“I’m on my way,” I said and I ended the call.
“What is it?” Elaine asked, and her beautiful eyes were wide open.
Even in that moment of horror I couldn’t stop the flood of adoration I felt for the stunning creature before me.
Her blonde curls were messy in the most gorgeous of ways, framing her perfect face like a halo. She was a goddess. The most divine little doll in creation.
I’ve never been a man to share anything with anyone. I never talked about any of my business, any of my personal associations, any of my actions, but with her it flowed naturally.
“That was my father. I’m going to see him.”
Her eyes widened. “Won’t that make you a target?”
“Yes,” I said honestly. “I’ll be careful, but I want you to lock the front door when I’ve gone. If I’m not back by dusk, I want you to head to the Constantine Compound.”
Her mouth dropped open, scared. “Then don’t go,” she whispered. “Please, Lucian, just don’t go. We could run now. We could run…”
I took her hands in mine. “We wouldn’t get very far, sweetheart. Not like this. We don’t have the network in place to get out of here without getting caught. If people are talking about us. If people know anything about us, then we are absolutely fucked.”
“Please…” she started, but I squeezed her fingers.
“We pray, Elaine. We pray that I can change our fates. That’s the only reason I’m going in right now. The only reason I’d leave you alone for even a minute.”
She didn’t argue because there would be no point and she knew it.
My mind was already set.
I headed upstairs and took a shower. There was nothing but a few minutes of hot steam to set me up for the day before I toweled myself down and got myself suited up and ready.
She waited anxiously at the bottom of the stairs when I came down. “Are you sure this is okay? What if he attacks you?”
“Unlikely,” I told her. “He knows I would fight back. If he’s going to kill me, more likely he’ll do it through someone he pays. I’ll do everything I can to divert the smoke from the fire, but the fire is there, Elaine, and it’s burning bright.”
She wrapped her arms around me like a blanket before I walked out of the front door, pressing so tight to me that I could feel her thumping heart. “Be safe.”
“I’m serious,” I whispered, right in her ear. “If I’m not here by dusk, you head to the Constantine Compound. You stay the fuck alive. Promise.”
“Okay,” she said, but I knew she was lying. I could hear it in her voice.
I pulled away enough to take hold of her jaw. “You swear to me, Elaine. If I’m not back here by dusk, you head home. You let your mother protect you.”
She stalled. I could see the lie dancing behind her eyes.
“This is one thing we get straight, right from the beginning,” I told her. “You don’t lie to me. However bad the truth is, you never lie to me, sweetheart. Is that understood?”
The lie disappeared. I saw it loud and clear in that moment. Elaine Constantine wouldn’t lie to me, not once she’d sworn her loyalty. “I won’t lie to you,” she said. “I swear it.”
“Good girl,” I said and kissed her forehead.
Handing over the keys to her felt surreal. Handing control of anything to another person felt surreal.
I said it once more to be sure. “If I’m not back here by dusk—”
She was nodding when she interjected. “I’ll stay alive. I swear it.”
I said something I thought I’d never say. It rolled off my tongue like the easiest words I’d ever spoken. “I love you.”
Her smile was perfection. “I love you, too.”
I kissed her once, hard, and then I walked away.
The drive to my parents’ house was short.
The butler nodded his head when I entered. Good morning, Mr. Morelli, sir.
I tipped my head at them, keeping my expression as stoic as ever.
My father would be in his study floor nine. I knew he’d be at the very end of the management suite meeting rooms, awaiting me with his evil eyes and his pitted jaw.
I wasn’t mistaken.
“Sit the fuck down,” he said, and I did as instructed, sitting back in my seat with my foot up on one knee.
“What is this about?” I asked him, my voice barely more than a hiss to match.
He tossed a file across at me and I flicked it open.
Testimonials of clubgoers saying how they’d seen Lucian Morelli chasing down Elaine Constantine. The event where I’d floored the security guard after the pathetic little downtown dive was recorded loud and clear.
“How do you think this fucking looks?” he said. “I knew you’d been chasing that Constantine, but I didn’t expect the whole fucking world to be talking about it. The Constantines are entering a discussion with the Power Brothers. A fucking discussion. It should be bloodshed, not conversation, and this is because of you, isn’t it? We were set to pair up with the Powers, not watch from the sidelines as they begin negotiations.”
My blood chilled even colder than its usual ice. Discussions were never good, not between enemies. They showed nothing more than that people were prepared to hear alternate versions of events.
“Tell me now,” my father said. “Is there anything I should know about this?”
I looked him right in the eyes. “Such as what?”
“Such as you chasing down Elaine Constantine. Did you kill her?”
My answer was perfectly truthful. “No. I didn’t kill her.”
“So the Powers have her, yes? Their negotiations with the Constantines will be futile?”
“What the Powers have and don’t have has never been high on my list of priorities. I can sure as hell not answer questions for them.” Again, I wasn’t lying.
My father’s glare was savage. “If the Constantines and the Power Brothers come to some crazy conclusion that we’re responsible for this, Lucian, life sure as fuck isn’t going to be easy.”
He was right on that front. The Constantines we could take on, happily. It would be a difficult battle, but it would be a fair one. For us to go up against the Constantines with the Power Brothers also on their side would be a whole other matter.
“We could have paired up with the Powers,” he said. “You know full well they wanted our allegiance. We could have made a powerful ally.”
“Yes,” I replied. “I know that. Maybe they still will.”
“Then it should be us they are entering into discussions with, not the fucking Constantines.” He gestured to the file in front of me. “Tell me about this. What do I need to know about your relentless pursuit of that little blonde?”
I shrugged at him. “I was chasing her. It got intense.”
His stare was ruthless. “I’ll get to the bottom of this, boy, and you know it. If there is anything you need to tell me, you’d better do it now.”
“I have nothing to say.” In that very moment I was sealing my demise.
“Get out of here, then,” he said. “Get your head straight with whatever pussy you want to indulge in and then get the fuck back to work.”