dominant. If I wasn’t already involved with three other men, I might just be interested in joining their little group. Sure as hell sounded like they had some fun.

  But, alas, so did we.

  It was at that moment that I heard my name being called out from below, “Lola.”

  I turned to see Sylvester and Maddox standing there, looking uneasy—which was odd. For a mafia boss’s son to wear those faces… well, it didn’t bode well, that much I could say, at least.

  I gave a quick glance to Roman, matching it with a smile. “While it was fun talking to you, I am sad you didn’t try choking me again. Now that was fun.” Giving him a wink, I pushed off the railing. I started to move around him, heading down the steps and marching toward my guys. My boots crunched on the packed dirt below, and I didn’t know who to stare at.

  Sylvester looked a bit guilty, while Maddox looked concerned and angry. None were their usual faces; they both looked absolutely out of place.

  “Well?” I started, hands on my hips. “Is anyone going to tell me just what the fuck is going on? Because I sure as shit never tried to contact my brother, and that I’d swear on my life.” As little as it was worth.

  Sylvester exchanged a quick glance with his brother, and Maddox mumbled, “Just tell her already. There’s no point in hiding it, now that she’s seen the motherfucker.” He spoke with hatred, utter loathing towards Aiden, and I knew the feeling. I was the first member to join the hating Aiden club, and not once in my life had anyone else ever wanted to join.

  Maybe I could make us all t-shirts.

  “Maddox and I,” Sylvester started, blue eyes back on me, the guilt in his expression practically palpable, “have been looking for him, ever since you told us what happened.”

  Even though I’d been expecting him to say something like that, it still caught me off-guard, mostly because I didn’t understand the why part. Like, seriously. Why? Why look for my brother, why bring him there? Why lure him with me? I never wanted to see that fucker again, except maybe in hell.

  “After everything you told us, we couldn’t just sit back,” Maddox spoke through his teeth, clearly hating the subject matter of the conversation. Ditto, buddy. “That fucker doesn’t deserve to breathe with what he did to you.”

  “I agree,” Sylvester said, for once on his brother’s side, which left me on the shocked and stupefied side.

  I mean, they’d cared that much about me, even back then? They’d cared enough to get my brother here, to… to what? To kill him for me? The thought was tempting and sweet, don’t get me wrong, but a part of me knew that unless I was there to see it happen, it wouldn’t be good enough.

  “When we found him, we told him to book a room at the Grand Hotel, and that we’d find him. The manager was supposed to contact me once he arrived, but… with everything that happened…” He shook his blonde head. “I can’t believe he had to get here now.”

  Maddox scoffed. “Yeah, why the fuck couldn’t he get here a week earlier? Then at least we could’ve taken care of him before everything went to shit.”

  “While it’s,” I paused, trying to think of the right word, “sweet that you’d lure my brother to town to kill him for me, I think it’s so
mething I have to do myself.” My words sunk in, and neither brother tried to argue with me, which was good.

  They weren’t heroes. Heroes didn’t want to kill anyone who’d hurt their girl. The bad guys did. It was quite fortunate I was just as bad, if not worse, than they were. No, my brother would meet his end by my hands, not theirs—although I wouldn’t object to them watching.

  I stopped myself from saying they should’ve told me about their plot earlier. If they had spilled the beans before, odds were I would’ve gotten pissed off, or lost my mind just as I had for a few hours after being with Aiden.

  Speaking of which… Sylvester asked what I’d been waiting for him to ask: “You saw him?”

  I nodded. “Oh, I did more than that. I saw him, I spoke with him, I know what room he’s staying in.” When I said that, anger flashed in their eyes, righteous, ungodly fury. “He didn’t try anything, but… he did say he wasn’t going to leave unless I went with him. He thinks I’ll go like a good girl and everything will go back to the way things were before.”

  Hah. What a laugh that was worth. Life could never go back to the way things were. I wouldn’t let it. I wouldn’t let him touch me again. I might’ve been too panicked to act much when I was with him before, but I’d be damned if I was in the same room as him again without slitting his throat and watching him bleed out on the floor.

  “That motherfucker,” Maddox hissed, his hands curling into fists at his sides.

  Sylvester scowled, the guilt completely gone. “Does he not care that you killed your parents?”

  I shook my head once and said, “No. He said he handled everything.” A bitter chuckle escaped me. “I should’ve known he never would have me committed. If I was in a mental institution, he wouldn’t have access to me. He wouldn’t be able to get to me whenever he wants. He wants me to go home with him, and everything will be just like it was before, minus mommy and daddy.” I sounded cold, and that’s because I was. Ice had settled in my veins the moment we’d started to discuss my not-so-lovely brother.